Geoff Jones Yamaha R1 Ben
Warden Honda CBR 929
Dean Von Schill Honda VTR 1000 Tim
Walker Kawasaki ZX7
Ian Payne Honda CBR 919 Ron
Johnston Suzuki Bandit 1200
Ross McCurdy Honda CBR
600 Darren Hutchinson Honda
CBR 600
Cliff Peters Kawasaki ZX12 –R Rob
Jones Honda
CBR 954
Dave Hives Kawasaki ZX9 Julian
Mullins Honda
CBR 929
Gregory Hales Suzuki TL 1000S Rob
& Kirsten BMW R1150 GS
Val & Ben Jones Commodore Melissa
& Andrew McKenna Ford
This is one of the rides I
look forward to. Because it’s a timed event, it’s a way I can prove to myself
that my riding has improved since I joined the Club. So, as you can imagine, I was extremely happy when I woke up,
looked at the sky and saw the beginnings of a beautiful day. I rugged up because even though it was
sunny, it was cold in Warrandyte. I headed off for the boring freeway ride to
the West Gate Bridge where I was happy to see a reasonably good turn out,
although I was disappointed not to see a couple of the regulars.
We headed off over the
bridge at 10:30 am after Geoff gave a run down on the corner marking rules to
the first time riders. Rob, with Kirsten on the back, volunteered to be rear
rider. We continued down the West Gate Freeway (Geelong Road) where
we took the Kororoit exit heading north through Laverton North to Deer Park
near the Western Highway. Here we turned west heading through Exford and south
of Bacchus Marsh picking up the Mt Wallace Road. This is where the hill climb is held annually.
We
stopped at the bottom of the hill to regroup, then rode the hill slowly to
evaluate what we were up against. As
usual the road had its fair share of pot holes, gravel and bumps. We were also
confronted with what looked like a pile of dirt in the middle of the hairpin
corner, closely followed by a pot hole and an oil patch. We then headed down
after a short chat to start our first run at the hill. I was happy with my performance as my first
run was around the same time as my best time last year and, thanks to V-twin
grunt, gave me the fastest first round time closely followed by Dean and his
VTR (another V-twin).
Geoff’s
wife Val kindly had hot tea and coffee with an abundance of cakes all set out
for our indulgence while we stood on the hill watching and listening to each of
the riders making their attempt.
Geoff’s daugher Melissa was recording the times given to her by Andrew
McKenna who we sincerely thank for their efforts.
One of
the main topics of conversation was which side of the pile of dirt to take; if
you went to the outside it slowed you up, but the inside was a little blind and
lined you up with a pot hole. I chose
the inside line on all 3 runs.
Between
runs I noticed Geoff’s bike with its seat and side panel off. I was advised he had battery problems and
his bike wouldn’t start, so he wasn’t able to have a timed run up the hill or
continue the ride, so Ben took over as leader. At about 1:00pm we headed off
for the second leg of the days ride.
We
headed west along a very straight and bumpy road picking up the Ballan -
Geelong Road and then headed south through the Brisbane Ranges to Anakie. The
first bit was straight and boring and into a cold southerly wind. The second bit
through the Brisbane ranges was a very enjoyable road with high speed sweepers
where a bunch of guys took the opportunity to catch up with Ben.
We then continued along a further 7 km of straight roads before turning right to Maude, providing about 7 km of rising twisties. At Maude we turned right and headed north back through the Brisbane Ranges – high speed stuff, 20 km to Meredith, a blur of colour traveling at xxx km/h chasing Ben. Apparently a big dip in the road caused Rob (CBR954) and his mate Darren (CBR600) into serious tank slappers, and threw Ian Payne across the road.
We
refuelled and lunched at Meredith, some 70 km from the hill climb point.
After
lunch we headed east along the Durdidwarrah road coming out at the Ballan -
Geelong Road intersection near the reservoir. We then repeated the earlier
section through the Brisbane Ranges down to Anakie Junction where we turned
left and east heading for Werribee via the Ford Proving Ground, riding along
some very straight, very high speed roads which I’m told were particularly
enjoyed by some. Then the Princes Highway through Werribee picking up road
works and a frustrating 80 km/h limit along the Freeway.
We
broke up at the West gate Shell Servo around 3:15 pm. Round trip of about 220
km depending on where you live.
Finally
I would like to thank Geoff for a great morning and his family for giving up a
Sunday to make our day so much fun.
|
2002 Results |
|
1st run |
2nd run |
3rd run |
|
Mark Easterbrook |
Ducati SS750 |
52.50 |
52.70 |
51.00 |
|
Gregory Hales |
Suzuki TL 1000S |
47.10 |
45.70 |
44.30 |
|
Darren Hutchinson |
Honda CBR 600 |
48.20 |
46.40 |
45.30 |
|
Rob Jones |
Honda CBR 954 |
50.45 |
52.00 |
47.10 |
|
Ron Johnston |
Suzuki Bandit 1200 |
49.10 |
47.60 |
46.40 |
|
Rob Langer |
BMW R1150 GS |
48.30 |
48.60 |
48.00 |
|
Ross McCurdy |
Honda CBR 600 |
54.70 |
51.60 |
51.00 |
|
Dicky Otzen |
Aprilia Falco |
48.80 |
49.90 |
49.19 |
|
Ian Payne |
Honda CBR 919 |
49.75 |
47.19 |
45.20 |
|
Dean Von Schill |
Honda VTR 1000 |
47.95 |
46.10 |
44.40 |
|
Tim Walker |
Kawasaki ZX7 |
49.19 |
47.00 |
47.50 |
|
Ben Warden |
Honda CBR 929 |
48.19 |
47.70 |
45.80 |
Gregory Hales (Suzuki TL1000S)
I
fished out some of the previous results
where we started at the same place … Ed.
2001: Dave Ward Ducati
996 (43.4), Greg Hales TL1000S (45.9), Ian Payne CBR900 (46.7), Bradley Cain
TL1000S (47.7)
2000: Dave Ward
Ducati 748 (46.06), Warwick Piper FZR1000 (50.13), Craig Morley YZF750
(50.62), Greg Hales (50.75)
1999: Tim Walker
ZXR750 (56.00), Ben Warden Dominator (1.00.66), Enzo Cunico RF900 (1.01.18)
Every year the times are coming down, and we have started at the same place. The year before that we started a further 600 metres down the road and hence the times are not comparable. Note also the change in machinery over the years.