Classic British bike set to go

Ace Greytown motorcycle racer Doug Fairbrother has come up to speed aboard the BSA he will race at the Isle of Man this year.

Fairbrother said he completed five races at the BEARs (British, American, European Racing) 2013 Sound of Thunder meet at the Powerbuilt Raceway, Ruapuna, in Christchurch on the 1971 BSA Rocket in late February and used the runs to settle in the machine.

"We used the races for test-running and tuning and, from that point of view, it was a successful weekend."

A hole had been burned in a piston on the bike at the Hampton Downs Motorsport Park earlier this month and the Christchurch races had been Fairbrother's first real run on the machine. "All the parts we needed were down there and even though it wasn't fantastic for results, I also used the weekend for getting familiar with the bike," he said.

"It's not quite running perfectly but we're getting there."

Fairbrother said there had been fields of from 40 to 50 riders in each of the races at Ruapuna last weekend and his protege, Finn Harman, had put a good race under his belt despite almost being unseated when another racer shunted him from behind.

Fairbrother says he has already sent a Ducati transtasman he will race at the Barry Sheene Memorial at the Sydney Motorsport Park from March 15-17.

The weekend after the memorial meet, he will compete at the annual Gladstone Cliffhanger, of which he is a co-founder.