EDITOR SPEAKS

Remember a time when neighbours and people who were friends of friends would help you at the drop of a hat whenever you were in need? Well it seems that this type of help is slowly sliding down the slippery slope to extinction. However, at the recent Barry Sheene Festival of Speed race meet at Sydney Motorsport Park, I found that the spirit of helping each other is still alive and well.

One of the reasons I got out of racing many years ago was the bitchiness of other competitors not happy that you were beating them, and generally the attitude from people in the paddock who didn’t even need to be there. When I talked to my mate Chris about racing bikes, and in particular Post Classics, the fi rst question I thought of was: what’s the feeling like in the paddock? Are people friendly? Do they help each other out if need be? He said yes, and I can testify to that after my experience at this year’s BSFoS.

My rear sprocket carrier bearing (only one meeting old!) collapsed, chewing a big chunk out of the side of my swingarm.

I thought my weekend was over after only one race, but I hadn’t counted on some great folk – Brian, Simon and Brad. Without their help I would have been packed up and watching the racing from the sideline. And Isle of Man TT racer Alex Pickett, who needed to jump on my bike for the last Pre Modern F1 race, wouldn’t have got enough “ticks” to get his mountain licence for this year.

So I’d really like to recommend that you get in touch with Simon at Metropolitan Motorcycle Spares at Silverwater, NSW if you need any second hand parts, and Brad at B & C Motorcycles in Newcastle, NSW if you need repairs. I’m sure there are plenty of other great people like this around the country. Let us know who they are by sending us an email; we like to promote people who do good work.

And talking of good work, I’ve been chatting with Mark McVeigh at MotoDNA, who provides training courses for anyone from novice to full blown racer. Mark loves to see the improvements customers make to their skillsets, making them safer on the road and giving them more pleasure from their bike.

This is something I strongly urge you to consider – do a training course and make your riding more pleasurable; even top level racers get training to improve their skills even further. It will be some of the best money you’ll spend. Apart from MotoDNA, we also recommend the impressive services that Paul from Skillmaster provides. Check them out and you will see us there from time to time.

Cheers, Stuart.