Motorcycle Maketplace Magazine

By Steve Green
www.workshopmanuals.co.nz

On Sunday the Palmerston North Off Road Racing Club held a club day at their track at the far end of Motuiti Road, Foxton. A small group of spectators enjoyed the low key day in the sun watching the racers competing on a rolling track that was part grass, part sand and part mud, but all fun.
Taking advantage of the natural terrain the track had a couple of fast corners as well as one tricky uphill corner that caught out a couple of drivers. An old lump of tree trunk and two drivers who got too close to each other brought one race to an early end with one of the organisers parked his car on it’s side in the middle of the track right on the finish line. The car was quickly returned to it’s wheels and after the addition of some more oil into the engine the car fired up and was out again in the next race, no worse for it’s roll over.
Levin racers Peter Hogg and Wayne Kessell were both racing in class five Off Roaders. Hogg’s Off Roader is powered by a 1200cc, Nissan A12 with VW gearbox and drive train while Kessell’s is powered by a 1300cc, Mazda E2 with a Mazda gearbox.
Both Levin drivers are former Stockcar racers which may explain an incident where Kessell drove over the rear wheel of Hogg’s car.
For the full set of photos see www.sportsimages.co.nz

Sled Dogs, Waitarere, August 22nd & 23rd, 2009.
By Steve Green
www.workshopmanuals.co.nz

6am Saturday morning and once again I was sitting in my van at the entrance to Waitarere Forest, thinking to myself, “what am I doing here”. The reason was the Winter Wind Down which was held over the weekend in the far Northern end of Waitarere forest.
For the various dogs, the frosty morning was ideal to keep them cool while racing. The Sled dogs competing on the weekend included Siberian Huskies, Alaskan Malamutes, German Short Haired Pointers, Alaskan Huskies, Dalmatians, however Sled Racing is open to any dogs that love to run.
During the middle of the day it gets too hot for the dogs to run and they overheat, so the event was split into three parts for the dogs benefit, Saturday morning, late afternoon and early evening with the third session early on Sunday morning.
For the early evening races after the sun had set on Saturday night, the mushers had small portable lights to see the way, as did most of the small crowd of spectators.
The competitors were split into ten different classes ranging from young Lashaye Theodore in the single dog, Pee Wee class through to Deane Wald in the six dog class.
There were four different courses for the different classes from the longer 7.8 Kilometre course down to the shorter 2 Kilometre course for the Juniors & Veterans, as well as a 200 metre Peewee course.
The Sleds that the dogs pull behind them roll on push bike wheels and are mostly constructed from light weight tubing with the rider standing and controlling the team by way of brakes on the wheels, voice commands to the dogs and shifting his or her body weight. The bigger classes run three wheels while the smaller classes just have two wheels and are effectively a children’s push scooter design with a low platform the rider stands on and can use one foot to assist the dogs.
It was painfully obvious that the dogs just loved to participate, as between events, they would lay around patiently but as soon as they were hitched to a Sled, they started barking and pulling on the leads. More than a few dogs were so keen to go that they had to be physically held on the start line by helpers until the starter said go. Once released they were off at a run, obviously enjoying themselves and not slowing down until they got back to the finish line.
For the full set of photos see www.sportsimages.co.nz

Spectro Winter MX Series, Foxton, August 2nd, 2009.
By Steve Green, www.workshopmanuals.co.nz

On Sunday, August 2nd, the Manawatu Orion Motorcycle Club hosted the Spectro Winter Motocross Series on the Anderson Property, Motuiti Road, just North of Foxton. For the close to 200 riders on the main track and the children’s track, the day started very cold and wet and remained cold for most of the day with a chilling wind blowing all day. The middle of the day was not too bad, however by the last race, even the announcer, Neil Richie, was heard to comment that it felt like it was going to start snowing any minute.
The track for the day was laid out in a huge paddock and wound its way back and fourth, covering at least a kilometre from start to finish. The tracks included small jumps and some tight corners making it a physically challenging course for riders. The morning rain kept the dust down and the only visible sign of the passage of the hundreds of bikes were some impresive ruts in the corners, especially at the small chicane in front of the lap scorers caravan.
The smaller of the two tracks was for the younger riders and little 50cc children’s bikes while the older children took to the big track. Unfortunately for them the big track was hard work when you were racing a small wheeled motocrosser and a couple of the younger riders took tumbles, as did a couple of the older riders.
The next big Motocross event down this way is the Mort Andrews Memorial Sand Prix which will be held on Sunday, August 23rd, at the Taikorea Motorcycle Park on Taikorea Road, that Mort himself started many years ago. Photos of this and other upcoming events can be seen on www.sportsimages.co.nz