Seen at the Island (current members and old members): Rhys and Curtis Williams, Wayne Grant, Ben Warden, Julie McCall, Dave Moore, Tony Schrader, Darryn Webster, Marty Thomson, Andrew Kennedy, Danny Vits, Ray Walker, John Murphy, Warwick Piper, Ian Mc Farlane.

Julie and I took the car and headed for The Island via the new Domain Tunnel, Saturday morning. We arrived in glorious sunshine. Parking was well organised and speedy. We picked up tickets to Bass Straight stand at the Ticket Master outlet at the main gate entrance and then proceeded to enter the track. Complementary Herald-Suns were issued at the gate and an event programme for six dollars including the latest Motorcycle News completed the day’s literature.

The plan was to spend the day familiarising ourselves with the track, checking out all the vantage points and sights. First stop was the AMCN Expo where it seemed as good a time as any to invest in a new Tiger Angel jacket from Steve, complete with MTCV discount. See, it does pay to come to the general meetings. The latest crash had finally destroyed the Rivet Gunbarrel jacket. Frighteningly, the internal waterproof membrane had burnt due to friction. A whole arm was pretty shredded, and elsewhere there were lots of other tears and grazes. Still, it did the job.

A very pleasant day was spent touring the track, watching practise and qualifying for the World Supersport (600cc/748s Ducatis), the World Superbikes (750cc/1000cctwins) and the World Sidecars, held after sunset with darkness fast closing in. Throw in a Harley race and the 250’s and it was a pretty full day — probably the best schedule of events ever.We found our way back to luxurious accommodation (by camping standards) to a friend’s double storey holiday house — "You ‘ll recognise it because it is the best in the street" were the directions. Double bed, en-suite, perfect hosts, BBQ tea, VIP parking pass for the next day, and good wine and company for the evening finished off a great day.

Our hosts Peter and Marcia are heavily involved with Phillip Island Auto Racing Club (PIARC). For most large automotive sport events Peter is the race secretary. Also in the house for the World Supers was another Peter, head radio communications guy — four separate networks; his wife Anne was responsible for the on-field personnel — flag marshals, firemen, roving marshalls. Another person staying, Geoff, drove the Course Car all day. This group of highly interesting people devote their lives to motor sport administration, and were running this event. They normally run the Adelaide formula one GP, the 500cc GP, and the V8 Touring Cars as well. (They were off to Darwin next week to train local officials and then officiate for the Darwin leg of the Touring Cars a week later.)

Sunday we arrived at the track at around 9.30 am where Julie squeezed in some retail therapy, buying matching fleecy jackets for the pair of us. She struggled to get the size and same colour, thereby involving visits to various merchandising outlets around the track before achieving the desired result. All I wanted to do was get to the stand before the first race. We eventually split up, Julie getting seated before the start, me not making it back in time after bumping into Wayne and John Murphy on Turn 1, and then Rhys on Southern loop.

Racing for the day was sensational with Gobert winning the first race run in a declared wet race, 9 seconds ahead after the first lap!, 21 after the second and 29 after the third. Troy crashed at the Hay Shed on lap one, and Foggarty, on intermediate tyres, started pegging back Gobert near the end of the race. It rained again and Gobert won by 30 seconds on a bike 20 km/h slower down the main straight. Race 2 saw Troy work his way through the field for a hard fought win, Foggy crashing spectacularly in front of us into the tyre wall, remaining unconscious for 7 minutes, sustaining a broken arm amongst other things. The 600s and side cars were pretty spectacular as well, Harleys not getting a second race due to the time lost.

Later we wandered around the pits. Julie hitched a ride with a travelling marshall she knew from work, before we made our way back home for another night of fascinating, behind the scenes politics, a home cooked meal, a cosy wood fire, and Silverstone car GP on TV. Not everyone stayed awake.

Monday morning after a light breakfast we headed down to the Penguin Information Centre. Then we caught a free bus to The Knobbies and Seal Rocks where we did the board walks, spotting about 9 penguins in their burrows or hiding under the board walks. Back to San Remo for a leisurely lunch and then an easy trip back to Melbourne through the un-tolled tunnel again. A top weekend with the Aussies, including the wild card entries, performing to the best of their abilities on the world stage. See you all there next year,