The final round of the 2025 Australian Road Race Sidecar Championship has been run and won at Carco.com.au Raceway (formerly Barbagallo/Wanneroo) in what was one of the best run and popular meetings the team have ever attended.

We were treated to great weather all weekend and busy pits with lots of familiar faces making the trip West. A field of 17 sidecars had entered, making for some great racing opportunities wherever you found yourself on the grid.

This was the first time the lads had ever travelled west and seen the track, so luckily some locals were kind enough to pass on GoPro videos so they could at least get an understanding of where the track went. Unpacking in the pits, with our names on placards above the garage, you could tell that lots of time and effort had been put into the meeting by the local WA Sidecar Club.

After a big day of practice and qualifying, the boys found themselves ninth on the combined F1 and F2 grid, which was second place behind Mick Alton/Dave Rumble in terms of F2s, with Chrissie Clancy/Amanda Williams just behind us. There were about four or five sidecars you could throw a blanket over all doing 1m.08ish laps, so racing was going to be tight!

Sunday rolled around and the boys made the most of two short practice sessions in the morning before race 1. In the first race, after an average start, the team managed to find some place in the eight-lap race and clear from a chasing pack but not enough to catch Mick/Dave.

Race 2 rolled around quickly, as the day got hotter, and the lads were keen to push that bit harder. After around five laps, they had Mick/Dave in their sights who were having their own battle with an F1 team. Then, taking the final corner in a lower gear than normal, all of a sudden the bike lost all drive. Leonard was onto it pretty quick and flagged his hand to avoid any nasty accidents down the straight. Luckily, Royce managed to coast the bike to the end of the pit wall and crack a uey into the exit chute.

On first inspection, after pushing it back to the pits which got us sweating, we thought it was just a chain. However, on closer inspection after taking the lid off the sidecar, we realised we didn’t have a sprocket and the carrier had sheered clean off. Once Morgan Marshall finished the race, he popped by our shed to ask why we’d attempted to throw a buzz saw out the back of the bike like a Bond car. Luckily we retrieved the sprocket and carrier, all in tact, from the infield.

When looking at the mammoth job, all of us thought that would be the day done… except Locky. With only an hour until the final race and double points on the line, which would have decided the final championship placings, he got to work pulling the whole rear assembly apart. We then enlisted the help of Patrick Clancy, who can clearly weld just as well as he can pilot an F1 sidecar, who helped join the carrier back together (we plan to turn this into a single piece going forward). He did an amazing job and Locky began the task of re-assembling everything as the boys suited up for the race – with the 2 min call in the pits going, they bolted the fairing back on and we were on, much to the surprise of the teams around us!

The issue obviously hadn’t played on the boys’ minds, as they pushed all race to clear away from a few of the F1s and catch up to Mick/Dave. Flying down into the final corner, Royce made an attempt to make a pass up the inside, but with Mick’s racing prowess, he saw this a mile away and ensured they were evenly placed on the exit so it would be a drag race to the finish line, which he snagged by about 0.05 of a second!

It made for some of the best racing fans had seen all year and secured second place in the Australian Titles for the Rowe Racing Team. And the cherry on top? The boys set a new F2 lap record on lap 7 while chasing the pack – a 1m06.1.

Presentations were a fantastic affair, well attended by all the racers. We got the chance to thank everyone involved, especially Les and Debbie for doing the long Nullarbor drive! Champagne was sprayed, Royce did a shoey, Guinness was only $6 at the bar… big smiles all round.

Once he had wrung the champagne out of his stringlet back into his glass, Royce said:

“The last Aus Title round of the year we were heading into with a glimpse of hope that if we had a flawless run we could clinch the top spot for the season. We had never set foot in Perth before and being up against Mick and Dave, it was going to be a hard task but we always have had a positive outlook.

“This was soon squandered with a second place behind Mick in Race One and mechanical failure in Race Two. Getting the lap record for F2s though was something special we could take away from the weekend as well as celebrating second place in the Australian Titles for the season with drenching each other in Perth’s finest sparkling wine!

“It was a great meeting held by the WA club making us feel very welcome. Well done to Leonard for doing a stellar effort each round getting stronger and giving me the confidence to do what I need to do.

“Huge thanks to Mum and Dad for doing the driving and countless hours in the shed. Locky and Deb for the mammoth effort put in to help maintain and improve the sidecar and taking photos. Thanks to my wife for allowing me to do what I love all year round. All of our sponsors that help ease the cost of racing.

“Every meeting we’re getting faster so I can’t wait to see what next year brings us! Next up is a bit of fun at Mallala on 7th of December, hope to see a few friendly faces around then.”

After forensically testing the similarities between Emu Export and West End Draught repeatedly, Leonard said:

“Heading over to WA for the first time ever, I was pretty nervous heading out for that first session. Luckily, plenty of locals were on hand to share some knowledge on where to watch for certain sections and their thoughts on the infamous bus stop – a new section of the track added about five years ago.

“It’s basically an S-bend with two ripple strips, which all teams seemed to navigate slightly differently. It then enters a long left hander, so after shooting out you need to be setting up for that. I was awkwardly moving about for the first few sessions before we agreed, why not just put my head down and sit dead centre of the platform to keep the bike balanced while Royce goes full throttle through the bend, floating the sidecar wheel over the ripple (which was allowed – taking the drive wheel over it was a penalty). This worked well and from there once heading down the basin, which was a steep hill down and back up, my job was fairly easy.

“I loved the track by the end of the weekend and wished we could have stayed another day, I reckon we could have shaved the lap times down into the 5s! The weekend itself was fantastic and really professionally run. Big thanks to everyone that helped out on the Sunday with our mechanical issues and in general getting us over there.”

Now that the Australian Championship is wrapped up for another year, we await to hear from Motorcycling Australia on what 2026 will look like. In the meantime, the lads will be heading out for a race day a bit closer to home on Sunday 7 December! Our club, Phoenix MCC, is hosting a Race Your Mates day for bracket racing at Mallala which will include a sidecars category. With one quali in the morning, then four races across the day, we’re keen as to get some solid track time at one of our favourite tracks. See you there!

It’s been a busy few months at Rowe Racing HQ, having competed in Round 4 of the Australian Sidecar Championships at Sydney Motorsport Park in August, then recently heading to Mount Gambier for the annual Master of Mac Park meeting.

Being Royce’s second visit to the old Eastern Creek, and Leonard’s first, the lads were keen to hit the ground running and post some decent times. Thanks to the rain holding off, which had battered Sydney all week, they managed to get their times down to within a few seconds of the leaders.

Still struggling to get off the line smoothly, our starts put us behind the 8-ball from turn one. After a few laps, clawing back positions, we managed to keep Mick Alton/Dave Rumble in our sights but not quite find the pace to take the lead at any point.

There was some great dicing with a couple of the F1 racers on their way through the pack and overall we finished second. Which also landed us second in the NSW Sidecar Championship! Plus, we managed to take home the Best Presented trophy, which is the second time we’ve managed that this year!

From there it was onwards to Mount Gambier for the 2025 Master of Mac Park over the September AFL grand final weekend. The weather had been average all week, so we were lucky to see blue skies all day Sunday and only a few light showers on the Saturday – one of which came down right as we pushed out for qualifying!

Our first race was ended before even completing a lap sadly, as a simple electrical issue caused us to lose power going down the straight. Luckily we could safely pull into the in-field and eventually work out which plug needed to be held together to get going again! The next two races saw some great dicing and an attempt to chase down Jones/Budarick but after some average starts and similar times to the leaders, we couldn’t claw back any distance.

The Master of Mac Park race comes down to the final race of the day, so we threw everything at it, getting down to a new PB of 1m18.3s and taking the lead on the final lap after some pretty intense racing.

We had a great time pitting in the new sheds, with campers all around us. It all adds to the great vibe that Mac Park provides. The presentations were well attended and luckily the bar was well stocked given the length of Leonard’s speech. The lads enjoyed themselves with a beer out the cup and posing for photos in front of the famous honour board, it was genuinely a special moment to know the Rowe name is going up there forever.

After recovering from the greasy roadhouse KFC (Keith’s Fried Chicken) on the drive back to Adelaide, Royce had this to say:

“We had a reasonably good weekend in Eastern Creek getting our times down to a personal best and nearly catching Mick in one race. Playing around with the clutch all weekend didn’t help the starts but we treated it as a learning weekend.

“Coming into Master of Mac Park, knowing it’s quite a physically demanding track, Leonard had been working hard in the gym and I had been working hard on the gin.

“It’s been a big goal of ours to get our names up on the Master of Mac board together since we were kids, so we were focused on making the last race of the day our best.

“Lapping similar times to Stephen and Jay all weekend, which was already personal best lap times for us at Mac Park, after a bad start in the feature race we had to pull our finger out to catch them. We ended up doing a personal best lap time and caught up to Jones on the last lap.

“After some paint swapping around old turn 1 and 2 which made for some great go-pro footage, we managed to seal the deal with a couple corners to spare. Which was a great end to the weekend and has really geared us up coming into the last round of the Australian Titles in Perth. Watching plenty of on-board laps to learn the Wanneroo track now!”

In other exciting news, we were recently asked to jump on the Aussie Sidecar Stories podcast! It’s a podcast that has only just started this year, having hosted some big names from classic sidecars, dirt, past legends and plenty of others. So if you’re keen to hear two blokes ramble on about a sport they’re only just getting to grips with, find it on Spotify, Apple Music or wherever you listen to your podcasts when uploaded in the coming weeks!

We now look ahead to Perth for the final round of the Championship. Neither Royce or Leonard have been to Wanneroo (or Carco.com Raceway as it’s now called), so it’ll mean plenty of practice laps to hopefully be up to speed by race one. Although unlikely, it is mathematically possible we could bridge the points gap from second to first overall thanks to the double points being awarded for race wins as it’s the final round… let’s goooo!

Round 3 of the Australian Road Race Sidecar Championships involved a 2000km drive up to Queensland Raceway, or the Paperclip as it’s colloquially known thanks to the straight up, back down and up again layout. It was the first time either of the boys had been there, so we were keen to hit the ground running on Friday.

We’d like to give a big thanks to Ken Baines for the many hours he put in to help us prepare for the event, ensuring the bike arrived safely.

Apart from the usual challenges of dodging droving cattle and mobs of kangaroos, we had to drive through the floodwaters present in northern New South Wales and southern Queensland.

Water obviously found its way into the trailer, which paired with the 30-degree sun meant we were effectively towing a sauna. Not ideal conditions for the sidecar, resulting in us spending the first couple of hours of Friday practice scrubbing the bike clean.

However, we were rewarded with three days of perfect weather, some great racing and an event perfectly organised and conducted by The Motorcycle Sportsmen of Queensland Inc..

It was also the first time we had worn our new Ricondi leathers made by Race and Road. They were an excellent fit, much easier for Leonard to move around the bike in and we were genuinely surprised at how well the printed elements came up, like the addition of the South Aussie flag on our knees! The quality is top shelf, so check them out online or in person if you’re in QLD or Vic.

The turn out of sidecars was less than expected sadly, but nonetheless we had someone to chase in every session all weekend. This helped us shave time off our laps and put us fourth on the mixed grid of F1s and F2s.

Racing was tight all weekend, with the boys leaving it until the final corner to try and pass Mick Alton/Dave Rumble on two occasions! Over the course of the weekend, Keith Hoare/Louise Blyth found speed too, so were dicing with us and eventually overtook us in the final race. Overall, we scored two 1sts and one 2nd for the F2 class, handing us the round win.

On the Saturday once racing had concluded, the club offered taxi rides to punters who were keen to experience sidecar racing! Royce put his hand up to take a mate around the track, which proved for some good laughs and big smiles! Time to bring this idea down to Adelaide, we say!

Our pit crew was held together firmly by Locky all weekend, keeping us moving smoothly while Deb braved the boggy swamp that had formed around the track after floods to take all the great pics seen in this blog post! And of course, it wouldn’t be possible to get out on track in the first place without our great sponsors, Pro Realty | BJR Racing Products | NE Promo | Race and Road | Ricondi | Lush Race Engines | Underground Designs | GC Motorcycles.

The sidecar will go into hibernation over winter now, with our next Aussie Title meeting not until August at Sydney Motorsport Park. With only two rounds to go and Perth being worth double points, we’re thinking the championship will likely go down to the wire!

After getting off the phone to his hairdresser about how well received the Star Wars themed cut was this round, and maybe something from Edward Scissor Hands is next, Royce said…

“It didn’t take much learning leading up to the round at Queensland Raceway with just the six corners. In saying that, without any quick direction changes I thought we could treat it as some good practice for Leonard managing his body position as we get on the gas coming out of corners.

“With not many places to overtake except under brakes we had to have a few last ditch efforts to get past Mick Alton as well as Keith Hoare. I only out braked myself once nearly ending in the kitty litter, realising that 50m later than usual is probably a little too eager!

“Not only looking the part with our new Ricondi leathers thanks to Smarty at Race and Road, I was very comfortable in the race position feeling like I could keep going after the 7 lap races.

“The club also organised a come and try day on Saturday where the brave John Seres had a swing with me and loved it. Hopefully we can organise something similar back home for a bit fun!”

“As usual it was some great banter in the pits, everyone taking turns posing with Locky when he had one of his many naps.

“Thanks to everyone that helped over the weekend especially Mum and Dad making the big drive up to Brisbane.

“There is a bit of a break before our next round so hopefully we can get out for a couple practice days to keep our skills in check.”

After shooing the cane toads out of his gear bag, avoiding an SA apocalypse, Leonard said…

“I was really keen to get up to QLD Raceway as I had only spectated there before and don’t mind the heat! Although there’s only six corners, there’s less opportunities to overtake and every corner needs to be taken spot on to get the drive we needed to keep up.”

“After a few sessions I got the hang of the track and had the confidence to keep my head down, even though it was tough to spot any markers to know when to pop my head up… it turned into counting down the back straight and watching Royce’s foot on the brake like a hawk!

“We were using an old set of tyres from last year, so coming out of the corners as Royce tried to get the power down, I was really needing to lay over the rear to keep us from losing traction – that, paired with a bumpy turn one meant some pretty sore ribs by Sunday evening!

“All in all, it was a great meeting with some great people – the officials were accommodating and took interest in the sidecar, our shed buddy was a top bloke (although sadly he crashed out on the Friday!) and we had healthy competition from familiar and new faces! And of course a big thanks to Mum and Dad for the big drive up north and my wife who stayed down south with the little one.

“I’d also like to say a big thanks to Smarty from Race and Road who sorted out the new leathers, they’re a great fit and he was happy to make some minor adjustments after the meeting. We also had Brissy-based relative, Colin pop out for a look on Sunday which was great to catchup and a buzz for him to join us in the pits.

“I missed the Sydney round last year, so may need to spend the winter months watching on-board footage from the GoPro to try and prepare!”

After a positive start to the season at Phillip Island, round 2 of the Australian Road Race Sidecar Championship saw us competing a bit closer to home. The Bend played host to three days of racing, with a busy schedule including the BEARS (British, European, American Racing and Supporters) Oz Challenge and all the usual SA/Vic solo classes.

This meant qualifying was brought forward to Friday afternoon, with the boys wasting no time getting back into the swing of things. They dropped a couple seconds off their best time from last year, qualifying in the 2m16s behind Alton/Rumble and Goldie/Johnston.

Saturday rolled around and the racing was close all day, pushing the lads to drop their lap times again. The weather had decided to play ball, cooling down a bit from a steamy Friday, but unfortunately a serious incident in the morning caused a solid delay while waiting for medical assistance. Luckily everyone was okay and we suggested all bikes should consider adding a third wheel going forward.

Although we saw an improvement to PI after replacing a clutch in February, our speed off the start line was still lacking, so the team were hitting turn one already behind the 8-ball. This provided some great dicing with Jones and Clancy, keeping everyone on their toes!

After clocking a PB of 2m14.1 on Saturday, we had secured a 2^nd and 3^rd placing before the final race of the weekend. It was a tight battle all of the way, but the boys managed to find a gap to pass Alton on the last lap, securing their first win at the national level! There was plenty of excitement up on the viewing platform from both teams and it capped off a great weekend of racing.

There’s still room to squeeze more out of the sidecar though, as we saw a couple of F2 teams managed to drop into the 2m13s by racing’s end – we’ll be prepped and ready for round 3 at Queensland Raceway in just over a month’s time to hopefully match the climbing pace of our F2 class competitors.

The closest the boys have been to lapping QLD Raceway is riding the Batman rollercoaster at Movie World when they were 7, so we’ll be making the most of Friday practice/qualifying to learn the track and fiddle with setup. The screaming and hanging on for dear life element will likely be similar for Leonard.

Thanks as always goes to Locky for helping out all weekend in the pits, Deb for taking some great snaps as seen below, plus our fantastic sponsors Pro Realty | BJR Racing Products | Lush Race Engines | Underground Designs | GC Motorcycles.

After coming dangerously close to consuming the recommended limit of Hydralite ice blocks in a day, Royce said…

“It’s always great having a local round to have a few extra support crew around hyping you up. Thank you to all those that come out to watch Leonard and I have a ball!

“Being close to a year since we were at The Bend last, we had learnt so much and we are still learning. Not only how to go faster but race craft on how to overtake. A couple times trying to get around Mick and Dave, getting ready for the change of direction to stick the bike up the inside of a corner, only to quickly realise sidecars can’t lay on each other like solos do. Still getting the hang of my starts, if only I had a bigger backyard to dedicate some practice to them.

“Each race resulted in us trying to battle our way up to 1st. Finally getting that job done in the last race was so much fun dicing with Clancy, Jones and then Mick! Getting PB’s and our first ever 1st place at a national level proves that the teams hard work is paying off and we are starting to get the hang of it all. Big thanks to Dad, Locky, Jess and Daniel in the pits and Mum, Beth and Deb for cheering us on at the top of their lungs. Looking forward to the next round coming up soon in QLD.”

Leonard was busy scrounging for loose change in his car glovebox given The Bend’s bar prices, so only popped in to say…

“I was really looking forward to The Bend round, it’s a bit easier on the passenger in terms of time to think and get into position, plus the straight gives you a chance to take a breath and reset for the next lap.

“The layout and our racing line came back to me pretty quickly, and with the extra confidence of a year’s worth of racing up our sleeve, I found I could trust the bike and Royce through corners, allowing me to hang off without meerkating my head all the time to double check where we were!

“It was great to finally catch Mick and Dave and make the move stick, they were super consistent all weekend and deserved the overall round win. As always, it was great to see so many interstate teams make the trip over. A big thanks goes to everyone who came out to watch us and our usual pit crew making it all happen. An extra big thanks from me goes to my wife for looking after our little one while I am away racing!”

We’ll see you all in a month!

With the summer break ending quicker than first expected, the team promptly packed away the Christmas presents, packed down the New Years streamers and began preparation on the sidecar for season 2025.

Round 1 was held over the Australia Day long weekend on the bustling Phillip Island. It seemed like most of Victoria had made their way to the Island beaches, so the team kept well clear of the main drag, keeping to the track and homebase.

Unlike previous visits to the Island, the weather was spot on all weekend. Friday practice was clear sailing and the lads got reacquainted with the outfit.

Come Saturday qualifying, the team picked up where they left off at the final round of 2024 in September by lapping around the 1m52s mark – placing us third on the grid for our F2 class. There was some serious pace in the F1 class, with their 20-year qualifying lap record broken!

It wasn’t competitors holding up the track for the day, but the Cape Barron Geese that decided to keep wandering across the track or hanging out on the ripple strip! This meant officials introduced a new flag combination to warn us if a silly goose was hiding behind a corner. We were lucky not to collect a few, but Leonard could basically slap them on the back of the head when leaning over through Hayshed.

All three races were hotly contested with Mick Alton and Dave Rumble, which gave us somebody to chase and learn from. Unfortunately we couldn’t find a way to get past, but it certainly made the racing more exciting! And, it spurred us on to set a PB of 1m51.1s in race two on the Sunday.

Terry Goldie, who was a clear leader all weekend, frustratingly suffered a DNF in the final race, which bumped us up to second overall for the weekend and gives us a handy bank of points to take to Tailem Bend next month.

We’d like to thank Gav Porteous for his help with set up advice, Locky for his sheet metal fabrication, and Brian for his carbon fibre fabrication.

As for the other South Aussie competitors that made the trip over, the Hutchesson brothers (pictured below) rode consistently all weekend, rewarding their persistence with a first place in the F1 class, while Jock and Jason took home the Best Presented trophy!

After placing a fresh goose feather in his cap, Royce said:

“In the past few months only getting a small dose of going fast on the tarmac, some being on two wheels and some on my bottom, I’ve been hanging out to have a fang around on 3 wheels.

“Last year being our first time racing at Phillip Island which quickly become our favourite track so far to race the sidecar on, Leonard and I were keen to have another crack with some more experience under our belts. With the forecast being a perfect not too hot not too cold and no rain in sight, we remained sceptical due to the Islands unpredictable weather patterns but it delivered the goods, leaving Dad and Locky having no practice for swapping tyres all weekend.

“We got some good practice in with each session dropping our lap times but with qualifying, we didn’t quite get a clear lap in with flags, geese and breakdowns causing a bit of traffic. Come race time we identified that my starts need a bit of practice, bogging down each time trying to get it off the line. We’re thinking either some work needs to be done to the clutch or Leonard needs to have one less donut on the lunch break.

“Luckily the races were 7 laps allowing us time to get to work, making back the time we lost off the start. Catching up to Mick and Dave after working our way through the field during the initial laps. We’re still learning a lot from Mick and his race craft on 3 wheels, whilst we were lapping quicker, Mick just knew where to be at the right time to stop me from getting past. In the process we had some great dicing, with Dave giving me the occasional hand gesture to shoo us away whilst we were hot on their tails. We got some good points on the board for the first round and we are definitely keen for our local round coming up at Tailem Bend.”

Leonard was out of breath after the increase to 7 lap races, so briefly said:

“Track was good, we’re getting faster, I’m finding ways to keep my big head out of the wind more, gotta find a way to catch Mick though. Need to hang on tighter down Lukey Heights – handstand video to come!”

Round 2 will be at The Bend on March 1 and 2, we hope to see plenty of our friends out there supporting the team and motorcycle racing in general at our sole local round for the national series!

Christmas festivities were put on hold when Royce competed in the South Australian Historic Championships at Mount Gambier between Christmas and New Year, which attracted almost 180 entries.

Burford Racing invited Royce to ride a Suzuki TR750, but problems arose during testing before the event and the bike was withdrawn, so Doxboyz Racing offered their pristine 250 Yamaha for the Period 4 (1962-72) Championship.

The track had just been resurfaced in parts and all was set for a great weekend until the second session on Friday, when Royce hit loose gravel whilst overtaking another rider and the pristine Yamaha was left looking a bit second hand.

Despite turning very pale, Neil Watson of Doxboyz worked hard to fix the bike, but gear changing remained a problem all weekend due to the damage.

Nonetheless, Neil’s bike preparation and repairs paid off, with our two major rivals retiring, leaving Royce to push on and win the Championship.

One of few competitors not to be sporting a long grey beard, Royce said:

“After a three-year hiatus from two wheeled racing I was pretty keen for a fun weekend!

“Unfortunately not being able to ride Andy’s 750 which was a hoot last time, with 70’s music and 2 stroke oil in the air, Neil’s 250 became the main focus. With the tracks new resurfacing, there were reports of rubble in many places around the track. Only my second practice session in, I hadn’t fully taken this into account so whilst doing a normal overtaking manoeuvre I’ve done before around the outside of water tower, the bike just let go like it had hit marbles.

“Either that or I forgot for a second I didn’t have a third wheel attached! I was fine and luckily the bike hadn’t done too many cartwheels. After bending things back into shape with the help of Dad, Neil and Jess, we continued on trying to chase down Richard Metcalf on his Bultaco.

“Big credit to Neil for building a reliable bike that got us enough points to take the Period 4 250cc South Australian Historic state championship. Thanks to the crew who came down to support me including the wife Beth, Laura, Jess and Dad! With a busy schedule on the sidecar this year I hope I can get back out on the old bikes soon.”

The team now look ahead to 2025, in which we will attempt to compete in the Australian F2 Sidecar Championship beginning with Round 1 at Phillip Island this Australia Day long weekend, only a few short weeks away! There are still some minor adjustments to be made to the outfit in preparation, but the team are ready to give it a red hot crack this year!  

Earlier this month for the October long weekend, we headed down to Mac Park in Mount Gambier for the final round of the South Australian Championships and the Master of Mac Park. Although we have had a couple of track days at Mac Park, it was our first race meeting there.

A field of 15 sidecars saw great racing throughout the field, especially at the front where we diced all weekend with the Hutchesson brothers and Mick Alton/Dave Rumble.

The SA State Championship and Master of Mac are combined fields, so there is only one class, not F1 (1000cc) and F2 (600cc) like recent national meetings – which meant different bikes were performing better through different sections of the track, all making for great racing!

The Hutchessons took out all three wins, with our team placing second for each race typically by only a fraction of a second, with Mick and Dave also just a fraction behind us in third. It was nail-biting racing down to the final lap, with Royce making a few last-minute dives.

Thanks to Gav Porteous for his advice and special thanks to Mick Alton who helped us immensely in set-up, which probably cost him some of those placings!

We also learnt a lot in race-craft, particularly not to show your hand too early as by the final standalone feature race, the Master of Mac, Mick knew where we had been able to pass him in earlier races and showed us how to ensure it didn’t happen twice! Congratulations to the Hutchesson brothers who can add a Master of Mac Park win to their impressive racing credits, and Mick/David for an impressive, hard-fought second place.

The weekend’s results gave us enough points to claim the overall 2024 South Australian Championship, which we are super proud to have achieved in our first full year of racing.

Thanks to Greg and Deb Lock who were with us at all race meetings throughout the year and put in 100% through rain, hail and shine.

Work now begins on the outfit during the off-season and we look forward to joining the Australian sidecar family again in 2025.

After measuring the width of the sidecar against the width of track on Water Tower corner ready to start drawing up race moves in his playbook for next year, Royce had this to say.

“The last round is always the most bittersweet. It’s the best we have been and we know we still have so much more to give but now have to wait until next year until we get to go back out again.”

“Leading up to this round we knew Mac Park was going to be a very physically demanding track so we had to be in peak fitness. I knew Leonard had been training very hard to prepare, which pushed me harder in the lead up as not wanting to let each other down.

“Once at the Mount with rain always imminent, we seemed to dodge any fully wet sessions and improve on our times with each outing. Still figuring out how to get the sidecar off the start line smoothly, we improved each time decreasing the gap we have to make up before catching the front two.

“Battling with the fastest oldest newcomer of the Isle of Man ever, I learnt so much on and off the track from Mick Alton, plus David Rumble was also imparting his wisdom unto Leonard where he could.

“For my local tracks like Mallala and Mac Park, after doing upwards of a thousand laps at both, I had established racing lines to overtake in every circumstance. Soon realising when I went to overtake Mick around the outside of water tower, thinking he can just lean on me as I go up the inside of him on the last turn, I quickly realised sidecars don’t quite work like that and had to button off.

“The next lap though going up the inside of Mick around water tower, allowing me to close the door on him on the last corner of the last lap proved to be effective. Each of the three races we overtook Mick on the last lap in different spots. Come Master of Mac his incredible race craft took into account each place I had previously got them, denying us each attempt to get past.

“We still managed to get enough points to take out the South Australian combined sidecars Title. Leonard, I and the whole team were very chuffed with these results, not expecting much for our first full year of sidecar racing.

“With still so much to learn compared to our competitors with 10-40 years of experience I feel like we still have so much to learn and so much to give. Thanks again to everyone who has helped us along the way, all the sponsors, Mum and Dad, the Locks, Gav and Brian – and Beth for letting me out to play!

“In the off season, I will have the pleasure of racing Andy Burford’s Suzuki TR that I previously raced. This will be in the historic state championship at Mount Gambier around Christmas time. I can’t wait for a bit of two-wheel riding but I just need to keep in mind that I don’t have to look over my shoulder to make sure Leonard is still hanging on!”

Finishing his Voltaren bath and Nurofen sandwich after 3 days ‘in the ring’ that is the sidecar platform at Mac Park, Leonard said:

“Coming into Mac Park was a bit of an unknown, although in the early days we had done plenty of practice days there on the sidecar, we haven’t had the chance to return since picking up our pace and making loads of setup changes – and never at all for a race meeting. Physically, it’s a really tough track and I was getting beaten up through a few corners, so was trying all sorts of new padding arrangements – other than painkillers and a tiny violin playing in the pits, not much helped!”

“It was great to have Friday practice to re-learn some markers and get a feel. From the outset in qualifying and all the way through to our final race, we were just pushing super hard to chase! We knew we had the pace to match the front two, it was just doing those times at the right time and not getting tangled up too much!

“Having Mick and Dave in front for most of the races was great to watch where they are on the track and how they move. A big thanks to them and the Hutchy brothers for leading the way all weekend and helping us improve. Both teams were always more than happy to discuss changes they were making or suggest things we could try to get quicker. I suggested they wait 3 seconds once the red lights had gone out just to be safe there are no jump starts…

“A big thank you goes out to all the SA Sidecar teams that have been extremely welcoming all year at these meetings, plus the interstate guys that in a short span of time have all become great mates and competitors.

“Taking out the SA title is a dream come true and something we can look back on fondly when Googling our names on the MSA website in 20 years time. Next year we’ll be pushing to go one further in the Master of Mac to get our name on that elusive honour board!

“As Royce said, a huge thanks to the family for making this happen, everyone who came out this year to watch and support us, Brian and Gav, and especially the Locks who travelled around the country lending a hand and most of all my lovely wife for supporting me to take the time out of our busy lives for this new adventure!”

Enjoy the summer break and we’ll be back with an update for 2025 in due course once racing calendars are released!

September found us at Phillip Island for the last round of the Australian Sidecar Championships (F1 and F2), combined with the penultimate round of the SA Sidecar Championship. We experienced the Phillip Island four seasons in a day weather – which on Saturday became four seasons in one race. After hailing for about 30 seconds, the sun shone and dried a muggy track.

This kept Locky busy over the weekend, constantly changing tyres between wets and slicks. He set his new best time of removing and replacing the fairings and wheels in under 5 minutes!

Great racing was seen throughout the field and we were thrilled to come away with 3^rd place for the weekend, leapfrogging us in the points to 2^nd overall in the Australian F2 Championship.

There was no catching Jamie Crass and Lee Menzies, Mick Alton and Dave Rumble had bad luck in Sydney, and we only narrowly beat Dags Rayner and Evelyne Scholz. We were incredibly happy with our result in only our first year at chasing the title.

Whilst Royce and Leonard had ridden the circuit before on solos, it was a new experience on a sidecar. New lines and tactics were quickly learnt and lap times were consistently lowered, finishing with a 1m52.7 on our final lap of the last race on Sunday.

Some quick work on the outfit will be carried out before a trip to Mount Gambier in a couple of weeks for the final round of the South Australian Championship and the prestigious Master of Mac Park event to round out our 2024 racing year.

After returning from the Penguin Parade and a pizza from Pino’s, Royce said:

“Speaking to all the other sidecar racers leading up to this round, they told me it’s a wicked track to do on three wheels and they weren’t wrong! Not having been around Phillip Island for a good five or so years it all came back to me pretty fast, but just with the added task of figuring out new lines and to remember that I have Leonard hanging on.

“With weather still playing a pivotal role in tyre choice like we had in Sydney, everyone was watching everyone else watching the weather radars on their phones and the sky, attempting to predict the unpredictable weather of The Island! We were lucky to gamble the same tyres as everyone else in the races so we were all on an even playing field. We had some great dicing with Dags and Evelyn who taught us a thing or two about braking (or not braking) into the incredibly fast Turn 1.

“We then swapped between 3rd and 4th a few times, battling with Simon and Kayla. We also managed to do our sneaky trick of overtaking Morgan and Matt around the outside 😛 All great fun and thanks to Leonard doing so well to adapt to my trialling of different lines each lap, paying off with our lap times improving each time we went round.

“Big thanks to the team, very happy to come away with 2nd in the Australian Titles for our first season. Thanks to Mum and Dad for the travelling and behind the scenes work. Thanks to Greg and Deb Lock for efforts in the pits and taking photos around the track. Jess for being a trooper last round to make sure we finished the race with points. Beth for letting me out to play. Brian Rosser for his help on the bike, Neville Lush for building a nice strong motor and anyone else I might have missed, thank you. One last round at Mac Park to finish the year off I’m keen as and can’t wait!”

Recovering from a strained neck from all the new sights and sounds over the weekend, Leonard said:

“I knew Phillip Island was going to be a task given how fast the track is, so luckily I had a basic idea of corners coming into the weekend. I thing each time we flew over Lukey Heights, I was double guessing how early or late I could flick over to the right! The track flows really nicely, so I was slowly building up markers and got some great advice from other passengers over the weekend.

“To take out third for the weekend was great, I think we surprised ourselves with the pace we could reach and the fact that our fastest laps were continually the last lap of each session. Having a solid field of sidecars meant there was always someone to dice with, which pushed us to go harder.

“Royce covered most of the thank yous above, but to all the Aussie contingent that gave me advice over the weekend, it’s very appreciated. And especially Jess, who stepped into my spot at the last minute for the Sydney round – those tough-fought points were worth it in the end! I’m keen to end the year on a high note at Mac Park, so will be ready to roll in a couple of weeks!”

Round 2 of the Australian Sidecar Championships were held over the first weekend of July, which meant a drive to Sydney Motorsport Park. Although the Hay Plains become tiresome, the record for travel goes to Morgan Marshall’s team who drove from Perth to Sydney in three days!

The track facility in Sydney was world class and the St George MCC put on a great meeting (and thanks to the Australian Racing Driver’s Club for letting us out on Friday during their track day for practice and to work out which way the track went).

Unfortunately, Lenno couldn’t make the trip so our backup passenger, Jess Watson stepped up to the plate.

Early signs were promising after some great dicing with the Marshall outfit. The challenge was to try and catch ‘Dags’ Rayner and Evelyne, but Jess injured his ribs in race 2 (as a result of being thrown into the fairing under brakes), forcing the team to slow down.

In race 3, Royce was black and blue from Jess hitting him on the back to slow down even further, ending up with lap times dropping to a manageable pace.

Jess hadn’t told us how much pain he was really in until after race 3 had finished, that way we could gather more points for the Championship. When the pair came back into the pits, Jess hobbled to the Medical Centre, where they confirmed broken ribs and wanted to send him to hospital by ambulance fearing he might puncture a lung. Underlining his determination and grit, he declined the ambulance, but agreed to being driven to hospital by team member Deb Lock, where he spent the next two days.

After spending 5 hours trying to explain what a sidecar is to the nurses and why Jess wasn’t ‘wearing a seatbelt’, Royce killed some time in the waiting room with reflection of the weekend that was…

“I was really keen in the lead up to the Eastern Creek round as it’s a track I hadn’t been to since I was a junior on the 150 Honda about 15 years ago.”

“Flying to Sydney like a factory rider, I wondered which hot beverage Dad would be choosing between – a hot chocolate or his tenth coffee – at an outback truck stop. I had the particularly difficult decision of deciding between having three or four ice cubes in my rum and coke whilst waiting in the Qantas Lounge.

“With the late passenger swap as Leonard was no longer being able to make it, Jess and I were going over old laps of The Creek trying to get him up to speed. Coming across footage featuring the likes of Gavin Porteus and Andre Bosman, the racing line has probably only changed slightly since 1991.

“Both Friday and Saturday gave Locky and Dad plenty of practice in changing tyres from slicks to wets. It was also some good practice for us on a wet track. Each session we got a bit quicker and I got a bit ballsier turning into a very fast turn 1. Making sure we could finish each 7-lap race without Jess falling off the back, we had bit of a tap on the back system for easing up, speeding up or needing to come in. Sometimes ignoring the slow down taps, to Jess’s credit he never signalled for me to come in.

“We had some great dicing with Morgan and Matthew in Race 2, also getting a chance to test out the new 360 degree Go Pro. (will post a video once I’ve figured out how to edit it all!)

“Unfortunately, in race 3, with the slow down taps frequenting a bit more and no go faster taps I knew something wasn’t quite right and slowed the pace right down. The trooper Jess ensured we got some points to stay up the pointy end of the championship, which is commendable.

“With a bit of a dampner on the end of the trip, we still looked at the positives of learning a new track, tweaking the sidecar a bit and having fun! (When all our ribs were intact). Keen to get out for our next race at Phillip Island. 😁”

The final round for the Aussie titles are at Phillip Island in September, which is also an SA/VIC championship round like The Bend round was earlier this year. Then, we wrap up the racing calendar at Mac park in October for the final South Australian Championship round.

Since our last race meeting, work to improve the sidecar has continued. The motor we had been using was a bit stodgy and tired, so we have given it an honourable discharge and sourced another GSX-R 600 engine which we took to Neville Lush Racing (NLR).

Anyone who has been to the NLR workshop complex at Hindmarsh Valley will know that it’s motorcycling’s version of Willy Wonka’s Chocolate Factory. Neville and his crew worked their magic and dyno runs comparing both motors show the new one has an increase in horsepower of more than 20%.

With the bike back together, we hit the State Title round at Mallala on the last weekend in May hopeful of improvement! In the last race on Sunday, the team set a new personal best of 1m20.230 which is about a 3 second drop from our last outing.

We want to thank Ken and Brian for helping to prepare the bike for the meeting, and Locky for his tireless work in the pits. With Leonard unable to get to the practice day on the Friday, Ryan stepped in and did a great job in his first ride as a passenger.

Unfortunately, entries for the Mallala meeting were the lowest we have seen, but the experienced pair of Grant and Scotty pushed us all weekend to lower our times.

The next meeting will be Round 2 of the Australian Championships at Sydney Motorsport Park in July, and we look forward to catching up with, and hopefully catching, our friends in the eastern states.

Royce enjoyed putting the new powerplant through it’s paces and had this to say, “Now, I didn’t just want the new motor so I could leave pictures on the bitumen with the back tyre but also to go faster!”
“We had no problems in doing the latter as the fresh engine just wants to keep pulling strong compared to the old one.
“On the Friday without Leonard, I had to go through bit of a list of backups. Jess not being able to get time off work and Gareth still mentally scarred from a quick lap I made him endure, when I found Ryan was so kind to say yes and did a great job for his first time!
“Come Saturday, we used the first session to get Leonard up to speed. The second session we managed to put the sidecar on pole with a personal best lap time with Grant and Scotty not far behind.

“Each race we went out, Leonard and I tried new things with the extra horsepower and we kept seeing our times tumble.
“It wasn’t long ago Grant and Scotty were giving us a tow, learning a lot from their lines and race craft. I’m glad we can return the favour by dangling the carrot and getting them to keep up with us young ones.
“Big thanks to the usual suspects of Dad, Leonard, Locky and Brian. Thanks to Neville for imparting some wisdom, which wasn’t just classic bikes like to go bang, but some suspension set up advice which seems to be helping tame the beast.
“All in all after some handy points to go to the state titles with 4 wins, I had a wicked time and can’t wait to get out there on the sidecar again. In the meantime until Eastern Creek, I will be glued to my phone watching the live coverage of the Isle of Man! :)”

Keen to get back into the swing of things, Leonard said, “After missing the Friday practice day, jumping on Saturday for the first session was a bit of a shock! I’d had some new earplugs made up which block majority of the engine noise, coupled with the new engine that pulls us much quicker between corners, I kept pulling my head up and realising we were already approaching the corner!

“Once I got my bearings back and started moving in time with the bike, we hit some good lap times. Although a very small field, Grant and Scotty kept us honest and improved their own personal bests in the process.

“Thanks to everyone that did their bit to get the bike ready in time and those providing advice out at the track, and as always the club for putting on a great meeting when juggling a few hold-ups… can confirm the Bradley’s Bakery choc donuts prize for scoring pole is worth pushing for!”

The team are all very jealous of those lucky enough to be over in the Isle of Man watching the TT, enjoy the spectacle and we’ll see you trackside soon!