54 amcn.com.au
onhisimmaculatelypresentedandnowhighly
modified2008Hyosung650,dubbedthe‘Budget
Busa’. Relying on sleek handmade bodywork and
chassis mods to get it sitting long and low, Martin
bumps his own record from 137mph to 141mph, an
astonishingresultforsuchalow-poweredbike.
AnotherisBradBowden,whojoinedthe200MPH
Clubondebuttwoyearsagowith202mphonhis
H2, then switched from gasoline to racing fuel
lastyearfora206mph.Thisyearhecan’ttakea
trick, losing both his records and running a best of
196mph from five runs.
If one thing is common among the new riders,
it’s the motivational power ofThe World’s Fastest
Indian,the2005moviestarringSirAnthony
Hopkins about legendary Kiwi land speed racer
Burt Munro. Almost everyone mentions it as the
reason they are competing.
“Who wouldn’t be inspired by Burt Munro?”
Steebasksaftercatchingherbreath.
WethinkBurt,whodiedin1978–12yearsbefore
landspeedracingevenstartedonLakeGairdner–
wouldbequietlychuffedtoseesomanynewriders
following through on their salty dreams, especially
thegrowingnumbersofwomen.
Diminutive Susan Brander is making her debut
on a souped-up 125cc Skyteam Ace, having never
before been to the salt, nor even competed in any
form of motorcycle sport. She smashes the 77mph
non-streamlined pushrod class record with a
blistering90mphonherthirdpass.
Others include Sherie Traeger, who sets a class
record of 83mph in her second year on an OHC
125ccHonda,andKatherineGoulter,whoturnsin
consistent65mphpassesonthe50cctwo-stroke
Honda she shares with her dad, Jim.
Up at the sharp end, the experienced
Rebecca Robinson of Black Ice Racing punts her
supercharged Yamaha V-Max to a new class record
of168mph,andEvelyneScholtzdoeslikewisewith
185mph on Dave McLachlan’s low-slung ‘Bones
Built’ special.
Reigning‘LadyoftheLake’SamanthaPetersen
suffersacrankshaftbearingfailureonthefirstrun
of her Kawasaki ZX-12R that last year ran 203mph.
Equally disappointing is that Australia’s ‘Queen
of Speed’, Kim Krebs, is also a spectator due to the
latearrivaloftheBlackArtRacingteambikes.
They are among a record 232 entrants this year,
three-quarters of them on motorcycles.
Some 80 new Australian car and motorcycle
recordsaresetduringSpeedWeek,equallysplit
between those breaking existing marks and those
establishingnewrecords.Bothreflectacertain
SPEED WEEKAlmost everyone
here mentions
The World’s Fastest
Indian as the
reason they are
competing
Above. Russell Diffey
picked up his new 1923
Anzani replica from builder
Lindsay Urquhart in
January, ran it in at a track
day in February, then raced
it to a best of 155mph at
Lake Gairdner in March!
Right. Peter Birthisel with
his 1926 Indian Altoona