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1980 GS1000S Reluctant Rebuild

I rode at Hawkesbury in '72. Had a homebuilt TR3 - an R5 ported to TR250 specs using TR250 pipes modded to suit. data and pipes supplied by a friend - Mike Sinclair. Ran into clutch problems and didn't finish any races on the day.
Had a good go in practise and managed to get it airborne 8 times in the lap...The stopbanks and bridges plus the sharp rise in the back straight plus a light bike meant you were in the air quite a bit. The double stopbanks after turn 1 were fun - I passed a couple while in the air on those....Prob why I had clutch probs,lol.
The kink in the front straight was Jones corner. Named for Craig Jones - Brent's father. Tommy McCleary pushed him off on the exit - and into a fence....

Watched Dale Wylie on the Boyle 350 Suzuki triple in the last race in 72 - spectacular jumps over bridges where the runoff was a barbed wire fence...

We won't be back there again - the area is now heavily built up. It was open farmland before.
 
GregT said:
I rode at Hawkesbury in '72. Had a homebuilt TR3 - an R5 ported to TR250 specs using TR250 pipes modded to suit. data and pipes supplied by a friend - Mike Sinclair. Ran into clutch problems and didn't finish any races on the day.
Had a good go in practise and managed to get it airborne 8 times in the lap...The stopbanks and bridges plus the sharp rise in the back straight plus a light bike meant you were in the air quite a bit. The double stopbanks after turn 1 were fun - I passed a couple while in the air on those....Prob why I had clutch probs,lol.
The kink in the front straight was Jones corner. Named for Craig Jones - Brent's father. Tommy McCleary pushed him off on the exit - and into a fence....

Watched Dale Wylie on the Boyle 350 Suzuki triple in the last race in 72 - spectacular jumps over bridges where the runoff was a barbed wire fence...

We won't be back there again - the area is now heavily built up. It was open farmland before.
Click to expand...

Greg, that is pretty cool that you raced there as well, brings back a few memories.

I did have a very close call at that race meeting, probably the one moment in my life that things could have had a very different outcome if I didn't back off when I was already over committed.

The guy on bike 7 is Paul Goodyer, I had never raced him before as I was only new to the Open Production class in the last 2 years, he had been a very good racer in his day and was very comfortable on the Honda and he knew the circuit well.

He was making a one off race I believe, anyway after the start I got passed by many bikes as I was struggling with the transmission and each time I got some momentum I was picking guys off left and right, well I am pulling along side this guy and showing him my wheel waiting for him to back down as we go through the bridge section just before turning back onto the front straight, it's a single line through there and no way to fit 2 bikes.

I went in thinking I'll wait till he hits the brakes and then pass him, but he didn't brake until it was too late, I realized at some point this guy is not going to give up his place to me and I blinked first, not sure how I stayed on but I came out the other side all out of shape and ran on the grass for a while before being able to get back on the gas and go after him. I sometimes think back about that day and and I'm so thankful or maybe surprised I didn't take us both out and into the bridge railing.

That would have been a big one, I can hardly bear to think about the consequences of what could have been.

I must not have thought about it too much at the time because I was by him before we turned into turn one and Rob Holden was long gone by then so a relatively easy ride to 2nd place.

David
 
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In 72 the bridge onto the front straight had no rails - just flat planking with tar breaking up on it. I remember it because we'd walked down there from the pits to watch the sidecars. It stayed in the memory because I saw a Norton outfit actually spin on that bridge....How they stayed on the bridge I still don't know...
Might have been Skilton - remember him ?
Paul Goodyer rings a bell. Never raced against him - I think his era was Marlboro series ? I'd retired for the first time by then.
 
I remember when I was in the NZ airforce in 1975 and watching John Woodley, who was also in the RNZAF, racing an RG500 (I think) at Hawkesbury. Memory cells are a bit vague other than that but MotoGP it wasn't! It was much better.....
 
Davowa said:
I remember when I was in the NZ airforce in 1975 and watching John Woodley, who was also in the RNZAF, racing an RG500 (I think) at Hawkesbury. Memory cells are a bit vague other than that but MotoGP it wasn't! It was much better.....
Click to expand...

John is a good friend of mine, we talk on the phone from time to time.

We both came from Motueka originally, and yes he was riding the RG500 as he always brought his race bike home with him from Europe each year.

He gave me a lot of good coaching regarding the business of racing and sponsorship etc.

David.
 
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