Fun With Dick And Troy
(Or, How I Spent My WSB Vacation)
By: Dick Greenwood

It was 9pm on Thursday night when my wife had had enough of my sad face.
"Go" ,she said.
"Ok" ,I replied.
"To Philip Island" ,she muttered.
"Oh............thanks!!!!!!" I yelled.
Now......I had a decision to make. Go to WSB for 4 days.......or spend Saturday riding around Canberra with Bill and Tim.
Hmmmm.........Canberra or WSB.................???

So, with stuff all sleep and minimal preparation, I left home at 6.30am for the 1,000k ride south. TO THE WSB!!!!
I decided to follow the coast road, and get some twisties in. Unfortunately, the road was damp early on in the ride, so I couldn't hook in too hard through Kiama bends and the road to Berry. The VTR felt a little strange in the handling dept but I hadn't carried a Gearsack and tent and stuff before. I found that I had to lean right forward to get the bike
feeling better. I was getting faster through the swervy bits as the road dried.......but came over  a crest near Milton and found the all the traffic had come to a stop, and was banked up for a few K's. I made my way up to the front of the queue, and found that the Hwy was closed while a truck that had gone into an embankment was removed, the driver evidently losing most of his head. He was helicoptered out....don't think he lived. I took a pic........
After an hour we were let through, and I had a traffic clear run, especially most of the cops still at the accident scene. I sat on 180 kph for a while. There were a few more delays due to road works and the odd accident, but I kept the pace up. I wanted to get there in daylight, nd 1000k is a long way on a VTR seat. I caught up with a group (brace?) of Duc riders, and rode with them for a bit, but as they were only going 120kph,I decided to go it alone. We came up to some sweepers on the northern side of Bega (know them Bill?), and took all seven of them doing 180.I don't know what the bends were speed posted at, but I was almost on the limit of lean angle. Lovely stuff.
Well, fate finally caught up with me coming into Orbost, just on the Victorian side of the border. I had been pretty vigilant in looking out for cops...............but this was a Subaru WRX.....with a radar wielding cop inside.
Sigh.............He came on strong at first..........saying it was a $265 fine for doing 135 in a 100 zone.
So I did my best H E A T H E R impersonation, and batted my eyelids a bit. He came down to $165......so I leaned forward so he could see some cleavage....and he came down to the minimum fine of $105!! Thanks HEATHER.............
I took it easy the rest of the way.......finally arriving at the Island at 6pm.
I hadn't organised anywhere to stay, so I rang my friends on the off-chance.......and they had two houses booked, one for the Corser family, and one for the rest of the friends. And they had a spare bed! I went to the house, unpacked, then headed into Cowes, the main town. Had a meal, sucked some piss, then settled back to watch the show. Nothing like drunken idiots on motorbikes, with the cops doing nothing and letting people enjoy themselves. Burnout after burnout, fireworks....pretty girls......good beer. I walked (ok...staggered) back to the house in the wee hours....content with life.
Woke up pretty hungover, and headed for the track, about 5 k's away by the detours the police had put in place.
Arrived at the track, and rode around the perimeter, soaking up the atmosphere and checking out the cool bikes. Found an awesome looking VTR, with an amazing paintjob. Took some pics......
A couple of light showers came over the track.......but didn't really disrupt the races.
I sat with the Corser family and met some cousins and uncles......nice people. Troys' cousin ended up staying in the same room as me on Saturday night, nice chap. He had bought a Triumph Sprint the day before......looked cool with the polished wheels.
Back to Cowes after the qualifying was over, and hit the town again. Cowes really rocks on the Saturday night, and the place was packed. The police barricade off the area in front of the pub, and basically let the bikers do as they please. Which is a lot! I was impressed with one chaps effort in hopping off the bike and walking it around...........spinning the back wheel and doing an amazing burnout. Another chap did a burnout on an old Z1000 till the tyre popped........then returned an hour later with a brand new tyre on it.....then proceeded to shred that one too.
And the crowd went wild..................
I met up with some chaps from Canberra that I had met once before. One guy was Tims' mate Neil...who......believe it or not.............bought his yeller VTR from that crazy guy from South Aussie, Chris. He was on this list at one stage.........some of you guys will still have his home page
URL http://sportsbikes.stargate.nu/
I arranged to meet up with them after the races to ride home together......always good to ride with someone.
So.....race day !!
I sat with Steve and Carol Corser (parents of Troy), and managed to borrow Carols pit pass.
Checked out the pits, looking for the VTR that had been allowed to race in the WSB. They were worried that it would run out of gas before the race was over....silly people!!
I took out my camera.....only to find that I only had one shot left!
Decisions!
Here was Foggy handing out signed posters...and there was Troy..ooh..and look at the purty umbrella girls. Sigh.
I decided to save the shot for the VTR.
Loser.
I was walking around the back of the pits, when I remembered that my ....daughters best friends mum.....grew up with Aaron Slight, and would be at the races too. So I went off to search for Slighty.
Saw him coming out of a shed with a pretty girl...and walked past him to the girl.
"Hi, are you Aarons sister", I enquired.
"Um, yeah",she answered in her Kiwi accent.
She was actually quite nice, and took me with her to find the elusive...daughters best friends mum.
Had coffee with them.....then said my goodbyes in search of the elusive VTR.
Couldn't find the fucker anywhere!!!
I tried to get into the front part of the pits...but was stopped by security. Kept on searching, then noticed that all the sidecars were out of their garages for a photo shoot. Noticed that the garages led to the front of the pits.
Hehe........quick Dick sneaked through and made my way down the restricted area....determined to find that goddamn VTR.
No sign of it.
People were running around everywhere, then I realised that the first leg of the WSB was starting in 15 mins.
I got nervous, and needed a pee, as all nervous people do.
Found a toilet, and as I finished,a little Jap guy came running in, all nervous too.
Haga.
In the flesh, so to speak.
Taking control of my camera with one remaining photo left, Evil Dick urged me to get the shot, of Haga doing a wee.
Nice Dick said don't even think about it.
Sigh.......nice Dick won.
He was such a "little" chap too.
So, out of the pits, with not a single photo taken!
Big time loser.
Watched the race with the Corsers, standing on the roof of their "support" vehicle. I took a pic..........after I bought a new film.
Yup...Troy won...........yea.......the Corser entourage did maketh lots of noise.
Spent the time between races watching the "fools on the hill" in the
campground cajole passing people to either "show us yer tits", or anyone on a
bike to do a wheelie. I took some pics.......
A crowd had gathered to watch these sensational "Moriwaki" bikes do some
screaming burnouts on the grass, when a guy on a Ducati 748SP dropped it for
no reason, and fell, hitting his helmetless head pretty hard.
It's good how the front brake lever has a notch in it so that it breaks
halfway down the lever, and leaves you enough of a lever to ride home.
The guy eventually sprang to his feet and yelled that he was alright, then
fell to the ground as he tried to remount his machine.
It's good how the clutch lever has this little indent...................
He was pissed as a newt.

Ok...I'm really tired right now...so I'll speed it up.
Watched Troy win the second race...family happy.
Met up with the Canberra people.....all up there were three VTR's, two
916's, and $40,000 996SP, a Harley RoadKing and a buzzy little GSXR750.The 996
guy had an $800 radar detector, so he led the way. Sat on 140kph till we got
to Sale, and stayed in a pub. The owner managed to squeeze 8 of us into 2 rooms and the TV room, and that cost us $50.
Between us.
Damn cheap.
Left Sale after a $5 breakfast, and found thick fog everywhere. It was set in
for a couple of hundred k's. It sounded real horny riding in a "freight
train" of all these throbbing V- Twins, and overtook many detectorless
bikes.......ahhh the sound.
Left the highway, and went up the Cann River road, and did some Duc hunting up
there let me tell ya!
Stopped for gas at Bombala, and met a guy I ride with occasionally who lives near me.
So I said goodbye to the Canberra guys, and rode with another VTR, a TL-S, a
Vararedo and a 1200 Bandit.
These guys rode at the speed limit.....which was a bit boring.
Finally got home....sore butt and sore head. Gotta remember to put my
earplugs back in after stopping for gas!
All in all, it was a great weekend, good weather and great company.
You guys HAVE to get over here one day and get to the Island.
There's lots more to tell....but I'm plumb tuckered out.

Night night.....

Sore and tired Dick
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