Broadford Ride Day Saturday 12th May, 2007
Sunday 13th
May was Mothers Day and I had already been told “Don’t even think of going on
Geoff’s ride to
Members present;
Honda
Ducati 1098 Dave Ward Triumph 675 Darryn Webster
Dave, Darryn and
I arranged to meet at Maccas in Nunawading for an early breakfast before
meeting up with Paul at Warrandyte. From there we across to Christmas Hills and
Fortunately,
this part of the country was fog-free and bathed in glorious sunshine; ideal
for a track day. The usual three groups of Novice, Experienced and Race were on
offer. I opted for the middle group, unaware that the others had selected the
Race group! Not to worry, as I could change later, but then as we took up
residence in a pit garage, I spied Mick Bosworth (ZX10), also a club member, and Matt Clarke
(GSXR750), an ex-club member, both in the same group as me.
Scrutineering was quite thorough with even my helmet being checked for
blemishes and abrasions! Finally we got on to the track. Unfortunately my group
had the largest number of riders so there were bikes going everywhere. With
mirrors taped up, passing was fraught with danger as riders cut in front as you
were about to pass! Just like a club ride, actually.
Just as I was getting in the swing of things, the red flags came out – bike down at turn two. The rider was up, waving I’m OK. But not really. We heard later he broke his foot and ended up in hospital. Amazing what adrenalin can do! But with the session stopped prematurely, it was time to watch the others circulate. Dave had the Ducati ‘moving’ and Darryn already had his knee down while Paul was trying to beat everyone else. Not an easy task in this fast group!
While waiting
for my next session I caught up with Matt and Mick. Although they haven’t
ridden with the club for quite a while, they still do heaps of road riding,
mainly early morning jaunts down to
Finally we were back on the track and I really started to push the CBR. It rewarded me by scraping the pegs on nearly every corner! Only thing to do – remove the hero knobs.
Lunch time gave me chance to look around at the other bikes. Quite a few Ducatis, but with the 1098 still being a bit scarce, Dave’s bike was the centre of attention. The other exotic bike, an MV Agusta Senna, was being temperamental, refusing to start.
After lunch, Dave asked“Would I like to take out the 1098?” Would I ever! The first thing I noticed was the unbelievable ground clearance and although the pegs where high, the riding position was great. The bike also had that V-twin trait of being deceptively quick without feeling like it. And the way it ‘fell’ into the corners! This was my kind of Duke.
The next session saw me back on the old Honda, again just getting into it when more red flags! Another rider off at turn two, this time leaving impressive scrape marks on the track and a great pool of oil! The session was stopped again while they cleaned up the mess and fixed his broken collarbone!
That was it for me. It was time to change sessions into the Race group, and, as this would be our last session, a chance to ride with the rest of the guys. We assembled, waiting for the Novice session to end but then red flags and marshals were running everywhere. A rider coming on to the front straight had run into the back of another bike and was catapulted high into the air before crashing heavily on to the track! Incredibly, he was OK with no broken bones, only badly winded, but he would still need to go to hospital for observation.
With no ambulance in attendance, we weren’t allowed on the track, so after waiting more than 35 minutes, we decided to pull the pin and head home.
Ian Payne