Vintage Motorcross

Early in the month Mick saw a small article in the local paper advising that there would be a vintage motorcross meet happening at the track at the back of Mount Panorama.  It was being run by a visiting club, rather than the local club.

Seeing as he had been tagging along to quite a few quilt shows lately, it only seemed fair that I tag along with him.

The morning was cold and foggy at home so we rugged up.  However, up at the top of the Mount it was sunny and warm.  No need for the coat and beanie.

There was a great variety of older bikes.  

These were the models around when Mick was just a whipper snapper.

This took me back as well.  You see, Mick was a member of a dirt bike club when I met him over thirty years ago.  However, he had never entered an event.  Some of his mates were excellent motorcross and enduro riders, but Mick always either acted as their support or in an organising role.  

When I came along I became active in the club as well, working in the canteen and being roped into becoming the treasurer before I knew it.  We even went to the Snowys one Easter to do the special tests on the national Six-Day Enduro.  All great fun. Times moved on and we became interested in other things and our membership lapsed.

We arrived as they were about to start a race.  I can't remember pink being part of the riding outfit for blokes 30 years ago.

And they're away! Isn't it a gorgeous big tree they are starting under. See, it's not just about the bikes.

It wasn't long until we started to see the jumps.  Rather a nice view in the background as well.

After a while we moved to another section where you could see a lot more of the track.

This was a better place to see them jumping.

Some were rather more spectacular, particularly for the age and design of the bikes.  As Mick said, the tracks were a lot tamer back in the era of these bikes.

It was also interesting watching the blokes.  I noticed that the more impressive riders were rather svelte. A lot of the blokes riding would have been riding these bikes when they were new.  Quite a few weren't quite as slim as they would have been back in their youth.  Some were obviously happy just going around at a more leisurely pace and enjoying the ride.

We didn't stay up there too long, but it was good to see such a large turnout.  I do hope they all enjoyed their day.  We did.