Hurtle Team Racing Update

As you all know, after decades of really wanting to, I finally dragged together the cash, and the momentum to go racing. The club I joined - The Historic Competition Motorcycle Club, in Western Australia, is an absolute gem. I had a bunch of built in mates from the first day I arrived with a 35 year old, under prepared bike.

Then a couple of mates from work noticed how ridiculously good a time I was having, and that while no motorsport is as cheap as going for a swim at the beach, how really affordable the merriment is. Both of them had the good sense to start on Period 6 250cc (Japanese) motorcycles, as against my 10 years older Ducati. This meant their first year was hiccup free by comparison to mine, but at least one has followed into period 5 and really understands how much fun muscling the older bikes around is.

That friend, who set the P6 bike alight on track in year one, then managed to ignite the P5 bike while test running it, has become known as the Ghost Rider. It saddens me very deeply to confess that he's become faster than me. He is an outrageously good friend, genuinely quick on the track, and pretty handy with spanners, making my own preparations much more complete and my season more successful. Basically after some fettling by the Ghost Rider and some very knowledgeable and reasonably priced assistance from Todd Patterson at Wayne Patterson's Ducati centre, I have arrived at a place where the shortcomings you see on the track are all me.

You'll see here a photo of the successful duo, Captain Hurtle and the Ghost Rider, receiving richly deserved awards at the HCMC presentation night (Captain Hurtle, 3rd, P5 Senior, Ghost Rider Champion, P5, F750).

You can check out the Hurtle Team Racing Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/groups/399331713765077/.