Wandering around the track on the weekend Julie and I saw Rhys and Curtis Williams, Rob Matricciani and Mandy Flower, Nick, Tim and Lisa Casemore, Rob Wordie. Also at the track were Ron Johnston, Ken Wright, Vince Melot, Danny Carr and Tim Dahlgren.

The racing was excellent, though in two days there was only a 600 SuperSport race, a 250 Production race, and the 125, 250 and 500 cc GPs. This allowed plenty of time to wander the track. We visited the AMCN Expo, checked out the Yamaha girl (she packed her wobbly bits away at least three times while we were there), tried the yabbie burger, and checked out the best vantage points. New dirt mounds certainly improve the spectator viewing in places. Luckily we had grandstand seats in Siberia South stand. Sensational views of the braking at the end of the main straight, Southern Loop, Honda Corner and Siberia of course. We saw plenty of passing manoeuvres, had a birds eye view of McCoy’s wobbly bits, and the odd high-side in the lesser classes. The rain stayed away and it wasn’t too cold. The sunscreen we applied was not wasted.

Saturday night we spent with friends at Woolomai Waters playing pool to midnight, skipping the Cowes fizzer where there were more police than bikies.

Taking the car proved inconvenient and expensive. Heading down on Saturday we got mixed up in the ‘MRA, meet Mick Doohan, ride to the track’ bonanza at Cranbourne. Spectators, bikes and police everywhere, the highway stopped, reminiscent of an Olympic torch procession. We ducked around side streets, luckily managing to get ahead of the parade. At the track parking was $8 a day compared to bikes at $3 per day, and you were forced to park a looong way away. Sunday we waited an hour and a half before attempting to leave the car park. Later that night, the fatality at Cranbourne blocked the Bass Highway for some time, with the air ambulance, police, tow trucks and the Olympic crowd in attendance. Looking forward to the Superbikes.