Rally and Hillclimb | Calendar
by Robin Bromilow
Midday Saturday 1st November, with the weather on our side, there were
160 Motorcycles spanning from Dylan’s right up to the University. The
oldest bike on the Poker Run was a 1916 Triumph and the newest was a
2003 DucatiSt4 and we had everything in between. The riders were
treated to afternoon tea at Towerhill Wine Estate before returning to
Albany at their leisure.
The Winner of this event was David Webb, who had 4 Jacks in his
hand. David Rode a Honda Goldwing. Rider with the worst hand was Paul
Wright, who had 9 high. Paul rode a Harley Davidson.
Sunday was the Vintage Hillclimb - once again a magic day we had 85
of our 88 entered, start the event and no mishaps throughout the day.
This year we had seven sponsor riders enter (a sponsor rider being a
person who owns a business, sponsors the events and rides in it).
The morning started with practise at 8am and then went on to the main
event at 10am. We had two groups of thirty riders and one group of 25.
So had two groups do their first run in the main event before breaking
for lunch. Then after lunch it was back into it . We had a record crowd
on the hill this year.
By the time each rider had their three runs we still had five riders
with a perfect score (no loss of points), so it was down to run-offs
timed to the 100th of a second.
The Outright Winner was No 73 Dennis Ferrell on a 1965 Suzuki.
Dennis had nominated a time of 43 seconds. Dennis was living in Albany
up until about thirty years ago, and has moved all around the state. He
now lives at Cuballing. Dennis first rode in the Hillclimb on a
borrowed bike in 1999. Then he was smitten and returned the following
year with his own bike.
Best performance by a male other then the winner was No 88 Adrian White
on a 1968 BSA 500 Adrian had a nominated time of 45 seconds and did the
runoff in 45.41seconds.
Best Performance by a Female was No 9 Sheryl Johnson, riding a 1976
Honda 400/4. Sheryl had a nominated time of 55 seconds and only lost 2
points all day.
Best performance by a sidecar was No 35 Murray Rudler and Peter
Macdonald on their 1951 Triumph. They had a nominated time of 44
seconds and did 43.65 in the runoffs
Best Pre 31 was No 78 Ken Vincent on a 1930 Ariel. Ken had a nominated
time of 44 seconds and lost 1 point all day.
Public choice was won by Mick Ball on a 1942 WLA.
The Saul Fraser Safety Award was presented to Neil Bromilow . Neil rode
a 1928 BSA 500. Neil is the local club examiner and has a full time
unpaid job of maintaining the good safety reputation the bikes in this
event have had in the past, and will hope to have in the future.