Saturday started with yours truly getting well and truly bogged in tony and Angela’s front paddock and those little ducks that followed me in got stuck as well.

that was a low point!  After a soothing cup of coffee and a small delicacy to have as a chaser, the runs participants began to arrive and lunch was served. What was supposed to have been a bowl of soup and bit of stale bread, transformed itself with a wave of Angela’s magic wand into a table groaning under the weight of plates of sandwiches, cakes, a pie warmer full of sausage rolls, quiches, and of course pies, with Angela having to be physically restrained from bringing out the soup (and stale bread) and a good five minutes of counselling as to why the Lasagne probably wasn’t a good idea at this point. 

the day was looking up! With full bellies and empty tanks, the run started and headed off to the servo for those in need. i had spent a couple of hours on the previous day finding the old long circuit route, and making sure it still existed and was trafficable; it did, and it was, albeit with about four kilometres of dirt. Some of the runs participants decided that the dirt section wasn’t for them and that they would meet us at the other end of it. Oh great plans of mice and men! What started out with seven bikes was quickly whittled down to two, both pre 1928 bikes so appropriate for the course. We started out at where the pits had been and headed down the hill to Hell Corner. the course was roughly an oblong covering about 12 miles of fairly straight roads with sharp bends at course directional changes. We shot through Hell Corner and went on to go through Heaven Corner and on to  Rhyll a sharp right hander onto the Rhyll Newhaven road and off for another 2 miles where we turned right again and onto the dirt section, this was smooth and straight with gentle undulations and thanks to the recent rains, not dusty. the main road was then met and a fairly long uphill gradient with a gentle sweeping right hander at the top, i would say the bikes would have been going full pelt at this point. i can only think that a local wag named the next corner Gentle Annie. you are going around a sweeping right hander flat out, only having to turn into a sharp left hander half way round the bend that went back on itself, and if you survived that, 70 yards further on you had to confront another sharp right hander, then back onto straight sections. After a couple of circuits we called it a day and took our hats off to those gentlemen who went around this course 16 times, flat out, and survived; well most of them, plus Angela’s afternoon tea was calling. 

We arrive back in time for the last quarter of that epic tigers win, toasted sandwiches and tea, and young Paddy saving the day by towing us out of the boggy paddock with the Enfield outfit, leaving our host tony with the job of turning what had been a pristine front paddock, from a mud bash back into it’s former self.

As an aside to the conjecture about which year was the first motorcycle Grande Prix run on Philip island, Jim Scaysbrook the editor of Old Bike Australasia magazine wrote to John Cox confirming that the date was indeed 1928, and that the bikes raced the “ Long Circuit”.

Sunday’s run saw a lot more bike’s and riders ready to do loops through the hinterland of Kilcunda. the day had promised showers and a cool wind, it didn’t disappoint with the showers being most notable on my face, when it felt like a thousand small needles doing the polka on my bare skin. We arrived in Loch for morning tea, a quick repair to a very leaky cracked petrol pipe, and a petrol top up because this was the last petrol stop for the next 100 km. the run moved north of Poowong this year to sample some different roads, and this made the run a bit longer, albeit, without some of the run’s participants as they had decided to get in early lunch orders. We joined them on the return leg to enjoy good old country pub grub at the Poowong Hotel. then it was back to Kilcunda, running on fumes left in the petrol tank. All in all a very enjoyable weekend, made all the better by Angela, and tony’s hospitality and a back up crew that wasn’t called into operation. Well done to all participants. 

Participants.
Paul mitchell - 1925 Norton
Alan Scoble - 1937 Rudge
Peter Growse - 1930 Rudge
Brian tyler - 1926 BSA/1948 Sunbeam
John Street - 1917 JAP
Tony Chaplin - 1929 Royal Enfield (Sunday)
Ken Miller - 1942 Harley Davidson
mark Campagnolo - 1942 BSA
Denis Reed-Smith - 1927 AJS
Paddy Walsh - 1929 Royal Enfield (Saturday)
Andy Agar - 1947 Harley Davidson
Lindsay James - 1947 Indian
Animal - Harley Davidson
Anthony Lister - Harley Davidson
Rob miller - BMW
Jerri Lee miller - Triumph (Saturday)
Earl Notman - Yamaha

Back Up: Jerri Lee Miller (Sunday), Angela Chaplin, Denis Reed-Smith (Sunday)