This headline in the Border Morning Mail is testament to the fact that joys of a win can be somewhat fleeting.
I spent a bit of time in the Albury-Wodonga area with activities related to the Hume Weir road race circuit. My first road race as a competitor, on my 250 Ducati, was there. I had a column on bikes in the Border Mail for a while. My last activities there were in 1978 during a push to have the racetrack upgraded. Put that down as a loss.
In 1977 I was contracted by Albury-Wodonga MCC to come up with a sponsor and promote a one-hour production bike race on the old quarry circuit. All the obvious targets, oil companies and such, I knew would not be interested. A few phone calls soon indicated that I’d have to be a bit creative with my approaches.
I targeted local businesses and eventually came up with a sponsor, Viscount Holdings, a local investment group associated with agricultural activities. Their involvement was completely out of left field compared to their usual activities. I had to convince them that some noisy motorbikes would be good for their image. They were more than a tad hesitant but were prepared to give it a go. It was a nice win. Nicer would have been the company’s instant agreement for ongoing sponsorship, but the approach was, not surprisingly, ‘let’s see how it goes and we’ll talk after the race meeting’.
The Border Mail’s front page soon ensured there was nothing ongoing about it.
The first three pars read:
‘A young motorcyclist was lucky to be alive last night after a spectacular accident at Hume Weir circuit races yesterday.
Peter Mitchell of Wodonga was catapulted on to cement wall, after his motor seized and his bike slid from under him.
He hit the wall with such force that he rolled along the top for 10m before bouncing back onto the track.’
The report also says that Peter suffered a suspected broken jaw, cuts and broken teeth.
The caption for the front page pic read:
‘Stewards, riders and ambulance men crowded the scene of yesterday’s spectacular crash. Mitchell, partly obscured, is lying on the ground in front of the ambulance at right. BELOW: Jim Budd and Roger Hayes set a blistering pace during the one hour race. Both Team Avon riders were competing in the Viscount Holdings Production One Hour race and lead the field early. But for Budd (no.2) the race ended in disaster.’
A front page story carrying the sponsor’s name is usually something to celebrate. Not this time.
Adding to my lack of joy was the story about Jim Budd’s ‘disaster,’ his bike starting a trackside fire. The third story about Roger Heyes winning was okay, of course. We’ll forgive journalist Neil McDonald for a slight misspelling of his name. A substituted ‘a’ or a missing ‘D’ and having them present tensed in the lead instead of past tense, is all just part of the game. (Far be it from me to be grammatically critical.)
The front page was full of bad news, the only positive thing being Bjelke Peterson losing some seats on the way to being re-elected in Queensland. A pilot of a stolen light plane dying after a crash, rounded out the bad news. It should also have read ‘Sponsorship Deal Hits Wall.’
As I said, you win some, you lose some.
Inside pages continued the sad story,
Bud’s hopes go up in flames
Team Avon rider Jim Bud, from Sydney, was tipped to be the winner of the first one-hour race held at the Hume Weir circuit yesterday. But midway through the race his quest for glory was lost when electrical problems forced his retirement.
Bud and teammate Roger Hayes led in the early stage of the race.At the half-way mark, when both riders began to settle in to a routine, things started to go wrong
The alternator of Bud’s Kawasaki 900 blew apart sending splintered pieces flying though the air and setting fite to dry grass at the edge of the track. Flames shot around the engine as he quickly slowed down and jumped from the bike.
Fire tenders quickly on the scene and extinguished the fire within seconds. Damage was only minor and confined to the engine.
A dejected Jim Bud limped back to the pits and rested while his teammate controlled the race and eventually won.
Second was Jeff Parkin, Suzuki, Alan Hales, Kawasaki, third, and Michael Cole, Ducati, fourth.
Back to the pits
ABOVE LEFT: Track officials remove Jim Bud’s smoking bike from the track after it had caught fire.
The fire started when the alternator on the Kawasaki 900 blew apart as he accelerated out of the esses.
The alternator cap was blown from the bike in a ball of flame. It sent splintered pieces flying through the air and set fire to the grass at the edge of the track.
LEFT: A dejected Jim Bud limps back to the pits after the mishap. He was forced to jump from the bike as flames streamed behind it.
