2 MEMBERS AWARDED LIFE MEMBERSHIP

Congratulations to BEN ZANDER and BOB PETTS on their receiving of life membership in 2007.

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 FAMILY CHRISTMAS SHOW, DECEMBER 9

The Club got together for the final time in 2007 last Sunday for the Family Christmas Show at the Angaston Oval with over 70 members and their families getting together for one of Smithy’s BBQ’s. This time Smithy got help, not only from Tanja, but also from Maria Caust and Sue Haseldine who put together a fabulous array of desserts for all present. The other big surprise was that Paul gave up the BBQ tongs and let Jim Haseldine cook the barby, and what a fine job he did. After a fine feed the fun and games started with the tyre tossing competition and once again it was reining champion, Shane Kraft who streaked the field to go back to back. Honourable mentions here must go to Lorraine Throup and Karen Wedge who showed a few of the guys how to get the job done. 

 After Santa said his goodbyes the games were back on including a friendly game of ‘no rules’ pattonk and a cricket match then finishing off with an all in water balloon fight, with some adults ending up wetter than the kids, with Pete Rudd and Mark Launer looking slightly soggy at the end of proceedings. Lara Wedge was the wettest of the younger members when she went into battle against the adults and kept coming off second best, although she did extract some revenge when her and Brayden Caust ganged up on Andrew Warnest.

The social side of the Club has had a real boost since Paul has taken on the role and he does deserve a big pat on the back. He did receive perhaps the highest compliment that he could from within the Club, when he was compared to Laurence ‘Willie’ Williams, who was the Club’s great Social Secretary through the ‘70’s & early ‘80’s and did so much to bring the Club together and raise the funds to enable the Club to buy Wilton Hall in 1980. Well done and cheers ‘Smithy’! Once again it was a great social day for the Club, and a nice way to sign off on 2007. The Club goes into the festive season wishing all members, past & present, and their families a wonderful Christmas and a safe New Year.

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MOTORCYCLING SA, AWARDS PRESENTATION DINNER

This year saw Motorcycling SA re-introduce an awards dinner to acknowledge SA’s finest in motorcycling held at the Festival Function Centre at Findon on December 8th. The KMCC was a finalist for the Club of the Year Award, with the President & Secretary, Darren Heidenreich & Andrew Warnest attending on behalf of the Club. Also attending were Club members Kevin Steinert, Jonathon Baker and John & Cynthia Richardson.

In the Club of the Year category the KMCC was pipped by the Gawler MCC, with the Sidewinders Junior Speedway Club 3^rd, with Darren accepting the award on behalf of the Club. Ben Zander was a finalist in the Official of the Year award and was named a very deserving winner of the award. Keyneton MCC Life Member, John Richardson was awarded Life Membership to Motorcycling SA for his 40 plus years of involvement in the sport, with John Baker also accepting his SA Championship award in the Reliability Trials series of 2007.

This was the first awards night, that brings all facets of the sport together, that MSA have run for over 10 years and Leah McLean, MSA’s special projects officer, should be commended for all her efforts in making the night happen. It was a good night for the sport and one which the KMCC should support in the future.

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CHRISTMAS & THANK YOU SHOW, DECEMBER 1

The KMCC’s Christmas & Thank You show was held at the Clubrooms on December 1 with about 70-80 members and their partners attending the evening. The weather turned on a warm night for all present with Smithy’s catering team once again putting on a fabulous spread for all to enjoy. Hats off once again to all that helped Smithy on the night, especially Tanja, Gwen, Christopher & Dianne, and of course the fabulous barman for the night in Andrew Earl, who kept every glass charged.

		After the meal the formal part of the evening took place with Vice President, Kevin Steinert, standing in for Darren Heidenreich, who had family commitments over the weekend. Kevin welcomed all to the evening Kevin then presented a cheque from the Club to Craig & Cathy Goodman from the Barossa St John for the support that St John give the Club throughout the year. Ben Zander then presented a cheque to Craig & Cathy on behalf of the Club’s running of the 2007 Vine Inn Barossa Australian Moto Trials Championships. The Club are heavily reliant on St John as we can’t run events without their presence, but with limited numbers they are finding it harder and harder to fill every ones needs locally. If any members, or family or friends of members, would like to join the ranks of St John they should call the recruiting officer, Mary Prior, on 0408 837 413. The future of our, and many other sports may rely on the survival of St John. After accepting the cheques Craig replied that it had been a pleasure for St John to work with the Club in 2007 and he looked forward to a long association in the future.
Craig Goodman (left) accepting cheque from Ben Zander

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KMCC 2007 CLUB AWARDS

The 2007 Club awards were presented at the AGM on October 30th.

Junior Club Champion Award to Lara Wedge (left with Club President Darren Heidenreich), for an outstanding year on her bike, both at club and open level competition, her attendance to meetings, and her overall love of the sport. Congratulations from all the Club Lara.

 

 

 

‘Most Promising Novice’ in the Club award, (the Dennis Weichert Trophy), went to 2007 SA Reliability Trials Series ‘Rookie of the Year’, Simon Kurtz (right). A late start to the sport has possibly made Simon, in his 30’s, the oldest recipient of this award yet. In his speech Simon thanked the Club and his fellow riders for their support, Darren Heidenreich for the practice area, and was most gracious in his acceptance, also paying tribute to Dennis Weichert, the instigator and patron of the award.

 

 

Darren Heidenreich presented the ‘Clubperson of the Year’ Award which must have been a tough one for Darren to pick, as there were many members in 2007 who would have been worthy recipients of the award, including the President himself. In the end Darren chose the man who masterminded the Club’s running of the Aussie Moto-Trials Titles, was Clerk of Course at the ill-fated Mike Connors and was also Darren’s solid back up in the Vice President’s role, Ben Zander (left centre). Ben thanked Darren for the award and the Club for all the effort this year.

 

Andrew and Tanja Warnest also received an award for catering at the Aussie Titles.

Lara, Ben, and Andrew 

                                                                                  - ED -

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OZ CHAMPS RETURNS TO THE BAROSSA

The Keyneton Motor Cycle Club played host to the Vine Inn Barossa 2007 Australian Moto-Trials Championships on October 13th & 14th.   The 2days of competition catered over 140 entrants in ten classes atop Mengler’s Hill, with spectacular views overlooking the famous wine growing region of South Australia.

Mengler’s Hill has previously played host to the national titles in 2002, as the terrain consists of rock strewn hills and outcrops ideal for Moto-Trials with easy access for both spectators and competitors, as well as being close to the major towns of the Barossa.

Saturdays opening day of competition saw 21 riders in the Open Solo class set out for two laps of the 14 section course, with a 10am start and a progressive close of the sections set to begin at 4pm. The Open Solo sections would be shared with the Masters, Open Junior, Women’s and Youth classes, who would each complete three laps of the entire 14 section course.

 

Section 6 proved to be the toughest section of the day, with the a rocky climb leading into a large step, before a short approach to a steep climb over a jutted rock crest. International class rider Ben Hemmingway was one of the first top riders to tackle this hazard, only to come up just short of the final crest for his only five of the day.

Final scores for the day saw Kevin Zarczinski  on 8, Neil Price on 10, Kyle Middleton on 16, Mick Byrne 18 and Colin Zarczinski  on 19. Ben Hemmingway had a loss of 11 as the international class rider.

With clear weather forecast for the Sunday, the top riders were hoping the new course for the second day would be much harder than the sections of the first day. This would allow them to either stretch their advantage over the competition, or catch up a few marks lost in the little floater rocks, and generate an exciting days competition to decide the 2007 Australian Moto-Trial Championships.

Sunday’s trial started in brilliant sunny conditions and minus the chilly winds of the opening day, with riders having from 9.30am until 3.30pm to complete their laps. The organising Keyneton MCC had laid out a fresh course for the second day, only re-using one section from the opening day closest to the start area for the benefit and enjoyment of the spectators, in a course which ran along the gentler slopes of the grassy hillside overlooking the Barossa Valley.  As with the opening days course, the sections were not long, each containing two or three elements or areas of focus for the rider.

Section 1 of Day Two, was almost the reverse of section 14 of the opening day and featured once again the Keyneton Club station wagon.  Overnight leader Kevin Zarczynski(Sherco) had a disaster on Section 1, sliding off the now very slippery roof of the station wagon, for his first five of the weekend. Saturdays second placed man Neil Price(Beta) also had a five on the same section on the first lap.  Michael Byrne, and Mitch Willcocks, posted the best opening lap with three points, closely followed Colin Zarczynski with four, Kyle Middleton on five, and Ben Hemmingway six. Kevin Zarczynski remained the leader with eight lost, with Neil Price having a second five for a loss of 12.

Gloriously sunny conditions greeted the riders for the final circuit, with plenty of time in hand. The competitors were riding gingerly between the rocks, not trying attack the course, more to defend themselves from the slightest mistake. Kevin Zarczynski held the lead until his fourth last section, a surprise five on the climb in Section 4 leaving him with a total of 26 points. Neil Price had fived the same section and finished with an overall total of 28 marks. With three riders finishing on 24 points after two days and 56 sections of competition, a count-back on cleans would decided the overall winner. It was immediately clear that Colin Zarczynski, with his three fives on the opening day, would have the most cleans of the group with 46, and would retain his National Open Solo crown. Kyle Middleton had 43 zero’s, to finish second overall ahead of Michael Byrne who had 40 cleans. Kevin Zar was fourth with his 26 lost, and Neil Price fifth on 28 points. It has been the closest championship finish ever, with the lowest total score for the top five riders ever, a top five who were separated by just four points.

In the Open Sidecars there was a giant battle raging between reigning winners Justin Gough & Maurice Blanchard from QLD and SA’s Chris Schultz & Stuart Gerhardy, with SA’s former 7 time winners Todd Kuerschner & Steve Sparkes slightly of the pace. After 2 days of hard fought riding, where most people, including Gough & Blanchard, were hoping for Schultz & Gerhardy to finally shed their bridesmaid tag it was not to be, with the 4 stroke Montesa mounted Queenslanders setting a new record for sidecar wins with their 9^th Title.

Best of the Keyneton MCC riders over the weekend was Christopher Clark in the Youth (under21) Class and Darren Diener in Post Classic, both with a well earned 5^th place. After an interrupted year of mechanical gremlins and work commitments it was a good finish to a ‘not so good’ year for Christopher, while for Darren it was a stunning return to the sport after a few years off. Other KMCC members to have a ride were Shane Kraft (7^th in Post Classic), Shane Parks (10^th in Post Classic), Ted Redway (36^th in Veterans), Kevin Steinert (39^th in Veterans) and Paul Wright (46^th in Veterans), with Chris Holmes a non starter due to back problems.

The Vine Inn Barossa 2007 Australian Moto-Trials Championships were hosted by the Keyneton Motor Cycle Club, with the generous support of The Nuriootpa Vine Inn & Vine Court Nuriootpa, and Crackers Honda, but would not have happened without the support of many businesses in and around the Barossa Valley, and the Australian Trials community.

RESULTS>  PDF                                                                                                                                           - ED -

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BEN RECEIVES LIFE MEMBERSHIP

The AGM is the only time Life Memberships of the Club can be awarded and on 30th of October the 24^th and 25^th Life Memberships of the Keyneton MCC were awarded. Life Member number 24 is going to be kept under wraps until the Christmas & Thank You Show at the Clubrooms on Saturday night, December 1, as it is a former member of the Club who has no idea what has happened. The Club would like to keep it that way until the night.

The 25^th Life Membership of the Keyneton MCC is also a bit special as it is also the first 2^nd Generation Life Membership to be presented in the Clubs 57 year history. Darren Heidenreich had much pleasure in presenting Ben Zander with his Life Membership for 20+ years of hard work for the Club, from riding and running Moto Trials (including being involved in 5 Australian Championship meetings, two as the main organiser), to holding executive committee positions and officials licences, to many working bees around the Clubrooms. Ben thanked all in the Club, stating that it is a love of the Club, and the sport, that has kept him involved.

 

Perhaps the proudest person in the hall was father, Ian, himself a Life Member (the Club’s 4^th in 1979) who had played such a big part in the Club’s survival in the 1960’s and moving to, and then buying, Wilton Hall in the 1970’s. Ian had stated during the meeting that it was a credit to the Club, and it members, past and present, that it gone from about .73cents in the bank and on the brink of folding in 1965 to the position it holds in motorcycling in Australia today.

 

 

- ANDREW WARNEST

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KEYNETON ENDURO ANOTHER SUCCESS

 

The Keyneton MCC’s rescheduled round of the SA Off Road Series was held on the weekend of September 1 & 2, Both Junior and Senior rounds were run over the two days as a sprint format, Juniors riding on Saturday and Seniors on Sunday.

This was the first time that the KMCC had run a round at Wirrabara in the mid north, and led by Josh Fuller and Kevin Steinert the event turned out to be a rousing success, with supreme conditions of loamy soil mild temperatures and sunshine greeting the riders upon their arrival.

 

All riders loved the course and terrain as each day consisted of  7special Forest tests followed by a trail ride through Forest tracks, with enough time to absorb the magnificent views the Mid North has to offer.

 

Josh and Kevin would like to thank all club members who helped, with a special mention to members from other clubs who helped out on the day.

 

Winners on the day were;

PRESIDENTS MESSAGE

G’day there KMCC members, it’s been a while. I hope you all are riding well and keeping up with the maintenance. It may be damp but we still need to maintain our rides.  Well with the 4day run and won, congratulations to all the boys, to bring home 3^rd place is awesome. well done. (Must have had a good pit crew) and the 24hr surely someone can knock DEINER off the top spot. He truly is a Champion. Congrats from the kmcc. Well that’s about it from me , the KMCC boys are riding hard at the Road Trials and the SA Off Road Series and of course the rock hopper boys , not long now till the end of the season, time to turn it up a notch and come home strong. And lastly remember the 2007 OZZIE titles coming up in October 13^th 14^th, if you can help out in any way give Ben Zander or myself a call. We need your help to make the event a success. (13 confirmed NEW ZEALANDERS and two of the top 15 in the world, plus all the currant Australian champs battling it out).

Till then ride safe and keep roosting your mates - Darren Heidenreich.

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