[Ducati] phillip island

[phil hitchcock]

i wish i had 200 + HP to push me through the wind at
phillip island last weekend. the moto gp boys have it
easy.
last weekend was the island classic race meeting where
i rode a 350 single. there was a cross wind on the
straight that was blowing so hard i had to go back a
gear into turn one to stop from going backwards &
getting blow over. add in some rain & i was around 5
sec off my best time around there. i never had a hope
of winning any of the 350 classic races but i would
have been nice not to have to hang off the right hand
side of the bike going down the straight. i once saw
500 revs more in top gear going up to lukey heights
than what i had seen going down the straight.
in the international forgotten era challenge we
thrashed the UK & NZ teams. top scorer & new lap
record holder @ 1.44.6 was rob phillis on a 1980
gsx1100. even craig mc martin who normally runs a
ducati in local aussie superbike races did a 1.46 on
the 1972 spec irving vincent. USA had one rep there in
 mike gonteski riding a 350 ducati loaner i had thrown
together from all sorts of parts i had laying
around.he was usually in the 10 -15 range.
on the way to the local pub ( nicky H was there friday
night ) on sunday night i spotted alberto puig getting
out of a car - as our local bike club had sent him a
card back in 1995 when he was in hospital we thought
we would wander over to say g'day & ask him if he got
many from australia.
" yes i was berry happy to get a lot of cards from
australia. i am now danny pedrosa manager - he is in
the car"  yep there he was in the passenger side so my
mate who is NOT shy wips open the door & sticks his
hand in - "good luck for this year - i race a honda in
classic racing - guess what my race number is???   69"
we had a bit of a laugh then carried on after telling
them we wanted an aussie rider on a red bike to win
this year.made the end to the weekend just that little
bit better.

phil hitchcock
www.roadandrace.com.au
roadrace at cci.net.au


 
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