Thanks Frankie, Ken and others, another great read with my morning coffee...appreciate the effort to share the stories and photos...  Cheers, Simon J.
Flipper that safety wall looks like it's made out of bluestone blocks?!?!

flipper wrote:
Thought it was, thats the one that i had my second road racing crash on. I didn't get as close to the wall as you though Flipper. I must say I felt a bit like a fish out of water on the front row in my first A grade race with those big bars on. I told the organisers to forget about the 350 and all powers A grade races but decided to have ago in the 250.

I led down to the right hander and most of the way around, up the back straight I slipped to third then got hammered in the right hander before the left. Shyte it must be a sheep station we are racing for. Into Glo Weave in fourth and let my heart over ride my brain, More throttle I said way before I should have, so just past the apex I rode off the edge of the back tyre, I had so much more clearance available compared to the "Real Racing Bikes"  I was thankful the 20 or so bikes up my bum missed me as I did a graceful 360.

simonj wrote:
Nah - from memory (this was in the mid-'80s) it was tyres and foam blocks with conveyor belts covering the front.

Ken, that corner claimed a few on the day. I'm certain that not all those gouges in the tarmac were mine  
At least yours sounds like there was some style involved - with me it was just a case of over-cooking the front tyre and washing it out.

No one else got any stories ?

Ok here's another one, this one goes back to when I was 13 years old.

My two older brothers worked for our old man, it never works out, Father & son working together, in this case Son's, when they left home the old man had quit a bit of work on, so he said to me that he needs me to come to work, I was then 13 years old, at that time he was building Hey sheds, Shearing sheds, Barns, all over Victoria, one day we were traveling along a small dirt road & the old man over shot the turn off, he then had to  back the Holden ute with the caravan on the back, he was having a bit of trouble trying to back it back far enough to make the turn into the road where we should have turned into, I kept quite, because I know when things don't go right it doesn't take much for him to loose it  yeah I'm my Father's Son
He had enough of trying, he then asked me if I could back it back, I said I don't know but I'll try, when I did finally backed it far enough he then said you might as well keep driving, I was wrapped, after that day I used to drive a lot, all I could get out of it was 60 miles an hour fully loaded with the caravan on the back, & 85 miles an hour empty

My Father was a builder back in the old Country & continued as a builder when moved here, he was always thinking of ways of making more money, yes he was a very hard worker, he passed away at 94, so hard work never kills anybody,  he got this idea of having a plaster works, he thought that there is better money to be made doing that, we were living in Ararat at that time, he thought that Mulwala was a good place to set it up, my two brothers John & Tony were back home again at that time, I was now 14, we had to find a place to live when we got there, the only place we could find to rent was a old farm house 7 miles out of town, the old man drove the bedford truck we had to buy for the business, into town with all us kids sitting on the back on a open try, no sides, how we survived that I don't know, we could have all been killed    

John & Tony used to ride there 250cc Push two up into town, there was this Kelpie that used to chase them ever morning, but they were always to quick for it, anyway when my old man & John had a blew, John left home again, so I was Tony's pillion from then on, yeah the dog still chased us every morning & each time we were too quick for him, then one morning I didn't go on the back with Tony, I had to drive the truck for some reason, as we got to the out skirts of town we could see something laying on the road up ahead, as we got closer we could see Tony & his bike laying in the middle of the road, he was ok, he tore the arse out of his pants & lost a bit of skin here & there, those Kelpie's are smart, he must of thought, if I start running a bit sooner  I'll be able to catch him, well he caught him alright right under the front wheel.

The old man went to the local rag to get them to do a write up on us starting a plaster works, he listed all of us, with names & ages,  every time I went any where I felt the local girls checking me out, I didn't mind, I thought it was great to have the local girls showing a bit of interest  in me:) that ended when I picked one out .

Tony's Puch blew up, they were a 250cc split single, two rods coming of one crank, he used to burn a hole in the rear piston quite a bit, they had a oil pump, but it wasn't because of that, I reckon it was the oil we had in those days, plus the rear piston was getting too much heat from the front piston, so then the bike was parked in the shed, A new family moved into town to open up a service station from Melbourne, that bloke used to race bikes, when Tony & I got talking with him we found out that he had a Triumph 500cc speed twin with a spare 500 alloy motor, plus a 350cc BSA gold star, we asked him if he wanted to sell them, to our surprise he said yes, how much we asked, he said, how 20 pounds sound, we couldn't believe what we had just heard, you serious we asked, he said yep, he said I'll be far too busy with setting up that servo to ride them again, from the way we were talking before hand I reckon he knew we didn't have much money & more or less gave them to us.

To be continued.........................

The club almost has enough to buy it!

That twisted log is still there near the store.

[video]i6vgFxZnI3k[/video]

Tim D wrote:

Hi all.

In my story I mentioned the 250cc Puch with a split single engine, some of you may never have heard of a split single, have a look at this, I reckon it's quit interesting.

Not quite a riding memory but curious.Does anyone else dream of their riding after a big day on the bike?A couple of times over the years I've zigged when I should have zagged and woke up As I hit the floor another night dodging something in a dream a big twitch and Sandra woke with a blood nose i barely survived that night.

alex peacock wrote:

Hahaha that's funny Alex, yes I have dreamed about doing mono's for miles & miles, I could pull a mono any where I wanted to, fast or slow it didn't matter, then I woke up & felt disappoint that it was only a dream

Part 2.
When the blokes Father arrived a week later with the bikes they looked well used, the trumpy was in road worthy condition, just need a bit of loving care, the BSA 350 Gold star was a scramble bike, I was happy enough with the beesa, I rode it around the farm where we staying, it was a bit of a bitch to start, those old bikes had a advance/retard lever on the left side of the handle bars, if ya didn't have it in the right place it would kick back really bad when ya trying to start it.

That reminds me of the time when Tony & I went to Albury to have a look at a 650cc BSA road Rocket, when we got to the panel shop where the bike was kept, right on lunch time, the young fella there told us that the owner was out for lunch, if ya like you can start it up if ya want, but I must warn ya, if ya don't have that advance/ retard lever in the right place it does kick back, one of the blokes that was interest in it tried to start it, he ended up limping away, with that Tony & I looked to each other, we wanted to hear it going but we weren't game to start it,we both agreed, if it is that hard to start we better not touch it.

Anyway I got the feel for starting 350cc beesa after a few kick backs, this was the time when I had my first girlfriend, her living in town & me 7 miles out in the farm house, so the next best thing not being able to see her was to ring her up every night, she had to ring me because i wasn't allowed to use the phone, the phone in the old farm house was one of those ones mounted on the wall with the mouth piece at ya mouth height when you are standing, & a hand held ear piece, yeah you do get tired standing in the hall way talking on the phone for a couple of hours
It was arranged for her to wag school the next day & I would ride the beesa to a reserve just out of town, things ya do when you are young, I rode the stripped down road bike along the Mulwala/ Corowa gravel road, it was a great day laying on the grass on the edge of lake Mulwala, I still think of her like now, ya never forget ya first love

Tony was happy enough with his speed twin, him & his girlfriend now his wife & John & his girlfriend & ended up his wife, she passed away from cancer, anyway they went to Winton motorbike races, Nola, Tony's girlfriend had nice white slacks on, well they weren't white anymore by the time they got home  those trumpy's used to leak oil really bad, Tony was working in Wangaratta, so every weekend he would travel back & forth, one late Sunday he was getting ready to head back to Wangaratta, gave the Trumpy a kick in the guts, it back fired & caught fire,( he never had the air cleaner connected), it burnt all the wiring, the seat, half the front tyre, yeah it was stuffed.

He then got on to a Jawa 350cc motor, they are about the same shape as the 250 Puch motor, him a mate studied the two motors & reckon that they could make the Jawa motor fit in the Puch frame with out too much trouble, he got it going & was really rapped with it, he  moved to Melbourne about 6 months later & rode it around a few times, he came back from a ride & said, I'm not riding here any more, they are trying to kill me here, he then sold it, if anyone has seen or know that has a Puch with a Jawa motor in it, then you could safely say that it would have belonged to Tony before.  

To be continued................