46th Historic Winton a wet and wild affair

2023 Historic Winton

With Colin Rosewarne

This year’s Historic Winton (46th) event was carried out across a sunny but chilly Friday, lulling the inexperienced into a sense of false security, followed by a dull, overcast and freezing Saturday, then extremely and cold, wet and slippery Sunday.

Soaking up the few rays on a chilly day at Winton

Entry numbers were up which was great to see, with an ever growing second generation of racers taking on their elders for the dinner table bragging rights.

Passing the baton of knowledge albeit sometimes a bit garbled from Kenny Lucas OAM to Robbie Heather

This event featured quite a few father and son or daughter combos from the Chedwiggens, Birthisels, Gorries, Heaneys, Skewes and Petiths racing for those bragging rights.

Friday practice with a quiet affair, comprising lots of testing, tuning and the passing on of the information baton that is so synonymous with the Winton event, where old-timers impart their priceless knowledge to the young, hungry upcoming racers.

Veteran outfit king Dave Large studying the form guide for the weekend

Saturday morning saw many war stories told – and not a single lie – the bitterly cold day saw this photographer wearing more veneers of clothing than he’s ever ever worn in his photography career just to try and keep warm.

More knowledge passing on that is synonymous with Historic Winton

Low track temperatures early on dictated that close racing was largely left in the pit garages, most riders cautiously tiptoeing around for the morning’s sessions. Unlike the previous year’s morning session that was run in a pea soup fog, this year was just so cold that the temperature struggled to get in to double figures until the early afternoon.

One of the last bastions of the big banger two-strokes – Clive Hughes on the H2 Kawasaki leading the rest of the angry bees

The Irving Vincents in Horner’s corner featured a lone Beau Beaton this year, with his partner in speed Cam Donald being away on IoM TT duties.

Beato put on a highly memorable two- and three-wheeled display for the weekend in the Period 5 Unlimited class, which was undoubtably an event highlight for the smallish crowd.

Lesson time for Jack Petith and Scoobie Poucher on spannering the olkd school Urquhart Triumph outfit

Other than immense riding skill and a lot of horses, both the two- and three-wheeled Irving’s have footprints like your 15-year-old nephew, allowing the thunderous V-twins far greater speeds than most others in the field, with the only exception being a quite cautious Craig Ditchburn on his TZ750.

BMW G 310 & C 400 recalled for brake caliper corrosion

Historic Winton Road Racing Images | Gallery C

June 8, 2021

Historic Winton Road Racing Images | Gallery B

June 6, 2021

Craig Ditchburn on his TZ750 treading carefully in the cold conditions

Tyre footprints aside, the running of all period divisions in a single race saw both the Irvings and Ditchburn’s TZ providing plenty of sphincter clapping moments for quite a few of the mere mortal racers.

Sunday’s very wet conditions also saw many wary withdrawals, riders deciding to keep their powder dry for another time and give the treacherous, oily and water riddled track a miss.

Of those who did race, first up saw a combined Vintage, Class C, all 125s and Harley vs Indian battle.

Pete Large on his speedy little 250 Ducati Diana led from start to finish for an impressive clean sweep of the weekend.

A very rare sight of the Mark Lithgow Express GPZ550 derailed at the first turn

Some good tussles on the cold and unforgiving track saw the hand shifters putting on a great show in their regular Harley vs Indian Challenge. The silverware taken out by young guns Mick Beaumont (Indian Scout) followed by Jack Petith and an ever-charging Adam Moxey – both on WLA Harleys.

Garth Francis won the P3 500 Trophy despite slipper and treacherous conditions

Period 3 500s saw the withdrawal of veteran Bob Rosenthal largely handing the win to brave hearted but tenacious Garth Francis or Les Toohey. Francis on his Featherbed ESO came in ahead of Toohey on his Gold Star BSA, third claimed by Stacey Heaney on the Girl Rider BSA.

Multiple-time Australian two-stroke maestro Laughlan Hill on the Niko Bakker replica Ron Angel owned TZ350

Periods 4 and 5 competition saw the manageable four-strokers Hondas of Haydn Jones, David Campbell and Mark Dawson claim the top spots, multiple Australian two-stroke wizz Laughlan Hill then finishing ahead of Roly Ore – both on TZ350s, followed by Neale Weddall on an XT500 Yamaha.

Mick Pettifer left checking out Mark Dawson’s immaculate 1948 GP Triumph

In the three-wheeled division, the wet, slippery track had the fat wheeler’s power, traction and braking advantages largely negated by their skinny wheeled cousins. The old adage of ‘sometimes less is more’ came to light.

Winton runs all the outfits in a single race regardless of age or size

The more manageable P3 twin-cylinder, four-stroke outfits of Francis (Garth)/Kenny (Norton Atlas) followed by the Large (Pete)/Haywood (Triumph Thunderbird) relished in the equalising conditions, finishing a clear ten seconds ahead of the exciting Period 4 H2 750 Kawasaki two-stroke of Grant/Lewis and the Suzuki GSX1100 of Smith/D’Aniello.

Dave Large/Chris Panayi on the 500 Triumph, leading Mick and Tim Large on a Triumph Triton

On the topic of engineering and preparation, the Clatworthy Nortons are highly regarded as being some of the fastest and best prepared Period 3 500s in the country.

Bob Rosenthal on the Clatworthy Norton, having a dice with P3 500 trophy winner Garth Francis on the Featherbed ESO

Owner Geoff Clatworthy gave all and sundry a very simple demonstration of his engineering prowess in the pit by putting his ES4 bike on its race-stands, giving the front wheel a quick spin and it kept on spinning unassisted for an amazing 19-plus minutes. Try that at home punters – 19 minutes is a very long time.

Bob Rosenthal on the Clatworthy ES4 Norton

In closing, even though I whinge about the weather that once again dulled a great event, the organisers need to be congratulated on smoothly running a fairly incident free, action-packed weekend.

2023 Historic Winton Class Overall Results

Pos	Rider	R1	R2	R3	R4	Total
ALL 125
1	Steve ELFORD	20	25			45
2	Stephen KAIRL	25				25
3	Ian GRIFFITHS	18				18
CLASS C
1	Mark DAWSON	25	25	20	20	90
2	Winston WYATT	18	18	25	25	86
3	Peter HEHIR	20	20			40
HARLEY v INDIAN HAND SHIFT BATTLE
1	Jack PETITH	25	25	20	20	90
2	Mick BEAUMONT	20	20	18	25	83
3	Adam MOXEY	18	16	25	18	77
4	Ross BOLDING	14	17	17	17	65
5	David HOY	17	18	15	15	65
6	Mason BIRTHISEL	13	14	16	16	59
7	Peter BIRTHISEL	15	15	14	14	58
8	Mick PETITH	12	13			25
9	Terry SULLIVAN	11	11			22
10	Dave PHILPOTS	10	10			20
11	Clint CHEGWIDDEN	16				16
12	Mick CHEGWIDDEN		12			12

Period 3

Pos	Rider	R1	R2	R3	R4	Total
PERIOD 3 – 250cc
1	Peter LARGE	25	25	25	25	100
2	Roly ORR	20	20	20	20	80
PERIOD 3 – 350cc
1	Stacey HEANEY	16	16	25	25	82
2	Doug CHURCHER	25	25			50
3	Brad GORRIE	13	13	20		46
4	Dave DICKSON	18	20			38
5	Jack PETITH	20	18			38
6	Colin MAGNAY	17	17			34
7	Bryce DAVIES	15	15			30
8	Neil DAVIS	14	14			28
PERIOD 3 – 500cc
1	Garth FRANCIS	20	20	25	25	90
2	Les TOOHEY	18	18	20	20	76
3	David WAIN	17	16	18		51
4	Bob ROSENTHAL	25	25			50
5	Paul PARLETT	16	17			33
6	Robert LIDDICOAT	15	15			30
PERIOD 3 – UNLIMITED
1	Doug GORRIE	18	18	25		61
2	Bob SAYER	25	25			50
3	Peter BIRTHISEL	20	20			40
4	Ken MAHER	17				17
5	Brad ASTILL	16				16

Period 4

Pos	Rider	R1	R2	R3	R4	Total
PERIOD 4 – 250cc
1	Stuart GORRIE	18	17	25	25	85
2	Tony SIMS	20	25			45
3	Barry KNIGHT	25	20			45
4	Phillip WATSON	17	18			35
PERIOD 4 – 350cc
1	David CAMPBELL	25	20	25	25	95
2	Mark DAWSON	17	18	20	20	75
3	Chris PANAHI	18	17	18	18	71
4	Tim KINGSTON	20	25			45
5	Bruce COOK	16	16			32
6	Ben FAHEY	15	14			29
7	Pete GARFIELD		15			15
PERIOD 4 – 500cc
1	Haydn JONES	25	25	25	25	100
2	David WOOLSEY	20	20	20	20	80
3	Darren CHILMAN	18	18	17	17	70
4	John RODDA	16	16	18	18	68
5	Peter HERCOTT	17	17			34
6	Alan MURRAY	14	15			29
7	Andrew STUART	15				15
PERIOD 4 – UNLIMITED
1	Clive HUGHES	20	20	17	25	82
2	Stacey HEANEY	18	18	25	20	81
3	Ian COOK	17	17	18	18	70
4	Eric SALMON	16	16	20	17	69
5	Wayne DONEHUE	15	15	16	16	62
6	Bob SAYER	25	25			50
7	Peter HERCOTT		14			14

Period 5

Pos	Rider	R1	R2	R3	R4	Total
PERIOD 5 – 250cc
1	Richard SPOTTSWOOD	20	18	25	25	88
2	Samantha STEWART	17	17	20	18	72
3	Robbie HEATHER	25	25		20	70
4	Wayne GOW	18	20			38
PERIOD 5 – 350cc
1	Lachlan HILL	25	25	25	25	100
2	Roly ORR	16	16	20	20	72
3	Des HEANEY	12	12	16	18	58
4	Paul PARLETT	15	14	18		47
5	Stephen KAIRL	14	15	17		46
6	Tim LARGE	20	20			40
7	Bruce MARCHETTI	17	18			35
8	Andrew POBJOY	18	17			35
9	Joe VALENZISI	13	13			26
PERIOD 5 – 500cc
1	Neale WEDDALL	25	25	25	25	100
2	Christian ROWLETT	20	20	20	20	80
3	Noel HEENAN	15	16		18	49
4	Ron RICKARDS	18	18			36
5	Richard OLBRICH	17	17			34
6	Allan ELDER	16	15			31
7	Ray BIRCHALL	14				14
PERIOD 5 – 750cc
1	Craig DITCHBURN	25	25			50
PERIOD 5 – UNLIMITED
1	Beau BEATON	25	25			50

Sidecars

Pos	Rider	R1	R2	R3	R4	Total
PERIOD 3 – 650cc SIDECARS
1	P. LARGE / P. HEYWOOD	25	25	25	25	100
2	D. WAIN / G. DITCHFIELD	18	18	20	20	76
3	M. LARGE / T. LARGE	20	20	17	18	75
4	N. PROWSE / C. MAGNAY	17	16	16	17	66
5	J. SKEWES / H. SKEWES		17	18	16	51
6	D. LARGE / C. PANAHI		15	15	15	45
7	D. GORRIE / B. GORRIE	16				16
PERIOD 3 – UNLIMITED SIDECARS
1	G. FRANCIS / P. KENNY	25	25	25	25	100
2	D. BETTERIDGE / R. BETTERIDGE	20	20			40
PERIOD 4 – 836cc SIDECARS
1	G. GRANT / A. LEWIS	25	25	25	25	100
2	T. NEWLAND / P. HOPEWELL	20	18	20	20	78
3	L. SEABROOK / I. BAKSHEEV	18	17		18	53
4	J. PETITH / S. POUCHER		20			20
PERIOD 4 – UNLIMITED SIDECARS
1	J. CLANCY / C. CLANCY	25	25			50
PERIOD 5 – SIDECARS
1	A. SMITH / R. D’ANIELLO	20	20	25	25	90
2	B. BEATON / M. HORNER	25	25			50
3	A. VAN UITERT / M. HOLLOWAY	18	18			36