MOTOFEST REVVING UP FOR
CLASSIC BIKES GP
BY: ANDY MCGECHAN
M
MotoFest is just around the corner and, as
final preparations are made, the rumblings
of anticipation are starting to nudge the top
of the rev-limiter. Ready to mark its third anniversary
at Hampton Downs Motorsport Park on the weekend
of March 7-8, the Mike Pero MotoFest is sure to
again rate as New Zealand’s “must see and must do”
motorcycling event of the year, particularly with the
inclusion in the programme of the inaugural Motul
NZ Classic Grand Prix. The 2020 edition of MotoFest
will again feature the third round of five in the New
Zealand Superbike Championships (NZSBK), the Motul
NZ Classic Grand Prix putting extra zing onto the jam-
packed programme and perhaps even threatening
to steal the thunder. As many would probably have
been expected, the Motul NZ Classic Grand Prix is
drawing in legends of yesteryear... iconic, famous and
well-loved bikes and some of the equally celebrated
riders of the age too. One man in particular is going
to be especially busy that weekend, Hamilton’s
record nine-time New Zealand superbike champion
Andrew Stroud. The Motul NZ Classic Grand Prix will
certainly prove a huge extra draw-card to MotoFest,
particularly with 52-year-old Stroud dusting off his
14 KIWI RIDER
leathers to race again, no doubt hoping he can lead
the way as fellow former Kiwi internationals turn up
to rub shoulders with the superstars of today, bikes
old and new on the race track at separate times
throughout the weekend. “I will race a borrowed
Yamaha OW01, similar to the one I raced when I was
in the Super Angel Team back in the 1980s,” said
Stroud. The OW01 (FZR750R) bike belongs to another
Kiwi motorcycling hero, Aucklander Paul ‘Superman’
Pavletich, the veteran current campaigner also set
to race at MotoFest. “I might also be able to race a
Ducati owned by Kevin Grant, a former president of
the New Zealand Classic Motorcycle Racing Register,”
said Stroud. “I started off my career by racing these
bikes years ago and they were the bikes to have.
It will certainly bring back memories to ride either
of them again. “Being part of this is important to
me. I don’t know how fast the other riders want to
go. I’ll just do my own thing and then we’ll just see
what happens when I twist the throttle as another
riders gets up alongside me,” he smiled. Probably
just as exciting for race fans is knowing that Stroud
will also put in a few demonstration laps around
Hampton Downs on the fabled pink and blue Britten