Rally report April 2022
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The 2022 Club Bultaco Australia Rally for Spanish motorcycles was held between 1 – 4 April at Russell Beckett’s property near Captain’s Flat, NSW. It was run under the auspices of the Veteran, Vintage & Classic Motorcycle Club ACT Inc. and many thanks to them The 300 acre property was very well suited for the rally as it has a grass scrambles track, a moto-X track, single line enduro loop, trials sections ranging from novice to extreme expert and lots of trails to ride including a mountain to climb. The Molonglo River runs through the property and was low enough to ford. There were also plenty of camping areas.
Most attendees arrived on Friday, the weather was overcast, cold and windy but many fired up their bikes to go for a ride. Saturday was milder, not as much wind but scattered very light rain all day. The wind was strong enough to stop the planned road ride to Bungendore for lunch at the pub. However, there was plenty of trials, trail riding and many lies being told around the campfire, washed down with a few brews, which continued into the night.
Sunday we awoke to a mild sunny day. A timed lap of the grass scrambles track determined the fastest rider (see results). For lunch a group of bikes rode to Captain’s Flat for a beer or two at the RSL club, no lunch was on so we dined on potato crisps. Not long after we returned to the campsite we were visited by a member of the local constabulary who came to check on an unregistered bike that had been to town more than once. The rider was hit with a stiff fine and by his actions managed to bring the club and property owner into disrepute. Members are reminded that when they attend club events they must abide by the Club rules and the rules of the road. The rider is no longer welcome to attend rallies and has been removed from the Facebook page and group. It is extremely difficult to find suitable properties to hold our rally and this sort of behavior won’t be tolerated.
Most attendees packed up and left for home Sunday afternoon but a small group stayed until Monday, the last leaving mid afternoon. There were 33 attendees with 52 bikes which was quite a good turn out, in spite of the floods up north, the virus and doubled fuel prices. It was great to see Queenslanders, Victorians & Tasweigans make the long trip. The local council plans to rebuild the road from Queanbeyan to Captain’s Flat in time for the rally in 2023.
Well deserved thanks go to Russell Beckett for the use of his property, the enormous amount of work he did to clear the scrub, lay out tracks and provide fire wood etc. (Ed. Thanks also to stalwart John Somerville for his efforts in securing the site and for his work at the rally itself) Also thanks to Nigel Swan who sourced the trophies and for running events. A list of trophy winners is as follows:
Top bike – Wayne Martin, Metralla GT
Runner up – Joel Cullen, boat-tail Pursang
Best Frontera – Fernando Navarro
Oldest rider – John Somerville (it’s a lie, I’m not that old!)
Furthest travelled – Jeff Wynne (Tasmania)
Best unrestored bike – Brian McTiernan , El Montadero
Peoples choice, road bike – Andrew Flowers, Kit America
Peoples choice, off road bike- Joel Cullen, Montadero
Most balanced rider (trials) – Alan Tate
Fastest scrambles lap – Alan Tate
See you all next year!
Many thanks to those that attended and for making it a successful rally in difficult circumstances.
