Southern Triples Rally 2020
Author: Stephen Kelly Date Posted:30 March 2020
Southern Triples Rally 13-15 March 2020
The 8th Southern Triples Rally was back in Daylesford, Victoria this year and to be honest we only just squeezed it in before Australia and the world went into lock down. We are all grateful to have enjoyed a fantastic weekend with our Triple bike buddies, as it may be a while before we can do that again.
The machines the guys brought along were all excellent. It was most unusual that we had 11 Rocket 3‘s and six Triumph Tridents entered. There were also three Hinckley machines. Several outstanding machines need a mention: first Gerry Rowley who brought a freshly built Rocket MII & faultless in every respect. We had two ‘Grey Frame’ Rockets owned by Steve (Diesel) Mobbs from SA and Maurie Edwards from Melbourne. Of the Tridents I must mention Tony Eklom and his T160 which he had ridden faultlessly from Queensland. Ron Williams who had restored his T160 in retro style from what had been a rust bucket and Ian Matthews with his lovingly prepared T150.
The Friday ride was led by Doug Gorie and took in Mt Macedon, Hanging Rock, Mt Alexander and a stop for lunch in Harcourt. The ride up Mt Alexander gave us some great views of the countryside.
Saturday was a colder day; Tony from Queensland wasn’t prepared for the cold! We rode first to lovely Clunes where ‘Toe-Cutter’ and his evil gang terrorised the town in ‘Mad Max’: A peaceful coffee stop, however. On to Talbot and Avoca and then lunch stop at Maryborough at the enormous historic railway station. We lined the bikes up outside the railway station for a group photo.
Saturday night at the Royal Hotel was the awards night. Tony from Queensland won the furthest ridden, no surprise there! The other awards were for the most desirable Rocket and Trident (in the eye of the beholder). The Rocket Prize was awarded to Gerry Rowley. The Trident award was close but was awarded to Ron Williams for his retro-style T160. Congratulations very well deserved.
Sunday morning, we headed to Maldon Railway station to see 2-8-0 J549 Steam Locomotive about to set off for Castlemaine and were able to line the bikes up in front for a photo opportunity with it belching steam. We got on our bikes and beat it to Castlemaine, only by a few minutes though!
It was a great weekend and thank you to the organisers. Next year's rally may be moving to Beechworth in Victoria – looking forward to it.
