AUTUMN LEAVES

Autumn leaves Fall down from trees   Riders fall from their bikes

The Autumn Leaf Award is presented annually to the club member who logs the most crashes in the year. To log a crash the member must attend a club meeting and make a claim for the point. This is an opportunity for them to describe how the crash occurred to an eager audience. It also provides a forum to discuss “what went wrong” giving other riders the chance to learn from someone else’s experience (and generally to have a laugh at their misfortune). The picture above, taken at turn 7 at Mallala in 1982, is featured on the perpetual trophy.

Generally, to be valid as an Autumn Leaf, the motor must be running, and the crash must not be of a dirt bike on dirt (you expect to have crashes there). Road bikes on dirt do count.

Winning the Autumn Leaf is not necessarily a bad thing - Steve Martin (3 times winner) is now riding in the World Superbike Championships and Glen Richards in the British Superbike Championships.

At the end of 2002 we moved to a calendar year count of the points so that we could present the awards at the Road Race Presentation night at the start of February, so the 2002 points winner was selected on just 6 months. Dave Johnson put in a serious effort in the UK, then came home to claim the points. On you Dave!

Richard Stanley set a new standard for us at the start of 2004, providing video evidence of his step off at Mallala turn one. The file is 3.5MB so only follow the link if you have good line speed! Richard's crash.

Dave Wilkinson got an early start for the 2003 tally, seen here walking away from his beloved Fireblade at Mallala on March 2nd

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Photos by AFphoto.net  & Focal Vision Photographics