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-- Michael Dibb wins 2013 Barry Sheene Memorial At Eastern Creek -- By Brian Dyer The 2013 QBE Barry Sheene Festival of Speed has once again showcased a great racing atmosphere and celebrated the true spirit of motorcycling in a way that Barry would be proud. Michael Dibb aboard the “T.Rex Racing” Harris Honda showed some great speed and flow, to win both the Barry Sheene Memorial races on Sunday. “It’s been an awesome weekend and I had so much fun, it has been a struggle with this bike to get the suspension sorted, but we finally got on top of it this weekend, the engines good, the bike looks good, and it’s just great for everyone” commented Michael after his win. Last years Memorial winner Shawn Giles was looking very fast and hard to beat coming into the Sunday races, but unfortunately high-sided on the race 1 warm up lap, damaging his beautifully prepared Suzuki Katana and injuring his wrist in the process. A puzzled Giles said “I just turned the throttle and she let go and high sided me over the bars?”. The 2013 Barry Sheene Festival of Speed (15-17 March) was run by the NSW Post Classic Racing Association (PCRA) and was made up of a series of sprint races with events representing Classes P1 (up to 1919) P2 (1920-1945) P3 (1946-1963) P4 (1964-1972) P5 (1973-1982) P6 (1983-1990). Also there were Memorial races, a F1 sidecar Championship, trade stands, show and shine displays, parade laps, the Trans-Tasman Challenge teams event and a comprehensive display of the 40th anniversary of the Yamaha TZ racer. The TZ racer in the 1970-80 era changed the face of racing, not only was the TZ very competitive, but also had a modest price tag and the availability of modifications made the bike extremely attractive to racers from club level through to GP. The TZ is heavily represented amongst the P5-P6 classes at this event, so PCRA and Yamaha got together to display a wide range of restored and original TZ models to celebrate this achievement. With names like Z-Man, Bridgy, Spotty Dave, Flipper and the Yellow Stig, you might think I was talking about characters from a cartoon series, but no, these are the names of NZ competitors here to compete in the Trans-Tasman Challenge. This is a two round team challenge, held both here and in NZ, and after two years of this challenge, the Kiwis are leadin 2-0. After some strategic team riding and a class win by Chris “Bridgy” Bridge, in the Forgotten Era 750cc, the Kiwis have snuck ahead to lead going into their home round later this year in NZ. Speaking to the riders they say that they are having a great time, but you sense an underlying competitive streak that loves to stick it up the ozzies at any given chance. The Ken Wootton Memorial (P4 350-Unlimited) was raced over two legs with Glenn Hindle (Son of racing legend Brian Hindle) winning overall. Sundays race (Leg 2) was special for Ole’ Rex Wolfenden, (a close friend of Ken’s) who came from behind on the last lap to make a pass on Hindle at turn 10 and take the race and later devote it to his good mate. After the race Michael Dibb told Rex that he had just learn’t a new passing manouver. The Paul Dobbs Memorial was run over 6 laps and NZ rider Chris Bridge on his Ducati 600 had a solid win by nearly 10 seconds, the field was pretty spread out with Keith Campbell (Honda V350) finishing 2nd and Kiwi John Carter (Seeley 500) another 20secs back. The Ken Lucas Snr Champions Challenge seen an eclectic mix of English and European bikes with G50s, Manx Nortons, BMWs. AJS’s etc. David Woolsey (Triton 808) won a close battle with Graham Roberts (Matchless G50) with a (Norton 750) not too far behind ridden by Joe Ahean. The Australian F1 Sidecar Championships is to be spread over 3 rounds with E/Creek being round 1 with WA, Phillip Island to follow. Souter/Rowe (LCR 1000) had a clean sweep of the weekends races and gives them a healthy lead heading into the next two rounds. The sidecars weren’t without drama though, race 1 on Sunday seen the passenger of Lindsay Fagan’s (Kawasaki 1000) being dislodged at turn 3 and Lindsay coming over turn 3.7 without any weight and crashing into the wall, which caused the race to be red flagged. So, cheers to another successful Festival, and hope it grows with each new year. When talking around the crowd/paddock and you float around names like Hindle. Toombs, Hansford, Willing, Phillis, race tracks like Oran Park, Amaroo, Bathurst and mention bikes like Matchless, Velo’s, Kwaka Z, Honda fours etc you can feel the vibe and excitement in those conversations about that era, this is what makes the Barry Sheene Festival of Speed so special, an event that celebrates the love of motorcycling. Barry Sheene Memorial 1 Michael Dibb (VIC) - Harris Suzuki 1150 2 Leo Cash (QLD) - Suzuki 1100 3 Andrew Lind (VIC) - Kawasaki 1200 Ken Wootton Memorial Race 1 Glenn Hindle (NSW) - Maxton TR3 2 Clint Taylor (NT) - Honda V350 3 Rex Wolfenden (VIC) - Honda 1000 Barry Sheene Trans-Tasman Challenge 2013 NZ total 204 Aust total 187 Forgotten Era 350cc 1 Terry Morris (VIC) - NICO 350 2 Stephen Kairl (NSW)- Yamaha 350 3 Alan Johnston (NSW) - Yamaha 350 Forgotten Era 500cc 1 Troy Loveday (NSW) - Ducati 500 2 Mick Bryan (QLD) - Ducati 500 3 Robert J Garner (QLD) - Ducati 500 Forgotten Era 750cc 1 Chris Bridge (NZ) - Ducati 600 2 Dave Mason (NSW) - Ducati 750 3 Robert J Garner (QLD) - Ducati 750 Forgotten Era Unlimited 1 Malcolm Campell (TAS) - Honda 2 Leo Cash (QLD) - Suzuki 1100 3 Michael Dibb (VIC) - Harris Honda Post Classic 350cc 1 Glenn Hindle (NSW) - Maxtron TR3 2 Russell Fairbairn (NSW) - Yamaha 350 3 John Kelsey (NSW) - Honda V350 Post Classic 500cc 1 Bob Marriner (NSW) - Honda 500 2 Peter Wade (NSW) - Suzuki 500 3 David Grlec (NSW) - Suzuki 500 Post Classic 750cc 1 David Grlec (NSW) - Suzuki 500 2 Paul Coughlan (NSW) - Norton 750 3 Brian Warner (QLD) - Honda 750 Post Classic Unlimited 1 Corey Forde (NSW) - Honda 836 2 Cameron Huxley (QLD) - Honda 836 3 Mark Faulkner (QLD) - Honda 900 Pre Modern F1 1 Paul Grant-Mitchell (NSW) - Kawasaki ZX7RR 2 Stephen Ward (NSW) - Suzuki 750 3 Alexander Pickett (NSW) - Honda 900 Pre Modern F2 1 Jonathan Howie (NSW) - Honda 600 2 Steven Green (NSW) - Kawasaki 600 3 Nathan Holt (NSW) - Honda 600 Pre Modern F3 1 Stephen Craig (NSW) - Kawasaki 400 2 Vito Maniscalco (NSW) - Honda 400 3 Alex Morrissey (NSW) - Honda 400 Pre 1950 1 Noel Carr (NSW) - AJS 350 Classic 500cc 1 Jim Scaysbrook (NSW) - Manx Norton 500 2 Graham Roberts (NSW) - Matchless G50 500 3 David Hagney (NSW) - Matchless 500 Classic Unlimited 1 Joe Ahearn (SA) - Norton 750 2 David Woolsey (QLD - Triton 808 Period 6 125cc 1 Stephen Kairl (NSW) - Honda RS 125 2 Paul Borg (NSW) - Honda 125 3 Jason Dunn (NSW) - Honda 125 Period 6 250cc 1 Alan Johnston (NSW) - Yamaha TZ 250 2 Mark Boddy (NSW) - Yamaha TZR 250 3 Terry Liston (NSW) - Yamaha TZ 250 Period 6 500cc 1 Michael Mclean (NSW) - Honda 400 2 Rob Francis (NSW) - Honda 400 Period 6 788cc-1100cc 1 Kevin Horton (NSW) - Yamaha 1000 2 Craig Stewart (NSW) - Yamaha 750 3 Michael Onrust (NSW) - Yamaha 1000 SIDECARS Forgotten Era Sidecars 1 D Chivas/M McKinnon - Peterbuilt 750 2 E Poucher/B Poucher - Windle Suzuki 3 P Selke/L Corwell - Suzuki 1000 F2 Cup Modern F2 Sidecars 1 D Rayner/P Cumming - Honda 600 2 M Alton/S Bonney - Shellbourne Honda 600 3 R marten/G Smith - RAN 600 Modern F1 Sidecars 1 S Souter/J Rowe - LCR 1000 2 D Walker/N Walker - Suzuki 1000 3 J James/B James - JB 1000 Brian Dyer
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