MotoGP BBQ Sunday October 17^th 2010

Pina Garasi (rear)	Honda CBR600RR	Ian Payne	Honda CBR1000RR
Rob Langer (leader)	KTM990	John Willis	Honda Varadero 1000
Jason Wilson	Kawasaki ZX9		5 bikes, 5 people

At the BBQ: John Rousseaux, Kate Stewart, Trevor and Barbara Rolfe-Harris.

The day was pretty average weather-wise, especially for the Australian round of MotoGP. As Lorenzo had already wrapped up the championship, it would be interesting to see if Stoner could win again in these trying conditions and what could be better than watching the action from the comfort of a warm lounge room!

I headed out to Yarra Glen for the start. Rob, fresh back from America, would be our leader. With a small group of experienced members there was not much need to go over the usual pre-ride talk, so with Pina as rear rider, we set off in cool, overcast conditions for Christmas Hills and Smiths Gully. With such a close knit group it made for relaxed riding and it was easy to reflect on the roads: who got booked there, that’s where so and so ran off, and remembering when this stretch of road could be traversed as fast as possible. Ah yes, the good old days!

We cut up Alma Road, then on to St Andrews, Kinglake and Toolangi. In these trying conditions it was easy to see that Rob’s 25,000 km riding trip around the USA had not diminished his riding skills as he punted the KTM around in the wet conditions as if it was dry!

We continued down to Healesville for a coffee stop at the Beechworth Bakery.

After a leisurely break, it was off again but this time without Pina who had other plans. So with John at the rear, it was across to Yarra Junction, Gembrook, Pakenham Upper and Cockatoo. Along this section we came upon a ‘country boy’ who showed us how fast his V8 ute could go. He appeared to be a regular Ute Muster attendee and was quite quick in the wet, but then Rob had already passed him!

We continued on to Yellingbo, Silvan, Monbulk and Olinda where the throng of tourists were out and about clogging up the roads. On to Sassafras and The Basin where Jason left us. For the rest it was back in to suburbia to Boronia and after 185 kilometres, Ferntree Gully and the BBQ.

As usual Kate and John had turned on an excellent spread and with the ‘big’ screen TV and surround sound, it was almost like being at the Island, just not as cold. Trevor and Barbara also joined us as we settled in to watch Casey do-it-again.

Thanks to Pina and John for the rear riding duties and John and Kate for the use of their home.

Ian Payne