Despite having to cancel the final three non-award events on the second day due to time lost while attending to fallen riders on two occasions, last weekend’s Easter Cup road races at McNamara Park were an outstanding success with riders and spectators alike getting plenty of value for their entry dollar.

All solo and sidecar classes ran their allocated points events and the elimination of the three extra races had no bearing on the final overall results.

Of those who fell, superlight class Honda 125 rider Vicky Burnett from Adelaide sustained a broken wrist while Mick Engberg from Naracoorte was taken to hospital with broken rib and shoulder injuries after coming off his lite class 850 Yamaha in Sunday’s first open modern solo race.

While the solo and sidecar riders mentioned last week, Ashley Roe, Stephen Jones and Terry Goldie, all performed admirably and with good success, none were able to improve on the existing lap records for their classes despite the keen competition.

Warrnambool’s Roe again showed that his 2005 Master of McNamara Park and this year’s Hartwell club open solo class wins were no flukes, leading throughout to win all five of his starts, the three legs of the superbike class and both eight lap legs of the Easter Cup.

Even so, Roe had no room for any error, even minor, with the strong group of Adelaide’s Matt Childs and Paul Radford, Mount Gambier club members Scott Guthrie and Graeme McLaren and Hartwell’s Jon Collins all ready to take advantage of the slightest mistake in the open class.

In the two Easter Cup events, BEARS rider Philip Gray from New South Wales starting from rear of field joined the challengers and finished second in leg two when Childs slid off with two laps to go after placing fourth in the first leg behind Roe, Childs and McLaren following a race long struggle for the minor placings.

With five concurrent classes and riders from as far as Queensland, the four BEARS races brought big numbers to the line each time and plenty of action right through the fields. There was nothing unlucky for series leader Steven Cutting from New South Wales and his magnificent number 13 MV Agusta, first across the line each time but not without plenty of challenge.

A super start from Gray in race one kept him in front for three laps but Cutting closed fractionally every lap to be in front when it mattered while fellow N.S.W. contestant John Lyons was a close third followed by the battling trio of Andrew Gallagher, Peter Brown and Fergus Gibson. Cutting led throughout in race two but constantly hounded by Gray, who drew level at times, Lyons, Brown and Gallagher.

Sunday’s first race was similar with Cutting just holding on from Gray and Lyons in a tight three way finish while race four saw Lyons as Cutting’s main challenger until the last lap when Gray just squeezed through for second followed closely by Lyons, Gibson, Brown and Alastair Boyd who was never far away in the earlier races.

The period five post classics had four short scratch races plus their own Easter Cup event over 6 laps, all dominated by Hartwell’s Stuart Loly on his 1170cc Suzuki GSX.

In race one Dave Mason and local Andy Baird enjoyed a keen tussle for second ending in Mason’s favour with Brett Metcalf and Kris Rowen fourth and fifth while the appearance of a few extra riders in race two brought second for Jeff Britton ahead of Mason, Metcalf and local Robert Day with a problem putting Baird well back at the flag after being an early second.

The first four were the same in Sunday’s first race with Baird a close fifth ahead of Richard Carter while in the last four lap event the order behind Loly was Britton, Mason, Baird, Metcalf and Carter.

The Easter Cup for period five saw Loly draw away for a clear win over Britton who was equally well ahead of Mason, Metcalf, Day and Baird.

The combined period three classic and early post-classic machines ran concurrently in the same pattern as the period fives.

South Australian Simon Cook opened his winning account on Saturday with two firsts on his CB750 Honda, drawing away from Bob Jolly on a 500cc Manx Norton, Joe Ahern on a 750 Norton, Keith Campbell and Mark Schuppan in race one and easily heading Murray Johnson’s 830cc Triumph in the second race with Ahern coming out best of a four way struggle for third against Jolly, Campbell and Schuppan.

Sunday’s first race saw Cook safely ahead of Johnson, Ahern, Jolly and Campbell but in race four Johnson gave Cook a shake up by leading into the last lap only to be relegated at the final moment with Campbell third ahead of Ahern, Jolly and Schuppan.

Johnson again turned on the pace in the six lap Easter Cup, leading Cook narrowly into the final round only to be pipped once more at the flag.

Ahern, John Inkster, Phil Baughan and local Rick Vassallo were the only others to complete the distance.

The 125cc Grand Prix bikes and the special formula Mac Park class ran together for separate awards.

Adelaide’s Tim Inkster, who rides as a Mount Gambier club member, was a clear winner of the 125’s, leading from start to finish each time although given no room for error by formula class 250 rider Jeff Britton and local 125 exponent Daniel Cutting who was always well in the picture and held Britton at bay for quite a while in every event.

Stephen Fuss from Adelaide was fourth in race one ahead of local youngsters Levi Day, Aaron Rigby and Jack Wright on 125s and formula competitors Hal Hutchesson, Richard Carter and David Trotter in a tight tussle.

The first seven were the same in race two with Brett Metcalf on a 500cc Honda CR next ahead of local Trotter, Hutchesson and Carter.

With Metcalf not seen again and Rigby dropping out with minor trouble, the first six were the same in Sunday’s first race, Cutting sticking right with Britton throughout, while Trotter headed the formula group from Hutchesson, Carter and Port MacDonnell’s Rodney Martlew.

Inkster continued his winning run in race four where the first six were again in the same order but might well have been different with Rigby, after making up a huge amount of ground to be a close sixth on the last lap, unlucky to slide off on the final s-bend when moving up to fourth, while Trotter again just headed his formula opponents Carter, Hutchesson, Adelaide’s Jamie Smith and Martlew.

The superlights and early model period bikes and 125s ran concurrently, the first four, Les Rowe on a period fiveTZ125 Yamaha and superlight exponents Wayne Jolly, Keith Jolly and Ron Matthews the same in all four races.

Trevor Henderson on a period three 125 Bultaco was fifth in race one followed by Rodney Martlew on his pre-war 500cc Matchless, Bryon Burnett, Richard Sampson and Vicky Burnett.

In race two it was Henderson, Bryon Burnett, Vicky Burnett and Sampson behind the first four while in race three the Burnetts swapped places behind Henderson with Sampson eighth.

With Vicky Burnett falling on the first lap in race four, the re-run saw Rowe first over the line from Wayne and Keith Jolly, Matthews, Dru Hudson and Sampson with Henderson dropping out.

The sidecars brought out a good quality field of seven including lap record holder Stephen Jones and Terry Goldie with the ex Abbott world championship Windle 1000.

Having his first outing on the Windle, Goldie used the two early races to acquaint himself with the machine’s unusual handling technique, starting behind the field but still turning in some very good lap
times.

Race one brought a surprise leader for two laps in local John (Reg.) Francis, showing a good turn of speed to hold Stephen Jones at bay until half distance and keeping safely ahead of Neville Lush while David Jones and Alan Smith enjoyed a keen tussle some way behind followed by Portland’s Tim Campbell going quite well on his post-classic Honda.

Race two was a handicap with limit man Campbell holding the front for four laps and sticking close in second into the final round behind Smith until David Jones and son Stephen slipped past in the run to the flag to finish side-by-side with Campbell a close fourth ahead of Lush and Francis.

Stephen Jones led all the way in Sunday’s first race with Francis giving good challenge but also under pressure from Lush and Goldie with Smith and Campbell next.

The first leg of the sidecar Easter Cup brought another win for Stephen Jones while Francis and Lush had a neck and neck battle right into the last lap only to be split by the fast finishing Goldie, the trio well clear of Smith, David Jones and Campbell.

With Stephen Jones in front throughout, leg two brought another tussle between Francis and Lush for the minors only to see both headed by Goldie, now going very well and moving away for a clear second ahead of Francis, Lush, Smith and David Jones.