We loaded up the car and took a leisurely four and a half hour drive to Mount Gambier, South Australia today to see Ivan Hoey and Rob McKie's bikes compete in the South Australia Historic Road Racing Titles at McNamara Park. The track was a real treat as the facilities were fantastic and the track itself was awesome. When we arrived Rob was busy trying to get his bike going again after finding the advance/retard plate had cracked allowing the whole thing to move about causing an erratic spark and a miss during qualifying. He managed to get this welded up locally only to discover a collapsed wheel bearing in the rear. Finally after these distractions it was ready to go out for the first race.

Rob McKie (left) and Kevin Palmer (right) discussing something about the bike.

Ivan Hoey and his wife Karyn relaxing pre race

Ivan's tyres degraded badly during the course of the meeting and he was sorry he didn't bring another set with him but the bike ran flawlessly and he managed an overall third place in P4 he also raced in the 750 class which is probably why his tyres didn't last but he did well in spite of this. Eric Giggins riding Rob's bike was having some problems with the exhaust hitting the gear lever causing it jump out of gear when the exhaust touched the ground in some of the tight corners. he managed to get 4th place in P4. All in all a great weekend of racing and a good drive to a particularly nice part of the country. A video of the first race can be viewed on the video page - Terry Gliddon 29/12/2014