Toora Wind farm Sunday 3rd July,
2005
Ben Warden Honda CBR929 (Leader) Enzo Cunico VFR750
Steve Cowburn Honda CBR954 Ron Solomon Yamaha R1
Joel Haley Yamaha R6 Breht Emmerson Honda CBR900
Jason Peters Kawasaki ZX12R Tim Walker Kawasaki ZX7R (Rear rider)
I hadn’t been on a club ride for some time so when the chance came up I took it. Got up, showered, suited up and left for the rendezvous point at the Berwick Safeway servo. On the way I was hoping that I wasn’t the only one there as the ride was requiring a leader but I needn’t have worried as there were 2 riders at the servo, Steve and Ron, the club “moto” … ride every Sunday rain, hail or shine holding true.
After filling up and paying I parked between Ron and Steve and said hello. Tim, Breht and Joel showed up but no one had any idea who was leading. Then Ron pointed out a yellow bike zig zaging up the road that turned out to be Ben. Hooray, we had a leader. After he arrived I paid my club dues and after the duties were delegated, Tim being rear rider, we headed off towards Pakenham.
Turned off towards Nar Nar Goon, through Bunyip, passed the market at Longwarry where I nearly ran up the back of a Ford ute, then to Drouin, through town, then right around the roundabout and over the railway line and off towards Korumburra. It felt great being back on a ride and the Kawaka was going great since I had it serviced and changed the chain and sprockets. There were some patches of gravel along the road before Korumburra, which made things interesting, some patches of wet road and the usual stock crossing mud piles that will be fun to wash off later.
I was having a great time in the twistys. I feel that I have improved my riding a lot since Tassie.
We came into
Korumburra and I decided to get fuel first before I parked. I came back and saw
that Enzo had joined us, so I said hello, and then went to the bakery over the
road with the rest of the crew. Last time I was here was last year and I helped
push Joel on his R6 from the
Off we went heading south towards Fish Creek. The weather was improving and so were the roads. Somewhere before Toora, after corner marking, Joel buzzed right by me giving me a hell of a fright. Later on I had the chance to pay him back. We pulled off at Toora and up the hill towards the wind farm, but Ben turned off earlier than expected into a nice parking bay with a great view of the Prom. Some guys missed the unscheduled stop and promptly came back. From the lookout the hill was very steep and the cows that were standing in the paddock next to us would have been easy to roll down the steep drop. Ben took some photos and then we left to have a closer look at the wind turbines.
The turbines look better close up and are not as noisy as some people are complaining about. The cows underneath them didn’t seam to mind and there were no piles of dead birds to be seen.
Off we went
following
We pulled into the Welshpool servo and the old guy behind the counter eyes lit up. We all refuelled and Ben informed us that lunch would be in Yarram as there was little food here. The old guy heard this and promptly told us to head for Port Welshpool fish and chippery because the food had improved with the arrival of new owners of the store. But we were committed to stop in Yarram and so off we went. It was a mostly straight main road with gave me some time to rest my throttle hand.
About half way to Yarram I noticed what I thought was someone’s bike with its headlights gone. Closer inspection revealed Ron’s new way to overtake with the lights in the air. This made for entertaining viewing which we were fortunate to witness throughout the day. Well done, Ron.
We stopped in Yarram and had lunch at the bakery where they made great looking muffins. I’ll try one next time but Ron and Enzo tell me they were great.
A long walk to the toilet after lunch then gather the troops with Ben using his bike horn. The walk to the toilet been too far for Ron so he went to the local pub. When he entered, the entire bar stopped and looked at the leather clad biker. Not much happens in Yarram, I guess?
Off we go again. Just out of Yarram we turn left towards Traralgon on a good bit of twisty road. We were all pretty close together all day so there was little waiting on corners for the rear rider. It all seemed to flow well. We went past the Loy Lang power station. What an impressive sight: huge cooling towers, large buildings and chimney stacks in the middle of nowhere. Fantastic! This ride should be called the Power Ride as we pass two different ways to make electricity with one being environmentally friendly.
No stopping at Traralgon, just straight through and on it again. Some good fast sweepers and my chance to pay back Joel by coming around his outside, passing him on his right side around a long left hander. I had a close view of his front wheel. Then onto Moe, a quick fuel stop and a chat, and then we are back at it again. Great fun.
We headed back out of Moe the way we came in and then turned west on roads that I cannot find on my Vic Roads book (Old Sale Road …Ed.), through a small town where there must have been a dirt bike race or event as the local oval was full of chook chasers. Through some more fun roads and then turned off towards Jindivick through some tight, narrow country roads. It was here that Breht attempted an overtaking manoeuvre, coming around my right side, when his rear wheel lost traction and stepped out, forcing him to lift off his seat. For a moment I thought he was going to jump on the back with me! A good save, a wave and a pat on his chest to stop any impending heart attack and off he went.
On the next corner Steve ran wide. He had forgotton to bring his clear visor and the failing light made it hard for him to judge corners with his iridium visor. I kept going after I saw Steve was ok and we ended the ride at the gathering spot at Labertouche road intersection. A great day’s riding with no incidents and fun had by all. Another successful MSTCV ride. Thanks to Ben for leading, and to Tim for rear rider duties, and thanks to all the other riders.
Jason Peters
(
Australian Superbikes Update source: AMCN
Round 3. Wanneroo May 29th
Shannon Johnson (R1) and Josh Brookes (CBR) both led at some stage, before Giles and Brookes engaged in a two man war. But Brookes’ last lap last corner lunge for victory failed, he speared off into a sand bunker with Giles taking the win by 0.848sec. from Johnson. Brookes wasn’t finished: he got out of the sand pit to finish 6th.
Race 2: Shawn Giles (Suzuki) by 1.452 seconds from Adam Fergusson, the defending champ (CBR1000RR). The lead changed 4 times on the last lap. Anthony Gobert (Redwing Honda) qualified just 0.830sec. off pole but unfortunately scored a DNF and a DNS.
Round 4. Mallala June 5th
Another close
battle between Giles, Fergusson and Jamie Stauffer (ZX10R). Giles
victorious with the latter two required to do a pit lane ride through penalty.
Another two part second race due to small rocks on the track which eventuated
in three holed radiators and Fergusson winning over Giles. Gobert finishing 8th and
9th, at one stage being fifth fastest. Next Round 5 at Winton, August 21st