Dandaloo Classic 2012 viewed from the middle of the pack.
Saturday morning started out foggy, I wasn’t sure if it was the weather or the great hospitality shown by the Duke Hotel that caused this but eventually it passed in time for practice. The track was perfect, a little slippery in some of the corners but nothing a nice sharp sticky Michelin S12 and a few races wouldn’t fix. I rolled back into the pits to soak up the atmosphere while waiting for my first race, the 250cc class.
The racing in the 125cc class was fantastic with Kris Lindgren and Rod Gilchrist fighting it out. Kris was absolutely wringing the neck of that poor little TM125 Suzuki. I used to own one of these but it never ever went that fast. A combination of lack of ability and prescribing to the Peter Lawson school of thought on “more chocolate cake equals more traction” seemed to slow mine down. Warren “Wilfred” Patterson also rode the wheels off his Elsinore to keep the other boys honest. This was a pattern that continued throughout the day with some lively, very entertaining, racing all the way down the field. Trevor “T-Rev” Rivers circulated nicely towards the back of the field saving his energy to be ready to unleash a fury of Honda Elsinore on the C grade racing scheduled for the next day.
The Open class was next off the line. Throbbing 4 strokes and screaming 2 strokes blasted off the line, music to the ears of a classic motocross enthusiast. Rick Speak took a nasty highside on a borrowed yz/sc500 so the race was red flagged and riders were sent back for a restart, a chance to hear the roar of the engines all over again, thanks Rick. This was very fast racing and entertaining to watch with the usual suspects Kris Lindgren, Wayne Clark, Pete Lawson, Paul Gibbs and Nick Maxfield all showing some great style. To quote Kris, “it was Wicked and Sick mate”. Now I have seen a lot of wicked and very sick mates in the past, usually around the fire the night before a race meeting but somehow I don’t think that’s what he meant.
The ladies class was next with Sarah Dillon, Hannah Dillon and Asry Bizar all enjoying the chance to get the track to themselves.
Next up “The Legends”. Geoff Davison and Graeme Curry were joined at the hip for most of the day with the rest of the over 60’s looking like they were having a great time. Frank Barron used his intimate knowledge of Dandaloo Park to turn some quick laps and Stan Read simply got dirty so he could check out the magnificent shower facilities available at the track, they are seriously good showers Stan.
Now, my time has come, the first 250 race is up. There’s nothing better than rolling up to the line, looking left and right to see whose where and seeing a bunch of riders grinning back and ready to go. We get the wind up, I look across to Mick Brady’s trembling trigger finger and start rolling forward trying to anticipate the start, BANG the lackey flies and we’re off. I make a good start down to the first turn and by the time we come out and up the hill I’m sitting mid pack. Up in front I can see the two Brownies, Steve and Ian, Brent Arnoldi and “Honest” Mick Godbold tearing up the track. There are a couple of other guys up there but to be honest I can’t tell who they are, I’m too busy trying to hold a line. OK its heads down time to try and catch up. Three laps later I cross the finish line, sucking up some big air to try and catch my breath, my forearms are pumped, but I love every minute of it. I never did catch up to the other guys and a malingering Brian Watson passed me on the last lap, but what a blast. I get back to the pits to have a drink and a rest and I find Honest Mick and a dead CZ, unfortunately he would spend the rest of the day trying to find a spark. I sit down to watch Mick at work and offer a few suggestions as to how to solve his problem, buy a Suzuki being the obvious one. Hang on, what’s that noise. The Pre Units are off in a glorious roar of 4 strokes with straight through pipes, this is going to be a great day.
The guys in the pre unit class put on a great display of riding old machinery, with a bit of “gamesmanship” going on to keep it tight and close. This class was great to watch all day long.
Sidecar entries were light on this year but the guys and Sarah all had some fun and got good and dirty.
At the end of the day all I could think of, apart from a nice cold beer, was roll on Sunday to the grade racing, this is where the fun really begins.
Sunday morning dawned with perfect weather for racing. Breakfast from the Brady Dillon food van was washed down with a real coffee from the Dandaloo Café and the day was off to a good start. The Lovely Linda Maxwell also makes a superb scone, just ask Gary Johnson.
There were some more riders joining the fun for Sunday so after the riders meeting and a short practice session we were under way. Sidecars kicked things of with Andrew Irving’s and Luke Boston’s outfits joining the fun and turning the freshly watered track over.
The Ladies and Legends classes were combined due to numbers, I don’t know if this makes the Legends ladies or the Ladies legends, for my own safety I’m going for the latter. The girls continued their battles from the previous day whilst Graham Taylor joined Geoff Davison in the legends class for the battle of the CCM’s.
Pre 65’s and 70’s had a strong field with Kris Lindgren blitzing on his CZ360.
Brook Lawson and Kris Lindgren mixed it up in the A grade races.
My first B grade race slot finally arrived. I took my spot on the start line and had a look up and down the line to see who I was up against. To my left, a CCM mounted Dave Lawson and to my right, a CCM mounted Jim Lawson, I was going to need a plan. Plan A, get a great start, hole shot the first corner and go on to win the race? Plan B, get ready to duck the roost of a couple of Lawsons on rather large capacity CCMs. So in reality, I got a decent start and only had to contend with Jim chucking rocks and roost at me for half a lap and up ahead another set of brothers, Steve and Ian Brown. As hard as I could ride I couldn’t catch them. “Honest” Mick Godbold had a good ride finishing in front of Warren “Wilfred” Patterson. Funny thing is when Mick’s CZ died the day before I made the comment, “At least I’ll be able to keep up with him riding the BSA”. Not even close. Unfortunately for Warren his day finished early. In the next race I came across him at the top section of the track having a rest, when I stopped to make sure he was ok the only words I could make out through his cries of pain was “my penis”. Thanks to our volunteer first aiders, there was no way I was going to apply an ice pack. After a visit to the hospital it turns out he hurt his shoulder, you’ll have to ask Warren how the two are connected.
Trevor “T-Rev” Rivers showed everyone a clean pair of heels in C grade. The closest race of the day was the first one where T-Rev took the lead on the last corner. The guy is really such a nice bloke, he told me he felt bad for snatching the win away.
The Pre unit racers rounded out the program with a continuation of the previous days events.
The inaugural Dandaloo Classic was a great event and all those who competed would be happy to be able to say they were there at the first one. Let’s hope that future committees carry on with this concept to create a really great Classic Motocross event.
Great weekend…MID pak Michael
