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LETTERS ADDRESS
I have also included a second photograph (above)
of the almost gladiatorial parade of riders, mechanics
and machines past the crowd before entering the
track and starting engines. Jan, my lovely wife and
mechanic is always embarrassed by this picture as
all the other mechanics are pushing the bikes for
their riders!
Fraser McMillan
Manly, Qld.
...And more!
The story on the Morgan MileinOBA 80
revived lots of happy memories, having ridden at
the first meeting and several thereafter on my
Matchless 500 and 250 Hagon Bultaco, though not
with the success of the top riders in the story. Paul
Dempsey of Renmark, who now owns the 500cc
outfit on page 56, and which he raced at the
Mildura Classic Speedway Championships in June,
has given me a DVD of the 1993 Morgan Mile
meeting which also brought back memories. I recall
one occasion in the Clubman class, which was
restricted to pump petrol, when on the Matchless
I was dicing with a Suzuki 400. The stroker was
marginally faster, and I sat on his tail listening to
the machinegun-like sound of the little pebbles
bouncing off my alloy front
numberplate. I finally became brave
enough to affect a pass, and, getting
low over my bike I thought, “Now
you can cop the spray from my back
wheel”. It must have worked, because
I didn’t see him again.
The rise of the two-strokes in the
500cc class, starting with Charlie
Edwards’ TR3 Yamaha and then the
TR500 Suzukis, raised concerns as they
had a speed advantage over the four-
stroke Speedway and Longtrack
engines.
Initially there was a Motocross on the
second day of the meeting, on a circuit
within the Mile, and the local crew used
the water cart to create a mud-hole
which was not popular with many of
the riders. Later, as shown in the aerial
photo, a Short Circuit (Dirt Track) was
constructed, and Gary Flood on a
Hagon-JAP dominated the first meeting.
The very mild right-hand bend favoured
the slider machines, but subsequently
the ACU of SA insisted that it be made
sharper to even things up for the motocross bikes.
Sadly, we have seen the demise of the Morgan Mile
and that type of racing, which was certainly very
spectacular and personally thrilling. Many thanks to
Geoff Nuske and Charlie Edwards for bringing the
Morgan Mile story to the readers of Old Bike
Australasia.Trevor Henderson,
Christie Downs, SA“We’ll take that sir.”
Further to the storyin OBA 80,I have a quick
follow up on one of the pre-war BSA motorcycles
in Australia in 1938. My father was in the RAAF in
WW2 and I have this document(above) that he
kept. He had a mate at Cootamundra who had an
OHV BSA 500, which was ‘Impressed’ on 23rd
December 1941. The details are on the attached
letter. The date is interesting, just over two weeks
after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbour. Keith Morgan
Mt Waverley, Vic.For more information contact: [email protected]ABOVE Bad news in the mail box.The Big D
After readingthe Morgan Mile story in OBA 80
I just had to add my bit on a great article on ‘The
Big D’, a fantastic venue in its day. I made the
pilgrimage from 1975-1985 as a rider and a
spectator. Charlie Edwards summed it up perfectly;
awesome to ride, awesome to watch. Keep up the
good work. A photo enclosed(above).I found this
pair in my shed.
Bill Keenan
Broken Hill