Shannons Classic Bike Broadford
By Colin Rosewarne
For all of the previous years, Motorcycling Australia has owned, promoted and organised the Broadford Bike Bonanza. This year, M.A. chose to not promote the event and this saw the creation of a fill-in event of a different name. Due to M.A. owning the Broadford Bike Bonanza name the 2023 event was instead titled Shannons Classic Bike Broadford.
It was staged over a traditional Southern Victorian Easter with the Friday morning bringing sunshine, followed by drizzle in the afternoon, persistent icy cold, light rain Saturday and sadly, not much better on the Sunday.
Although participant numbers were well down on previous years, the event went on to prove that the acronym for the Broadford no matter what it’s name, still has to be BBB standing for bikes, beers and bullshit.
Participants and guests had a ball luxuriating in the company of other like-minded motorcycling aficionado’s, with the circa 50-year-old plus demographic not sidelining their enthusiasm for having a wonderful time regardless of the weather. Many tales were told, many tales re-told, and as the nights went on, not a single lie was told, while many a beer was consumed around the many campfires dotted throughout the complex.
Old friendships were re-kindled including the reunion of Bob Rosenthal and his beloved 1974 Milledge Brothers TZ750A Yamaha. The bike was sold in 1976 to someone and ended up in the Europe and long forgotten. Thirty years later, a fellow racer from New South Wales mentioned to Bob one day that he thought he knew where the TZ was. A bit of homework ensued, and what followed was the birth of a long, strong and great friendship between Bob and the new Amsterdam based owner, Leo Kruijmer.
The bike was in quite a sorry state, rusted, corroded and largely incomplete. With Bob as principal advisor on the restoration, Leo set about a meticulous, ground-up rejuvenation, sourcing running gear from all over the world, including an engine from a sidecar racer in Germany to restore this wonderful piece of Australian motorcycle racing history.
The new TZ owners Roz and Phil Andrea with Bob and Lynn Rosenthal
After approximately two years, the restoration was complete and Bob headed to Europe to ride the TZ in 2019. From there, the roots were struck, culminating in the stunning Aussie TZ being purchased and shipped back to Australia by New South Wales TZ collectors, Roz and Phil Andrea.
The bike arrived back in Oz on the Monday immediately prior to the event, where it was whisked straight back to Bob’s workshop for a thorough going over. This in the aim of hopefully allowing Bob to consummate the re-union at the unique classic bike event. Sadly, a combination of incorrect clutch plates being fitted, drizzle, rain and the slippery track prevented Bob from barely getting her circulating at any sort of speed, later commenting that it was ‘virtually un-ridable in the pits’. Oh well another day!
Many other beauties were also at the event including a magnificent Norvin that, to the owner’s credit, was certainly ridden and not hidden in the wet greasy conditions. The rider gave it the berries and it sounded magnificent, looked magnificent, and is an absolute credit to the owner.
Lots of other unobtanium was also present. Guzzis, Laverdas, Dukes, Hondas, Yams and Suzi’s, and the list goes on, including a beautifully restored Charter Lea racer.
Over at the Speedway Circuit, the track was rendered heavy due to the constant drizzle and rain that persisted through the day. Similar to the road track, there were some lovely examples of iconic speedway racing machinery.
Special guests, Keith, Stephen and Alex Davies represented three generations of world-class Aussie talent.
The John Heavyside HRD Vincent outfit was also fired into life, and taken on a couple carefully ridden demonstration laps by John Coleman, who had not ridden that machine for fifty-five years. John’s lucky co-pilot was multiple Australian Dirt Track solo Champion Brad Burns.
Then to top off this awesome family event, daughter of road racing ace Lachlan Hill, Ruby, made her debut appearance on a 500 slider – quite a daunting task for many reasons.
In closing, a huge thank you and congratulations must go to the three Shannon’s Classic Bike Broadford organisers Rachelle and Mick Pettifer on the main circuit, and Rick Wason on the speedway for having the faith in this wonderful event and bankrolling it out of their own pockets, so as to help ensure that such a great spectacle did not disappear into the vortex of abandoned motorcycling history.
