Round 1, 13th & 14th June 2009

On Saturday the 13th of June the Café Racer Club held the first Knee Scrapers Ride Day for 2009 along with Interclub race practice. The conditions were extremely cold and windy but the rain stayed away for the day. The day still flew by like normal with everyone keeping busy racing and behind the scenes. The Knee Scrapers riders had sessions run by Hal Hutchesson, Ash Manuel, Adam Dawes and John Snoad all focusing on different parts of motorcycle racing. There were no major accidents and the Ambulance had a quiet day. The only minor accident that happened was Jon Falzon having a semi-highside and his foot peg making a cut in his leg which was treated at Mallala. The Falzons left after a disappointing day not being able to get Daniels 125 started all day. The day finished early as it was getting cold and people had to do last minute fixes and repairs.

On Sunday the 14th of June it was the first round of the Interclub Series. The weather was cold, windy and drizzling a bit at times. The wind made it hard for riders and a few said it was really uncomfortable going down the start-finish straight because the wind was lifting the bikes. Even with an absence of some riders competing at the Formula Xtreme Series and some late withdrawals, there was still a turn out of about 80 riders. There was one accident in the Historic Group One qualifying which delayed the day by about half an hour. [All the best Les for a speedy recovery.] As well as the pick-up being needed a fair bit due to the track being slippery from the rain.

At the request of Steve Martin, The Steve Martin Cup has become the Peter Kerr Memorial Trophy for this season. Steve Martin commenced road racing with the Café Racer Club in 1987 and immediately showed skills way beyond his years. Peter Kerr was instrumental in guiding Steve’s Career, supporting him in his formative years, aiding his development and encouraging him to give the sport his all. While Steve was racing internationally he and Peter still kept in close contact. Peter helped many people who race locally and therefore the strong ties between his business Race Bike Services and Steve’s ‘home’ club the Café Racer club. Peter Kerr you have left a large footprint on the soul of South Australian Road Racing.

With the change to being called the Peter Kerr Memorial Trophy a lot of riders showed their compassion and dedicated their wins and success to Peter Kerr. 1st place went to Graham Snaith who told us that he hopes he can win the trophy at the end of the year because it would make him proud and would be a great honour to Peter Kerr’s legacy. Snaithy’s speech moved many people and got a huge round of applause and created a few teary eyes in the room. 2nd place went to Adam Dawes who dedicated his win to Peter Kerr saying that Peter is the reason he won as he set up Adams whole bike. In 3rd place was Ben North.

In the last race of Unlimited not many people turned up having had only 5 minutes to change to wet tyres. This gave a field of four people, Karl Schmidt, Adam Dawes and Graham Snaith and Ben North. Adam Dawes clearly dominated in the wet leaving Karl, Graham and Ben far behind him. Due to having dirt track skills Adam had a clear advantage which helped him points-wise. Graham and Karl battled it out in every race. 1st place in Unlimited went to Karl Schmidt on his Honda CBR954. 2nd place went to Adam Dawes on his Suzuki GSX-R600 and 3rd place to Graham Snaith on his Yamaha R1.

Reece Bancell Trophy C grade 1st place went to Adam Dawes on his Suzuki GSX-R600 who got quite a big talk up all over the race track during the weekend from spectators, commentators and fellow competitors. In 2nd place was Darren Hansberry on a Suzuki GSX-R1000 and in 3rd place Ashley Manuel on a Yamaha R6. Reece Bancell Trophy D grade 1st place was David Blades on his Honda CBR100RR. 2nd place was James Corcoran on his Suzuki GSX-R1000 and 3rd place was Duncan Lynch who had an extremely good weekend including winning Bracket Racing on his Suzuki GSX-R1000. The A and B Scratch races were included with the Reece Bancell Trophy, due to only 3 people entering, Karl Schmidt, Graham Snaith and Scott Christie. Scott Christie also had a bit of a bad day falling off twice and being a bit stiff.

Bracket Racing had a total of 32 riders with 7 people trying out the new P-Plate system: Susan Hayfa, Michael den Dekker, Duanne Banham, Charles Adams, Derek Hutchins, Daniel Johns and Adam Laube. Derek Hutchins took a trophy for Division 2 Row 3. We also had father & son teams with Peter and Paul van der Heiden and Troy and Michael Woodger. Many other usual winners took out trophies along with Duncan Lynch who won Division 1 Row 1 with fast times and is now moving up into another class.

Limited solo was another huge class on the day with about 22 riders mostly RD250LC’s. In the end after battles and battles and lots of dicing it was taken out by 1st place Alex Malatesta on his Ducati 695 who was proud about being at his first race meeting without crashing. 2nd place was taken out by new comer Matthew Bowshall on his Yamaha RD250LC. In 3rd place was Brian Rosser closely followed by Royce Rowe who came 4th in the points.

Historic Group 1 had an accident in qualifying one with Les Bell falling off his 650SS and he was taken to hospital with a broken collar bone and back pains. With only 3 riders entered in this class Trevor Henderson took out 1st place. Saying it was the worst day and everything went wrong and yet he still won which is unbelievable.

Historic Group 2 had a pretty big field with again a lot of RD250LC’s. 1st place went to Jamie Smith on his Yamaha RD250LC. 2nd place to Vlatsa Krejcir on his Yamaha RD250LC and 3rd place to Jonathon Gutte on his Yamaha RD250LC. All getting times close together due to the weather and ability. Faster riders were slowing and slower riders were going faster.

Overall a good weekend was had with triumphs and some breakdowns. After a lot of hard work everything paid off and the meeting was successful even after a delay due to a major crash. The fields definitely got smaller through the day but at the end the presentation room was full of many people. Thankyou to everyone who puts the time and effort in because without you the Café Racer Club wouldn’t be able to have meetings and wouldn’t still be going strong. Thankyou to the flaggies, paramedics, start line, pit gate and all other officials who had to stand around in the freezing cold because without you these things wouldn’t happen.