OLD BIKES AT THE TRACK
2019 HCMCWA Interclub
Championship Rd 1 & 2
- 26 May and 23 June – Collie Motorplex, WA
Baptising the bitumen
Reports and photosJohn Innes
Sunday 26th May 2019is a day
that will long be remembered by all
in the motorcycle racing fraternity in
Western Australia; the day that two
years of hard work, graft and probably
not a few tears all came to fruition
with the running of the first ever
motorcycle road race on the newly
licensed Collie Motorplex ‘Long Track.’
The new track is 2.55 km in length
and has a total of 12 corners, eight
left-hand and four right-hand with the
fast 400m uphill back straight, which
has already been nicknamed ‘The
Bowling Alley’ an absolute feature.
The program was set down as 3 x 4
lap races but following incidents in
each of the first three races, the
officials made the decision to drop the
final round of races and extend the
second round to six laps with the
exception of the Sidecars which
remained at four laps. The circuit met
with universal approval and racing
began in overcast conditions. Dave
Manson was the winner of the very
first race with a fastest lap of 1:21.190
seconds, a time he bettered in his
second race with a fastest lap of
1:20.464. The current outright lap
record is held by Leigh Boujos (BMW
1000RR) with a time of 1:11.920.
In the three-wheel division things
couldn’t have gone any better for
Dillan McDermott/Paul Matthews who
excelled in the absence of Jero Joyce/
Corey Blackman who were racing in
the National Sidecar Championships on
the East coast. The duo set a blistering
time to secure pole position with a
1:16.327. Race one was an all the way
win for the pole sitters from Harvey/Wells and Stronach/Marshall with a
fastest lap of 1:15.926. Race two and
the two front runners finished in the
same order, third place went to the F2
outfit of Sam Watson/Tony Keogh with
Stronach/Marshall failing to start due
to a mechanical problem. McDermott/
Matthews lowered the lap record to
1:15.6820 seconds.
The Period 5 250,350,500 Formula
750 & Unlimited lap record is currently
held by Tony Hynes with a fastest lap
of 1:18.757 second lap. In the Junior
division it is Flynn Winning who holds
the lap record with a time of 1:35.831
seconds on his Honda CBR150. Period
6 250 Prod/250GP, P4 250, 125GP –
Steve McDermott currently holds thelap record for the class with 1:21.907
second lap. Period 2, Period 3, Period 4
350 & Period 4 500 Glen Ottley holds
the record with a 1:27.2310 second
lap. Period 6 Formula 750/Formula
1300 & 125GP and it was Matt Brown
who set the fastest time of the day
with a 1:18.511 second lap.Round 2
Given the weather forecast for the
weekend of 22nd – 23rd June the
running of the race meeting was
always going to be a challenge, with
up to 60mm of rain forecast over the
two days. On Saturday evening there
was a huge downpour and on waking
on Sunday morning several areasDave Manson (1996 Honda NF4) was the winner
of the very first race on the new circuit.Looking down the ‘Bowling Alley’
from outside Turn 6.