The weekend started with the arrival of
the entrants at the Rifle
Range. There had been some drizzle early in the day,but it was now
making a real effort to warm up. Our visitors could not get over the
facilities and surroundings, we heard words like, fantastic, amazing
and how come it took so long to find something like this.
Gary Carlsen certainly made our visitors welcome - thanks Gary. We
ran out of Polo shirts with the orders in the Hillclimb packs so on
Wednesday, I made a quick phone call to get some more for the weekend.
Thanks to Ann Oakes for bringing them down with her from Perth. The
metal badges were gone also, but we were unable to get more made in
time. Boy, we have never ran out before!
The parade was held on Friday afternoon, this had a few hiccups
which we were able to overcome. What would we do without mobiles? I am
told there were about 45 motorcycles in the parade with RadioWest, the
Volunteer Fire brigade and the police.
Then on Saturday morning, we started
with the motorcycle show, the
weather was perfect, and what a range of motorcycles? They stretched
the full length of the street. With the band “setting the mood”, the
public were able to enjoy the motorcycles. Chris, Antoinet, Trudy and
Raelene were kept flat out from about 9 am.
We extended the entry time for the Poker Run till 12.15 to try and give
everyone a chance to enter, but in the end we ran out of registration
forms and route sheets and had to close off entries.
We ended up with 266 entrants
overall. The afternoon tea supplied by
Dylan’s was great, and once again the Rifle Range shone as a venue to
finish the rally. Plenty of room for the bikes to be parked safely, and
everyone was able to stand around and talk without wondering about
being moved on. There had been a few constructive comments made about
this event and they will be discussed at our monthly meetings.
We are always looking for ways to make this
weekend safer and more
attractive to those taking part.
The barbecue on Saturday night was another winner. We ended up with 113
people at the meal and 3D Catering put on a fantastic meal right up to
the last person and then there were sweets. Thanks must go to Cherie
Carlsen and her team for the meal; I have already been given orders to
book you for next year.
Sunday morning saw a good amount of members on the hill early to erect
the scaffolding and put the bunting and tents in place.
I think in the end we were about 20 minutes late with practise. We
still managed to get the entire practise done and then groups 1 & 2
had their first run up the hill before lunch. I could not believe the
weather, it was just magic. We started the day with 97 riders and lost
a few with mechanical problems throughout the day. We had a record
crowd through the gate this year.
There were some interesting riders
and runs throughout the day. It
was a great drawcard to have Neil Bromilow and Peter (Macca) Macdonald
riding together again. These two are so well-matched and very competent
riders. Neil had nominated 44 seconds and Macca had nominated 40
seconds. Throughout the day Neil lost 3.35 points and Macca lost 1.67
points. So even though they appeared neck and neck when they left the
start, they managed to turn in competitive times throughout.
One
of the biggest surprises was
overall winnner Adam Wheeler. He was riding a 1973
Kawasaki 250cc. Adam is one of this club's newer members who worked at
the 2007 Hillclimb on the dogs. He decided to have a go this year. Adam
nominated 44 seconds for his time and lost .04sec of his time in the
last run.
Best performance by a male other than
the winner was Don Fraser on
his 1975 BMW Comp. Don lost .19 on his last run.
Third
place and best performance by a lady was won by Sheryl Johnson on her
1976 Honda 400/4. Sheryl lost 2.17 on her last run.
Best
performance by
a sidecar was John & Zane Mattaboni on their 1972 Suzuki 750 they
lost 1.62 in their last run. Best performance by a pre-31 was John
Rooney on his 1928 Ariel 500 who lost 1.08 on his last run. So you can
see that there wasn’t much between some of those times. I would like to
take this opportunity to thank all those that helped this year, whether
they are sponsors, helpers or riders.
It takes ALL of you to make this event the continuing success it is.
If we can distribute the load a bit more, it will make it easier for
everyone. If anyone has any constructive suggestions, please forward
them to me, so they can be discussed at the meeting and then I will get
back to you with a reply. Once again, thanks everyone.