New records at 2016 Australian Historics
This weekend saw Tasmania once again play host to the 2016 Australian Historic Road Racing Championship at the picturesque Symmonds Plains, near Launceston, making it the fastest Australian Historic meet yet.
The conditions were perfect for racing on Saturday and Sunday, the crowd was amped and the riders determined to push their machines across the Championship line where 129 competitors from all over the country battled for top honours in class, resulting in numerous lap records being broken over and over again.
As always, pit garages were littered with finely crafted and fettled and well-known machines of the two and three wheeled variety representing a never ending list of famous marques as Norton, Vellocette, Augusta, Matchless, Harley Davidson, Indian, AJS and Benelli to name but a few.
It was the local father / son stoush for the top result in the New Era 750 class piloting their Honda’s that grabbed the crowd’s attention. Scott and Malcolm Campbell finished first and second respectively with an incredible +0.492 seconds separating the Campbell clan, Victorian rider Ryan Taylor astride his Suzuki following in close third at +.895 behind the pace.
Tom Bramich took out the Post Classic 500cc and Forgotten Era 500cc on board the mighty Paton 500, whopping the field by a full 27.6 seconds! Aaiden Coote (NSW) placed first in the Post Classic 750cc class, second for the Post Classic Unlimited on his Trident 750. But, it was the Tasmanians that dominated the 250cc New Era Production class with Rowell, Dykes, McMahon and Smith all having an incredibly successful weekend.
The Australian Historic Championship series this year has seen a previously unprecedented calibre of bikes and riders that has now culminated in the smashing of previous lap records set for most classes across the board. Listed below are records broken over the weekend;
Lap Records – Saturday
UNLIMITED FORGOTTEN ERA Race 2 New race lap record for UNFE class by Chas Hern (VIC) 59.350
UNLIMITED FORGOTTEN ERA Race 1 New race lap record for UNFE class by Chas Hern (VIC) 59.737
UNLIMITED POST-CLASSIC / 500cc FORGOTTEN ERA Race 2 New race lap record for 500FE class by Tom Bramich (VIC) 1:04.424
UNLIMITED POST-CLASSIC / 500cc FORGOTTEN ERA Race 1 New race lap record for 500FE class by Tom Bramich (VIC) 1:04.860
UNLIMITED NEW ERA New race lap record for UNNE class by Chas Hern (VIC) 57.876
500cc POST-CLASSIC / 500cc CLASSIC New race lap record for 500PC class by Tom Bramich (VIC) 1:05.538
UNLIMITED CLASSIC / 750cc POST-CLASSIC New race lap record for UNCL class by Aaiden Coote (VIC) 1:07.314
SIDECARS – CLASSIC & POST-CLASSIC Race 1 New race lap record for CLSCR class by Maxwell Hooper/ Brad Gorrie (VIC) 1:11.569
Lap Records – Sunday
UNLIMITED POST-CLASSIC / 500cc FORGOTTEN ERA Race 3 New race lap record for 500FE class by Corey Forde (NSW) 1:03.563
UNLIMITED NEW ERA Race 3 New race lap record for UNNE class by Chas Hern (VIC) 57.367
350cc CLASSIC / 250cc POST-CLASSIC Race 3 New race lap record for 250PC class by Murray Seabrook (TAS) 1:11.036
UNLIMITED FORGOTTEN ERA Race 3 New race lap record for UNFE class by Chas Hern (VIC) 58.796
UNLIMITED CLASSIC / 750cc POST-CLASSIC Race 3 New race lap record for UNCL class by Aiden Coote (VIC) 1:06.211
250cc FORGOTTEN ERA / 350cc POST-CLASSIC Race 3 New race lap record for 250FE class by Stephen Ward (NSW) 1:07.003
750cc FORGOTTEN ERA / 750cc NEW ERA Race 3 New race lap record for 750FE class by Scott Campbell (TAS) 59.510
700cc CLASSIC / 350cc FORGOTTEN ERA Race 3 New race lap record for 700CL class by Peter Hinton (NSW) 1:05.068
UNLIMITED CLASSIC / 750cc POST-CLASSIC Race 4 New race lap record for UNCL class by Aiden Coote (VIC) 1:06.455
For simplicity’s sake and due to the many Historic classes that cater for such a wide and diverse range of unique race machines, click here for the official 2016 Australian Historic Championship results and times.
For further information about Historic road racing over the weekend, visit the MA website or Tasmainian Motorcycle Facebook page