Trans Tasman Challenge 2006

Round 1 -Palmyra Dragway, Queensland, Australia 12-August 2006

Round 1 of the Trans Trasman Challenge was held at Mackay's Palmyra Dragway on 12 August 2006, as part of the annual all-bike meeting. A great day's racing had by all, but the main event was to be held at Darwin's Hidden Valley Dragstrip the following week, and Darwin didn't disappoint, really turning it on for the region's Kiwi & fellow Australian interstate visitors, read on.....

Round 2 - Hidden Valley Dragstrip - Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia, 19-August 2006

The second and final round of the 2006 Trans Tasman Dragbike Challenge was the underlying feature in a huge night of bike racing at Darwin’s Hidden Valley on 19^th August. Seven Top Fuel Motorcycles headlined the event in what was the biggest bike meeting seen in the Top End since the legendary meets of the late 80’s early 90’s. Track records were reset round after round and personal best ET’s and MPH were recorded by many of the riders in what is the ultimate compliment to the excellent track preparation by host King Cobra Rod & Custom.

Racers traveled from Perth, Sydney, Tasmania, New Zealand, Brisbane and Alice Springs to support the event and all were impressed with the facilities and the amount of traction on the flat Darwin surface. A large crowd filled the grassy hill and corporate spectator stands and they were treated to close, fast, thrilling, uninterrupted racing throughout the night and truly appreciated the opportunity to see some of the fastest bikes in Australia and New Zealand in action.

The five motorbike brackets being Modified Bike, Street Harley, Street Jappa’s, Nostalgia bikes and Top Fuel Motorcycle were well supported by Darwin’s local band of Supercharged Outlaws and full fields of Top Competition, Super Street and Street along with a huge burnout display by Brett ‘The Boss’ Stevens in his supercharged BA Falcon ute. Combined with recent successful meetings and great weather, this event highlighted Darwin as the place to race and one of the ‘must visit’ regional tracks in Australia.

TOP FUEL MOTORCYCLE

Racing commenced at 7.00pm with Athol Williams up first after earning a round one bye and once again impressed the large crowd and the other racers with another record setting 6.876 @ 193.97 mph. Troy Mclean on the Jack Daniels Harley was lined up next against Mark Ashelford on his Attitude Racing Harley, noise, smoke and nitro fumes filling the air after big burnouts. Troy got away first and was never headed, crossing the line with a 7.319 to Ash’s 8.495 @ 169.17 mph. Craig ‘ Charlie’ Bonwick on the now blue Mick Murray Harley line up next against Single on the other Attitude bike, Charlie taking an easy win with an 8.520 @160mph after troubles with the Perth based Harley. Brett Stevens ran a cylinder dropping 7.774 @ 161 mph to defeat Brad Perry whose Kawasaki failed to make it past the burnout box.

Round two of Top Fuel Motorcycle and more records were set. An incredible side by side 6.8 second pass by the Jack Daniels Harleys was a real treat for the Top Enders. Brett’s 6.875 overcome Troy’s 6.871 as Troy clipped a timing block at the 1000 foot mark, but the track record had been reset again.

Athol Williams then paired up with Craig Bonwick and notched up another win for the Kiwi’s popping the parachute early with a squigley 8.31 to the Harley’s early shut off 15.06.

The air was good and the traction even better as Troy McLean and Mark Ashelford entered the burnout pad for the consolation final.

After suitably warming the tyres, Troy raised the bar again with a 6.744 @ 195 mph to rest the track record again and dispose of the Attitude racer’s 7.644 @ 154.1 mph. It was an excellent run by Troy and now stands as the quickest and fastest pass ever by a motorcycle on the Hidden Valley surface.

The main final between Athol Williams and Brett Stevens promised so much with Suzuki vs Harley and New Zealand vs Australia, but a fuel line leak forced Athol to shut down the supercharged Jappa and allow Brett to run a 7.44 solo @ 153 mph.

MODIFIED BIKE

Modified bike action was fierce as 12 riders fought it out for top qualifying honours. In the end it was Kiwi Ian Hilder with an 8.494 on his Rice Rocket Suzuki narrowly ahead of the Turbo Suzuki of Phil Petersen’s 8.51 who traveled up from Perth for the event. Greg ‘Dude’ Taylor secured third spot with a 8.700 on his 1327 Suzuki closely followed by Steve Paris’s 8.704 and Scott White’s 8.79 all done with Suzuki power. The highest placed Kawasaki belonged to ‘The Flying Dr Flick’ aka Wayne Bird with a 9.31 who made the long tow up form Tasmania to be involved in the Challenge. Baldy Sainsbury was ecstatic about his PB 9.434 @ 145 mph to put him in seventh spot while Margie Paris was consistent as ever with a 9.49. A welcome return by Mick Murray on his PCB Harley had him next with a 9.65 in what may have been his last meeting on this Harley. New Zealander Ray Pratt aboard his V Rod Destroyer Harley qualified  in 10th position with a 9.786 ahead of Ian ‘Benny’ Bennet’s 10.0 on his ZXR1200, the only no wheelie bar bike in the field.

Dave Lewsley was riding the ex ‘Mad’ Ron Laycock’s supercharged single cam 830 Honda but teething problems held it to a best of 11.55 to sit at the rear of the field. Geoff Hall did run a 10.8 on his modified Kawasaki but engine damage meant it saw the inside of the trailer early.

In round one, Ian Hilder notched up a win for the Kiwis with a 8.58 on a 8.45 dial in after Phil Petersen left his fuel tap in the off position. Steve Paris overcome Dude Taylor by 2 hundreth’s of a second in a close one and Scott White’s Suzuki got the win on Baldy Sainsbury’s Kawasaki with an 8.79 on a 8.70 dial in. Margie Paris ran a 9.54 on a 9.49 dial in to account for Mick Murray on his PCB Harley while Ray Pratt was too good for B B Benny’s Kawasaki to give the Kiwi’s another win. A red light by the Tasmanian Dr Flick handed the win to Dave Lewsley who was slowly coming to grips with the supercharged Honda.

Steve Paris recorded a win against Phil Petersen’s Turbo Suzuki with an 8.63 on a 8.60 dial in and was happy with his best mph of 157.

Margie Paris recorded a breakout personal best of 9.391 @ 138 mph to give Scotty White a lucky win after his 0.738 light, although he did run a 8.86 on a 8.80. Mick Murray and Baldy both had problems on their next pass, a faulty kill switch and a broken drive chain respectively ending their runs. Kiwi Ray Pratt looked and sounded impressive on his Harley Destroyer and had his second win when he overcame the Honda of Dave Lewsley. A 9.36 on a 9.30 were winning numbers for Dr Flick and good enough to overcome B B Benny’s 10.55 on a 9.90 dial in, although Benny’s burnout’s were cool.

The final was once again a Kiwi versus Aussie and Harley versus Suzuki affair, Ray Pratt on his destroyer and Scott White on board the Suzuki. Both had won 3 from 3 with Scotty getting the advantage at the tree. Ray’s 9.65 dial in was not well supported by a .663 light, and Scott was able to reel him in posting an 8.84 on an 8.82 with a .580 light to take the win.

STREET HARLEY

Ray Pratt recorded an early win for NZ after earning a first round bye, but Greg Shepherd evened things out by defeating Dave Anderson (aboard Kiwi Barry Sproule's FXD) in a close first race. Heath Costello helped Australia along with a win over Trevor Fellows in a race of the FXR’s, with an 11.48 on an 11.40 dial in. It was good to see Brett Stevens racing in a DYO bracket, but it was Rob Thoms who earned the right to say he had beaten ‘the boss’ after a good 12.75 on a 12.70 dial in, in his first ever competitive drag race. Col Smith finished the first round with a good win over JT who was fast coming to grips with the FXR.

Friendship among Harley riders is legendary and was certainly evident in the staging lanes with all riders enjoying the atmosphere and the keen racing against the other Harleys.

Dave Anderson headed the start of the second round with a bye and a Kiwi win, but is was once again Greg Shepherd, who was now down to 11.0’s who beat Kiwi Trevor Fellows to level the score. Heath Costello’s FXR was too good for Ray Pratt, maybe the panniers on the big Mother Ship were slowing her down a bit. Brett Steven’s long smoky burnouts are a trademark on his nitro Harley, but he was also making a pretty good effort burning the rear tyre on the Fatboy in preparation for a win against Col Smith in round 2. JT and Rob Toms followed suit with good burnouts  in their pairing which was won by JT by just 6 hundreth’s of a second.

Third qualifier Greg Shepherd who was riding the wheels off Brett’s new sports bike, earned a third round bye and tested his 11.0 dial in with a 11.05, giving him three straight wins and a berth in the final. Rob Thoms was enjoying his first drag race meeting, even more so when he beat Dave Anderson on the FXD by a small margin. Another big Steven’s burnout preceded his meeting with Ray Pratt’s fast Road King. Ray was pumped but too keen and left before the green handing Brett the win but running a new PB of 10.60 on the big orange beastie. Heath Costello was hopeful in the final match up of round 3 against JT, but it was the little guy from the Wreckers who took the win in another match up of FXR’s.

STREET BIKE

Darwin seeding is done with best racing in mind where like bikes race each other, not fastest against the slowest, so the two heavy hitter top qualifiers met in round one. Troy Sutherland was up against Ben Crawford, Suzuki Hayabusa vs Kawasaki ZX12R heads up, both with a 10.3 dial in, the win going to Suzuki by a sizeable 0.4 second. It was Yamaha R1 against GPZ 1170 when Daniel Chey met Rob Harrison. Both have become regular racers in Darwin with Rob taking the win on this occasion by a narrow .08 margin. The entertaining style of Bob Castle on the Bandit did not help him against Paul Priore’s GSXR and he lost even after a better reaction time. A double breakout means both riders are trying their best as Geoff Hall and Ben Fussell found out when they met, the narrow win going to Geoff Hall.

Daniel Chey and Troy Sutherland clashed to commence round two, Sutherland taking a close win on his Hayabusa. Rob Harrison, Geoff Hall and Ben Fussell all clicked win lights, as did Bob Castle in his race against Brian Burke, wobbly enjoying his first outing on a Suzuki Bandit. Troy Sutherland made it three from three after defeating the GPZ of Rob Harrison in the third round; Ben Fussell, Bob Castle and Daniel Chey also recording good wins.

NOSTALGIA BIKES

Dick Grylls had always been interested to find out just how quick his well travelled 1944 1200cc Indian really was so he jumped at the chance to find out.

THE TRANS TASMAN DRAGBIKE CHALLENGE

Initially run in New Zealand in 1993 and resurrected in 2005, the first challenge to be held on Australian soil was conducted over two meetings being the Mackay all bike on 12 August and Darwin’s Hidden Valley on 19 August. Five of the seven Northern Territory riders who went to NZ last year (being Mick Murray, Greg Taylor, Geoff Hall, Margie and Steve Paris) and Bob Castle towed to Mackay to race in round one. Kiwi riders who made the journey across the ditch are Athol Williams ( Supercharged Suzuki Top Bike) Ian Hilder ( Suzuki Modified Bike) Ray Pratt ( V-Rod Destroyer and a 1214ci Road King) Trevor Fellows (96ci FXR) and Dave Anderson (on Barry Sproule's 96ci FXD).

Due to the variety of machines involved all the Kiwi bikes ran in their respective brackets and raced against an Aussie each time they fronted the tree. One point was awarded for each win to either Australia or New Zealand each time a Kiwi raced.

After Mackay the score was 9 to 6 in favour of Australia, but things really heated up in Darwin when the Kiwi’s raced to a 15 to 14 lead with one round of Harley’s to go and then the finals. I am pleased to report that Col Smith, Brett Stevens and Rob Toms won their last round races in Harley Street, and Scott White won the Modified bike final over Ray Pratt and Brett Stevens beat Athol Williams who broke in the Top Bike final.

The final tally was a win to Australia 19 to 15, the third win in a row from the three events held.

Many thanks to Darwin's Steve Paris for this report.

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Next update will include photos from the Trans Tasman Challenge, to be posted soon.