Sussex classic enthusiast Roger Winfield is shipping eight motorcycles, two spare engines and a 20-strong crew to Australia in a factory-sized operation to contest the Phillip Island Classic races on January 23-25.
Former Island Classic winner Jeremy McWilliams and John McGuinness, winner of 21 TTs, lead the Team Winfield attack during the four races on the 2.76-mile circuit. Winfield will field leading riders in the 10-man British team in an international battle against teams from Australia, New Zealand and the USA.
“The event has become a bit of an obsession,” said Winfield, who runs an engineering company. “I started in 2010 when we took Lea Gourlay there and he finished second to Australia’s Steve Martin. This is now my sixth year there. The Aussies run incredibly powerful bikes and we are always playing catch-up. We’re running the bikes in a very high state of tune - last year our bikes were 170mph through the speed , but hopefully we’ll be going a bit quicker this year.”
Australia’s biggest classic motorcycle race meeting caters for 1973-84 machines, with 350-1300cc air-cooled engines. All Winfield’s bikes have Harris F1 chassis, with either Suzuki GSX, Honda CBR1100 or Yamaha FJ1200 engines.
“It’s really frantic getting everything ready after we come back from the Classic TT in August,” Winfield said. “The Phillip Island organisers provide a 40-foot container, and the bikes were shipped in mid-November. I air-freight the two spare engines in early January. Twenty people, including riders, mechanics, wives and girlfriends, will go from this country. We’ve also recruited some Australian helpers, so the total number at the circuit will be 25.”
But Winfield warned: “Financially it’s a bit of a nightmare. It’s stretching me as far as I can go, and this might be my last time there.”
McWilliams was joint individual winner of the event last year on a Winfield bike, but Australia has always won the team award since the Island Classic began in 2005.
The home team will include former Australian Superbike champions Steve Martin and Shawn Giles, and 24-year-old Jed Metcher, the 2011 European 600 Superstock champion, on a Suzuki Katana. The British squad includes Australian Glen Richards, the former BSB and BSS star, who holds a British passport.
Legendary MotoGP crew chief Jerry Burgess will make his first ever appearance at a major classic event when he will reminisce at the event’s welcome dinner.
Winfield’s Riders
Jeremy McWilliams: Harris-Yamaha FJ1200
John McGuinness: Harris-Honda CB1100
Ryan Farquhar: Harris-Yamaha FJ1200
Conor Cummins: Harris-Honda CB1100
Glen Richards: Harris-Suzuki GSX1230
Mike Edwards: Harris-Suzuki GSX1230
Other British team riders
Barry Dichburn
Craig Ditchburn
Clive Warner
Keith Higgs
Rick Kwok
Jim Agombar
Derek Brown
Michael Neeves
