IT WAS a huge week and weekend for the Coffs Coast Festival of Motor Sport, featuring the event’s official opening and and events galore being raced and spectated.

“Our RedPoint Round Two (Wednesday, 9 November) event was a great day at Raleigh Raceway,” Coffs City Rotary Club executive Bob Carle, Chair of the Coffs Coast Festival of Motor Sport, told News Of The Area.

33 entries, many having never raced there before, took to the grid in the second race in the series.

Organisers thanked the Coffs Harbour and District Sporting Car Club for their support in running this event, in particular Wayne Sketchley for taking on the Clerk of Course position.

“It was a test event to see if the midweek event would be successful or not,” said Bob.

“We have received nothing but praise on the idea of the Series format, three events at three different tracks, all very different.”

Winning Outright was Dave Morrow, in second was Johnathan Gray and third was Paul Waller.

“Our Coffs Driver John Kelly just missed out again, missing out by 0.48 of a second,” Bob said.

On Saturday, 12 November the long awaited Bike Show was also a great success, with quality rather than quantity providing a spectacle.

At Coffs Harbour Race Club, the festival was officially opened by Member for Coffs Harbour Gurmesh Singh, who was accompanied by Geoff King and Andrew Fraser, major contributors to the festival.

In his speech, Bob Carle thanked all participating clubs and his committee for the work and support they have all given, announcing the success so far and confirming the Festival of Motor Sports will be back next year, becoming an annual event for the area.

The huge display from Ash Beaton’s North Coast V-twin and the Harley Owners Group (HOG) provided an amazing sight with many bikes old and new on show.

Specialist motorcycle repairer, Captains Performance, had a magnificent display of Harleys with 2022 Fatboy taking out Best Custom Harley, 2008 Fatboy the People’s Choice and 2003 Fatboy voted Best Bike 2001-2020.

The Motorcycle Restorers Club of Coffs Harbour had a collection of privately owned machines on display, some very rare and in pristine condition, also collecting some of the awards presented by Shannons Insurance and prize packs from Bowden’s Car Care.

Club Member Chris Pearson went to great pain to get eight bikes to the display.

Another private collection of very special bikes was also a real eye-opener for the motorcycle enthusiast.

The number of bikes from visiting club members from all over the state, coming to Coffs Harbour for a weekend ride, parked outside made a show in themselves.

“There were some very nice machines only brought out for a ride like this, on special occasions,” noted Bob.

Saturday also saw the first day of competition in the NSW State Championship for Rally Cross run at Raleigh Raceway, with Round 2 on Sunday.

This was a great weekend for local driver Lou Molina, who took out the Championship.

Other results will follow.

Sunday saw the final round of the RedPoint Hillclimb Series at Grafton with some very close racing.

Dave Morrow, accumulating enough points from rounds 1 and 2, took the series as outright winner.

Second was Les Malony and third was Paul Waller.

Motorcycle racing also took place over the weekend at the Coffs Harbour Cycle Club’s track on Phil Hawthorne Drive, off Stadium Drive.

Saturday saw the new TT Flat Track concept used and on Sunday the Motor Cross Track saw the Club Champions decided for the year.

“Lots of juniors for the future of the club were enjoying the Moto Cross event,” said Bob.

Because of major state and national events being washed out in the latter part of the year, some big events were on the same weekend to finalise their series, with some of the riders involved in major series away from the local event.

“However, there were lots more spectators and everyone enjoyed some great racing.

“All clubs that have run events to date have given us nothing but praise for the concept of the festival and all are looking forward to bigger and better events for next year,” said Bob.

“When you are reading this report on Friday you will have another big weekend of Motorsport ahead of you with the Coffs Harbour Kart Club running their festival event on Saturday and Sunday.

“A lot of good entries coming to enjoy a great track with some real competition being promised.”

The other major event is the Off Road Racing at Kempsey’s Dondingalong short track with great up-close off road racing happening, and some powerful machinery ready to take on the track for a great weekend of racing
The track is 5 km out of Kempsey on a tar sealed road.

Check the festival website for more information.

The weekend after that, 25, 26 and 27 November, is when the Coffs Coast Rally, a round of the Asia Pacific Rally, comes to town for the final round and also the final rounds of the ARC and NSW Rally Championships.

“The action doesn’t stop there,” promised Bob.

“The final round of the Coffs Coast Festival of Motor Sport is the huge Speedway event at Grafton.

“More on that next week.”

By Andrea FERRARI