Rob North
Triumph Trident 750
champions, motorcycle royalty, it’s fabulous.”
Jamieson rode two machines over the
weekend. His main bike, a Bimota YB8
served him well in the F1 class while his other
machine, a Yamaha 550, suffered engine
problems which required a total rebuild.
Jamieson said that after the cam chain had let
go on Friday ruining the engine, friends worked
overnight to try and rebuild it to let him defend
the F2 title he had won for the past two years.
“People came out of the woodwork, offering
us their workshop space, tools and ideas to fix
the problem, and so we managed to cobble
together a secondhand bike engine which
made defending the title very hard,” he said.
Former AMA superbike star Wes Cooley
said he had been out to New Zealand and
Levels in 1977 and knew just how wonderful
the place and the people were.
“I’ve been away for 40 years and I came back
and everyone is treating me everyone is so nice,
the racing society here has such a great close
bond that I feel right back at home again.”
Cooley also said it was nice to be back with familiar
motorcycles from the 70s and 80s era when he
was at the top before a major accident stopped
his racing, “When I was racing that was just the
technological stage for motorcycles growing up
and you raced what you built, so I fit right in to it
here. When I decided to come back from doing
the nursing work I was doing, I just fitted right in.”
Cooley said that with the current state of
motorcycles today where computers run
everything this style of classic racing is a good
thing for everyone because riders can easily
put different carbs or suspension bits on to go
faster without resorting to the laptop. “I think
it has brought the enthusiasm of the spectator
back into motorcycle racing,” Cooley said.
That enthusiasm is reflected by 63-year-old
Kieren Kortegast from Christchurch, who was
looking for something a bit more exciting in his
life after turning 60 so his wife brought him a
450cc dirt bike, “It almost killed me! I had some
horrendous crashes, so that went and then I got
into racing and it’s been a steep learning curve.”
He thinks he is the youngest old rider out
there, “I started with CAMS and as a junior
Andrew Stroud aboard
the Britten V1000
racer at 61 they were very obliging, very helpful
and a lot hints, they gave me the room and
the time to learn and grow as a rider.”
On Saturday during his first race another
rider fell off in front of him at the start.
“I had to make the decision to either hit him, his
bike or his bikini faring so I went for the fairing!”
Kortegast said he was getting quicker as the
day went on, but admits he left his run at World
Superbikes and MotoGP a bit late, lamenting
that “They don’t have it for grandads...”
KIWI RIDER 17