ALBANY VINTAGE & CLASSIC MOTORCYCLE CLUB
August 2006 Club News
Vintage MX | Numbat | Forts | Holland Track | Calendar
Numbat Rally - June Long Weekend
The Numbat camp site is about 40ks from York heading east. It was a
bit dusty riding down the dirt road but that’s to be expected after a
dry start to winter. Rhonda was on the gate with the MRA, who organises
the Rally, and once she realised who we were, as we had full face
helmets on, she handed out our badges and info on the Rally in a wine
holder type bag - good idea.
We rode around the perimeter of the Rally looking for somewhere to
camp and come across Doug, who I wasn’t expecting as the last I’d heard
he’d given up the bikes and was into yachts - but now he had given up
the yachts and was back into bikes.. He was camped with Norm, and
they’d been joined by members of the BMEC (British Motorcycle
Enthusiasts Club). Then Andrew Sutcliffe came over, he’d ridden up on
the HRD. After spotting a few more familiar faces we put up the tents.
Ahhh this looks like a good weekend.
Time to open a tin, and maybe put my dinner (wrapped up in a microwave
dish, thanks to Chris) in the fire while it was still light. Time to
meet new people and make new friends - that’s one of the best parts of
motorcycle rallies everyone is very friendly and the atmosphere is
great. We had a good-sized fire going, as did the other 300 plus
rally-goers.
Unfortunately a couple of riders not looking where they were going
collided in the middle of the paddock and were taken away by ambulance
- not a good start for them for the weekend.
We thought we might take a wander a bit later in the evening,
although after stopping and chatting to the Collie mob and then the
Ducati Club for a hour or so we decided to return back to our fire
where we were visited by other rally-goers during the evening. There
were the normal petrol bombs going off in the fire of different camps
as well as fireworks and motorcycles zooming around in the paddock.
They were still going when I went to bed at 12.30 am. Great night,
although it did get cold during the night and it was the wise ones who
slept with all their gear on!
Next morning, a
leisurely breakfast was eaten before saying goodbye to the usual number
who could only stay one night. This included Andy Sutcliffe,who by the
way won Best Bike at the Rally.
We had a wander around the camp sites having a
look at the different
bikes etc before heading over to the gymkhana, which is always
entertaining, before it was lunch-time.
Our group had dwindled to four of us - still had a great fire
though, I think it must have devoured about a ute-load of wood during
the weekend. It’s a bit quieter on the Sunday afternoon and time to
kick-back before having another pleasant evening during which we were
visited by all manner of rally-goers - great night.
Next morning I packed my tent early and loaded the bike for my ride
back to Albany.
Captions: Musical Chairs.
Andrew Sutcliffe and Best Bike at the Rally.