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Phillip Island,  August 2002

As the 'Beast' had run well at Winton a few weeks before, there wasn't a lot to do.  Just, oil and filter change and change the gearing, put in new fork seals and a general check over.  Then Trevor Neilson, our Vice President, offered to loan me his 6 into 1 exhaust.  I thought why not give it a go, it may make her run better or maybe worse, but we don't learn if we don't try new things!  So then we had to cut and weld the 6 into 1 to get maximum ground clearance and weld on some skid plates so as not to wear holes in it when we touch down.  Then whilst I had the welder home, I put some new skid plates on my 6 into 2 exhaust.  So what started out as an easy weekends work had grown!

Then I fitted the 6 into 1 and gave her a run.  Very bad midrange, but took off around 9 to 10,000.  I couldn't tell if she was producing more top end power or just felt like it because she was flat in the midrange.  Anyway, carbs on and off a few times to play with the needle settings and then the jets and as usual we are still working on her up until the night before the race meeting.  Also during this time, I was putting on a larger disc rotor and twin piston calipers on Karen's bucket.  Changing the gearing and getting new tyres.  Come Friday and we are all organised.  I knocked off from work early, we loaded up and headed down to Phillip Island, were we had a unit rented for 3 nights.  

Saturday morning all ready to leave for the track at 6.45am and the van won't  start!  Bloody Pommie electrics.  I mucked around with it for an hour and was ready to torch it and claim on the insurance.  Karen suggested that I give her Dad a call as he is pretty cluey on electricals and he was in the area.  So I did.  In the meantime I got onto a mate, who after setting himself up at the track, came back with his ute and trailer to ferry us and our bikes and gear to the track.  To cut the story short. We made it, a bit late, we both missed our first practices, but we made it to the second practice.  I rode the 'Beast' in practice and she was running and handling well, but I reckon that the 6 into 1 was restricting performance.  I upped the main jets for a better top end.  John rode very well in the 601 and over class and was dicing at the back of the field with a TRX850 and an R1, though she didn't sound crisp and didnt appear to be as fast down the straight as I'd hoped.

The next race Johnno was dicing with Phil on the Harris Laverda 1200.   Phil and John are level pegging for 2nd place in the forgotten era championship and I thought that we would have the horsepower to get away from Phil at this track.  Not so.  Phil and John are even on speed down the straight!

So Sunday morning I pulled off the 6 into 1 and put on our normal 6 into 2 to try to gain a bit more performance, so we can out run the Laverda.  Johnno rode in practice but came in early.  He felt that she was running better with the 6 into 2, but the back brake was dragging.  The boot guard on the exhaust was mounted incorrectly when I put on the exhaust and was pushing on the master cylinder plunger.  The fork seals were leaking even though I'd only just put new ones in.  The forks are quite pitted and we'll have to put up with the leaks until we can afford to have the forks re-chromed.

The engine was popping on idle, like an exhaust leak or a valve problem, but appeared to be running not too bad.

1st Race is our Forgotten Era race.  Johnno starting from position 2, rode very well, but bike still a bit flat.  He kept his 2nd place for four laps and on the last lap the leader, Stuart on his GSX 1100, had a breakdown and Johnno took the 'Beast' to our firt win!  Yes, we were excited!!!

2nd race was another 600 & over, and we lowered the gearing to make up for the lack of engine power.  Johnno rode well, but pulled in on the 3rd lap as he believed the bike was losing power. 

We had a great weekend, the weather was perfect, (sunny and still, which is very unusual for the Island), even though the engine wasn't performing as it should and it looked as though we'd done some engine damage in the last race.  Many friends also made the long journey down to watch the  Beast race which also is very motivating.  I appreciate their comments, contributions, ideas and support.

Back home and  I take off the fuel tank and find it's empty, so that's why she was losing power.  I then checked  the valve clearances and found that quite a few had closed right up.   They have never tightened right up before and I check the clearances after every second race meeting.  The valves must be wearing out, but i'm trying to prolong buying $2000 worth of new valves!!  I got clearance on all the valves bar one.  So I've just pulled off the head and will be replacing one valve and a spring retainer and collets.  This should have her O.K. for the Australian Historic Titles.  The big event we are looking forward to and our last race of the season and possibly (but hopefully not) our last meeting ever.

The CBX Club and its members have contributed financially to get us to the Australian Titles and for this we are extremely grateful and with the encouragement of our families and friends, to make the project worth while.

Thank you and we will do the CBX proud.

Rol

2002 AUSTRALIAN HISTORIC MOTORCYCLE ROAD RACING CHAMPIONSHIPS

MALLALA,  SOUTH AUSTRALIA, NOVEMBER 1 - 3.

The lead up to the event, was busy as usual.  After Phillip Island, the valve clearances needed to be checked, to sort out why the exhaust popping and lack of performance.

About 10 out of 24 valves had no clearance!!  They had only been checked before the previous race meeting.  So the valves are wearing and recessing into the head.  I managed to get clearance by having shims ground.  They are right on the limit now and I even had to grind some off the retainers.  One of the vales and retainer were too worn, so off came the head for the umteenth time this year and I had another valve made up to fit.  Luckily I did pull the head off as I reckon that the buggered valve would have dropped out if I'd run the engine again and therefore done a great deal of engine damage!

I had her back together and running nicely, a week before the event.  That was a great relief to be organised with time to spare.  I lashed out on a $100 set of spark plugs, just to make sure that the 'Beast' was running at her peak.  Those spark plugs were provided by the $100, that Steve McKernan paid for the Mal Williams rally raffle prize umbrella and they both donated the money to the 'Beast' fund.

Thanks to the funding from the CBX club and various members that helped to allow us to afford to compete in the Australian Titles in South Australia, this is hugely appreciated.

John, his Dad Joe and I, headed off about middday on Thursday October 31.  It was a smooth, no problems trip and we arrived at the track about 10.30pm and pitched our tents and hit the sack. 

Friday morning after breakfast we wandered down to the pit area, to find out where our garage was and then to walk the track.  Unfortunately the organisers had moved the riders briefing forward an hour, so we had no time to walk the track and we were an hour behind schedule.  We set up in our garage and took the 'Beast' through scrutineering.  No problems there, but by now we had missed our practice.  I went and spoke to the chief steward and he said we could go out with the unlimited period 4 class.  (Mainly Honda 4's, a few Kawasaki 750 triples and Triumph Tridents)  So out John goes and cruises around for a few laps to work out which way the track goes and then starts getting into it.  He was lapping in the 1.26's and had a good time.

On checking the bike over after the 1st practice session, I'd noticed that the disc rotors had blued.  The pads appeared to be dragging slightly so I loosened off the caliper bolts slightly and re-lockwired them.  This enabled them to float slightly thus enabling the calipers to centre themselves up onto the disc rotors.

The 12" cast rotors and brembos were working very well.  I think that the blueing was mainly due to the nature of the track, with lots of heavy braking and not much chance in between corners  for the rotors to cool.

Our 2nd practice was also timed qualifying.  We were now with our proper Period 5 group and the bike and Johnno both going well.  Lap times down to 1.24.  Brake rotors appearred to be less blue and nothing more to do to the 'Beast' than put fuel in her.

So we had time to kill before our race, so we watched some of the other races.

Now time for our race and Johnno's time put him in grid position 8.  He had a great start and the racing was close, though the front 3 cleared out.  He lost a bit, when accidently dropping her back to first gear instead of second and hopping into the corner with a compression lock up.  This enabled Steve on the GSX1100 to show John his front wheel, but John was in front and committed to his line and shut the door on him and out dragged him to the finish.  Lap times were coming down with more track and bike experience.  Times now 1.23.

Remember that this is only John's 5th race meeting on the 'Beast' and he is much quicker than I ever was and I raced her for 5 years!!  He finished 6th.  A great race and a great effort.

That night we cooked up a BBQ and had a few drinks whilst yarning about the days events.  We had a good nights sleep, but awoke to some rain.  Nice for the extremely dry countryside, but not so pleasant for racing.  Though racing in the rain is a good leveller and can slow down the big horsepower GSX1100's.  John rides well in the wet, so we weren't worried if the rain kept up!  As it was, the rain didn't last long, so at about 6.30am, John and I walked the track to check out the surface condition and cambers and suss out the lines.  More rain was forecast and it was hot and muggy.  As John was doing quicker lap times, I decided to up the gearing slightly.

By the time of our 1st race, the wind had changed around and blown away any sign of rain and the temperature had dropped to around 15c.

Our second trophy race was another 4 lapper and again John rode brilliantly, outbraking Steves' GSX and riding around the outside of him in a very gutsy move on lap 2, then he had Adams' GSX firmly in his sights and was realing him in, but couldn't quite get him by the finish line.  Johnno and the Beast both going extremely well and they shaved another second off their previous best lap times.  Now down to 1.23s!

Our next race, was scheduled for  the last race of the day and it was to be a 6 lapper and the first of our championship races.  We waited around all day but unfortunately time wasn't on our side and the last two races were to be postponed until tomorrow.

So we headed back to camp and then into town to the pub for a counter tea and to talk over the days events and plan our strategies for tomorrow over a couple of beers, then back to camp where we sat around and listened to some older blokes recalling their racing in the 50's and 60's.

We had a good nights sleep, though I thought my tent was going to blow away in the strong winds. 

Our 1st race for the day is race 2 on the program, so we wander down to the pits about 1 1/2 hours before the race and give the 'Beast' the once over.  We replaced a nut that had fallen off an exhaust flange and tightened the steering head bearings.

The power was off, because of problems caused by the strong winds, but that didn't bother us.  I am sure that it was worrying to the guys that use tyre warmers though!  May be it would be an advantage for us.

We have been regridded from yesterdays results and John lines up in position 6.

John got a great start and dived up the inside of a GSX into the first corner and now in  5th place and riding hard.  Then on the second lap, the leader came down.  He was not hurt, but this guys misfortune was our good fortune, putting us up into 4th place.  Then an extremely quick GS1000s got past John and that fired him up even more.  Lap times were coming down as John was realing in the GS, but unfortunately he overcooked it into the hairpin.  It looked as though he may have had to run straight off, but he threw her into the corner and gritted his teeth and made it around.  Unfortunately, he lost a bit of time and couldn't quite catch the GS by the finish line.  We were wrapped with the result.  Bike and rider both going superbly and they knocked a further 2 seconds off their best lap times, so now down to 1.21s'.

Bike running well, so nothing more to do than fuel her up, check over the nuts and bolts and give her a wipe down.

Around 3pm was our last race.  This was the second heat of the championships and again we had been regridded, so now starting from position 5.  This  is a pretty good position to start from,  but unfortunately, John didn't get a good start and was back in 8th position through the first corner.  Over the next couple of laps he realed in a couple of others and managed to finish in 6th place.

These results gave us 5th in the titles.  We were fairly confident of getting a top 10 placing, and if all things went perfectly there was a posibility of a top 5 placing.  We were wrapped with our results.  It was our first time at the track, the four that finished in front of us were all locals with plenty of track experience and bigger budgets than us.  We created a lot of interest and surprised quite a few people as well.

It was a top weekend and I'd like to thank the CBX club and the 'Beast' supporters and to the South Austalian and Western Australian club members that made the effort to come and cheer us on. Thanks, Joe, Von, Phil, Tony and Mel.

Thanks to Joe and John for their great efforts.

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