Australian Motorcycle News — January 03, 2018

amcn.com.au 21

Happy 25th!

This year’s AMCN Island

Classicwillbethe25th

anniversary of this

greatevent.Istillmiss

Ken Wootton’s banter

at the Friday night

function. They were

very successful attempts

and counter-attempts

to embarrass various

people including myself,

Keith Higgs, James Clark,

CraigSmithandmany

others. Much planning

would go into how we

couldgetKenandvice

versa... I still have an

‘Elite Member of the

Ken Wootton Fan Club’

T-shirt!

Alas,Ican’tclaim25

yearsofattendance,but

my record in 2018 will

be 17 consecutive trips

from New Zealand for

theevent–Ithinkthis

will be a record for the

most by an internationa

rider. No other Kiwi has

made all the trips since

2002, and the UK team

only started coming in

2005.

After16yearsof

riding a TZ350 at the

event, and finally

picking up a top three

intheP5500classin

2017, I’m coming back

with my TZ750 for 2018

and having a bit of fun

with the big one.

Alistair Wilton

Via email

Thanks for the memories

Alistair. The Island

Classic and Ken Wootton

were made for each

other. Chris

access

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Oh, and the views expressed by readers here

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Letter

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Magic Márquez

Have to say congratulations
to all at HRC on being triple
crown champions.
And as for Marc Márquez,
what can you say? After all,
he was the most consistent
all year. As Valentino once
said, Márquez is the only
rider that reminds him of
himself. As for Dovizioso
and Ducati, maybe next
year.
It’s a shame that Jack
Miller was not on the
factory Ducati this year,
he could have kept up the
Australian tradition – 1987
Wayne Gardner, 1997 Mick
Doohan, 2007 Casey Stoner,
2017 ... oh well!
We all need to get behind
Jack Miller and Remy
Gardner, and hopefully our
next Aussie GP champion
will happen sooner rather
than later.

Charlie Zammit

Colo, NSW

G’day Charlie, we are a

looking forward to the start of

the 2018 season. Let’s hope

Jack and Remy can take it up

a notch. Chris.

Riches in the

memory bank

It’s almost AMCN Island

Classic time again. I’ve been

to nearly every event over

the years. I even met Barry

Sheene in the pits, and he

signed my helmet.

My list of best memories

as a spectator are:

• Meeting Barry Sheene;


• Meeting John McGuinness;


• Seeing Ago on the MV;


• Seeing a collection of MVs
  circulating during the lunch
  break;


• Watching and listening
  to the Irving Vincent being
  started up with a power
  starter.
  All great memories.

Rafx Hamilton

Via email

is that Ago and his bikes are

back for the 25th anniversary

of the International Island

Classic. See you there on

26, 27 and 28 January. Chris

Hear hear

An excellent guest column

by David Hassall in Vol 67 No

10. He’s dead right. I went to
    F1 once in Mudbourne and,
    compared to the crowds at
    MotoGP, the F1 spectators
    seemed like they were all
    on valium. True prototype
    racing translates to better
    road bikes; controlling
    anything stif les development
    and technical interest.

Rob Mitchell

Via email

Don’t look now Rob, but

Energica has been confirmed

as the supplier of Ego bikes for

the Moto-e series. Their speed

will be capped at 240km/h.

Some kind of racing eh? Chris.

Me and McPint

Here is a photograph

(above) from last year’s

Island Classic when I got to

meet John McGuinness!

Christopher Murrell

Via email

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