VOLUME 57 ISSUE 17 APRIL 28, 2020 P97
1973 Sydney's Oran Park race
circuit claimed a world record
weekend race program of 1400
entries. The notorious, in terms
of the high jinks it entailed,
well described here, East Side
Shuffle saw teams and self-
sponsored riders driving thou-
sands of miles up and down the
Pacific Coast to race up north
in Queensland, down south in
Victoria, and all over NSW along
the way. This then spread across
the Great Divide, the moun-
tains running from Melbourne
to Brisbane, which opened up
the inland towns to every kind of
two-wheeled motorsport, both
on and off-road, spearheaded by
the Mount Panorama circuit at
Bathurst, and then Adelaide and
the rest of South Australia, too.
Authors Don Cox and Darryl
Flack have tracked down and
interviewed many of the men in-
volved in this explosion of talent,
to tell the story of those hell-rais-
ing days, vividly social nights and
thrilling weekend races which
eventually made Grand Prix team
bosses look at Aussie and Kiwi
riders as must-haves, rather
than "could-bes." The early
days of the Suzuka 8-Hours
recounted here were part of
that, and together with the
Swann Series, the Easter
Bathurst races, the Cas-
trol 6-Hours and NZ
Marlboro Series acted
as the crucible for
the products of that
rider factory. The Yamaha
ner. Overseas stars play a part
in the tale, as well, and besides
Cooley include Pat Hennen,
Mick Grant, Barry Ditchburn,
who liked Australia so much he
later emigrated there, and Ago's
in it, too, recounting the stories
of his two visits Down Under, and
how he ended up getting beaten
on even terms by two star locals
Bryan Hindle and Ken Blake.
Rich in vivid anecdotes and an
empathy on the part of the au-
thors with the time whose story
it tells, Race Across the Great Di-
vide is a must-read book for any
fan of road racing in the last three
decades of the 20th century,
because so many of the men
depicted in it went on to make
their mark on the world stage. It's
a truly gripping read. CN
Race Across the Great Divide
By Darryl Flack & Don Cox
Price: $40-plus
Published by Bellbird Publishing
www.bellbirdpublishing.net
TZ750, Suzuki RG500, Kawa-
saki KR750 and other smaller-ca-
pacity two-strokes form the bed-
rock of the story, but come the
second half of the decade and
the big four-strokes, up to and
including that six-cylinder Honda
ultrabike, take pride of place. To
hear American Superbike star
Wes Cooley describe his awe at
seeing Graeme Crosby in action
up close and personal for the
first time is a nugget, and indeed
"Croz" is one of the standout
stars of this book, which re-
counts his rise from obscurity as
a Kiwi bike wrench to one of the
most versatile racers the world
has yet known. But he shares
that star billing with the likes of
Kenny Blake, an Aussie Croz in
terms of versatility, Warren Will-
ing, Murray and Jeff Sayle, Stu
Avant, Greg Pretty, John Wood-
ley, Ron Toombs, Gregg Hans-
ford—what a tragic loss he was,
arguably the Agostini of Australia,
with film star looks and talent
to match—and so many others,
including a young Wayne Gard-
