VMX WA race meeting at Boddington 22nd June
Vintage Moto cross Riders had their first outing at the Boddington circuit last year and the venue proved to be a very popular one, despite one section which was very dusty until the local volunteer Fire Brigade turned up and sprayed some wet stuff on the dry stuff to solve that problem.
This year was a completely different story as the weather had turned wet during the week lead up to the event and steady rain all day Saturday left us all keen to see the difference in the track surface from 2013 to 2014.
Sunday morning dawned with the air very crisp and fresh – but no rain. There were lots of smiles around the pits and the overnight campers were steadily joined by more and more cars, uts and trailers full of bikes, that had decided to arrive on the Sunday. The start to the day cold seemed to slow down the sign on and scrutineering process as nobody seemed to be moving too fast until the sun came out and set the scene for a great day of VMX.
The solo riders took to the track for 2 practice sessions and found that the surface was very slippery and would certainly test the riders throughout the day. For a change, many were hoping that the sidecars would dig the track out a bit to provide some traction on the corners. However the sidecar riders and their passengers also found the slippery conditions and bit challenging, particularly some of the off cambered corners where the bike was on full lock in one direction and the outfit was still sliding in the other direction. They loved it.
A Grade saw a range of different riders competing for line honours including Scott Lawson and Jason Depiazzi who were consistent throughout the day.
Others that were noted at the pointy end of the field were Rod Gilchrist, Brian Watson, rider #154 (Phil Cross) and Rick Speak.
B Grade saw Ian Brown on the #96 Maico having a great day in the leading pack with Ralph Miller and Mick Godbold providing some tough competition for him.
C Grade had a large field of machines with Trevor Rivers on #120 and David Jones riding well throughout the day.
The sidecars put on a great show with a few more machines on the track and a couple of spares sitting in the pits for sale. Any takers? Luke and Claire Boston were out on their new 850 Yamaha Wasp (ex Steve Povey and ex Colin Cook). Garry Johnson and Jason Depiazzi were on fire all day, using the meeting as a practice run for the Nationals. Sarah and Robert Dillon were also showing flying colours, Sarah obviously making up for the meetings she had missed to study for exams. The final handicap race for the sidecars saw all the chairs finishing in a fairly close bunch. Fred Dillon with passenger for the day, Adam Fanderlinden were first to set off and Adam did everything possible to stay in front of Dad and brother Ryan on the Fanderlinden #26 , but finally succumbed on the last lap to give the win to the Fanderlinden pair, with Fred & Adam second and Sarah & Robert third.
The All In handicap race for the solos resulted in a very close race with the A-grade riders just starting to catch the other riders over the last two laps. The winner was relatively new rider Jayden, who is just 16 and managed to hold on to the top position from Jason Depiazzi, who chased him right down to the last corner of the last lap and finished close behind. Ralph Miller, Rick Speak and Brian Watson completed the top five across the line.
The track conditions were totally different to last year and all of the riders loved the chance to get out and ride. Many thanks to Kingsley and his family for allowing us to ride on their property and for their involvement in always making the Boddington meets successful.
The next meeting will be held at the Narrogin track on Sunday 13th July and is a charity event for a local Narrogin group.