Third and final instalment from Colin Rosewarne on the 2017 AHRRC

2017 Australian Historic Road Racing Championships

Part Three – With Colin Rosewarne

Sidecars

The three-wheel brigade put once some very fast and entertaining racing with Mark Knight/David Rumble on their 1980 Kellet Suzuki 1130 taking out the P5 championship.

Period 5 Championship winners Mark Knight and David Rumble taking a clean sweep of races on the 1980 Kellet Suzuki 1130

John Clancy / Warren Grubb won the P4 championship on their 1972 DeWith Honda 940 after some titanic tussles with Doug Chivas / Scoobie Breen on the beautifully presented 1971 Chivo 500 Konig. Max Hooper and Brad Gorrie rounded out the P4 Sidecar podium.

Doug Chivas and Scooby Breen on the lovely Chivos Konig lead John Clancy and Warren Grubb on the DeWith Honda tussled over the P4 Championship prize

Bruce Collins and Peter de Angelis on the 1980 Windle TZ750

Garth Francis and Paul Kenny picked up the P3 Sidecar trophy after bruising their Norton on the Saturday chasing the P4 and 5 outfits

Garth Francis / Paul Kenny combination won the P3 silverware on their 750 Norton Atlas. A testimony to the work these racers put in at these meetings is that their Norton outfit was seen having some trackside repairs done with the cylinder head being lifted and its pistons being resurrected in-situ with an angle grinder on the Saturday night to correct the pistons hitting the head.

Special credit has to be given to the William Hargrave and Annette Tregger combo who traverse the Nullarbor year after year to race their trusty old 1956 Triumph Thunderbird in the major historic events – great stuff!

William Hargrave and Annette Tregger mixing it with the fat wheelers on their 1956 Triumph Thunderbird

Mark Hollngshed and Aimee turner on the sweet 1972 Trawaze Honda 820

Geoff and Zane Dodds keeping the fat wheelers honest on their Iron Head 1960 Triumph Thunderbird 650

Al Francis came out of retirement to contest the 2017 AHRRC wih his two sons Ryan and Garth

Geoff and Zane Dodds lead the combined side car race on Friday

Unobtanium

Rarities aplenty at the championship this year with beautiful examples of fine marques such as the Norton, Norvin, JAP and Ducati taking to the track.

Next year’s AHRRC is being hosted by the non-historic based Preston Club in Victoria and is already shaping up to be doozy with record numbers of racers entering the cruisy, family friendly sport. See you there perhaps?