CAN’T TOUCH THIS: David Gras had a huge weekend at the City of Penrith Charity dirt track meeting where he was a regular face on the podium.
A NUMBER of local riders headed to Sydney recently to compete in the City of Penrith Charity dirt track meeting.
The event was open to entrants with pre-1990 machines, with some dating back to the late 1960s.
With the previous Nepean meeting cancelled due to rain, the riders were hoping for better weather this time around.
The Griffith boys rode well all weekend and featured on quite a few podiums.
In the pre-75 250cc David Gras finished third with Colin Laws (Sydney) in second and Brett Chipperfield (Sydney) in first place.
The pre-70 open event saw Gras lifting his game and crossing the line in first place, Mark Birkett second, and Kieran Virago a close third.
Gras again battled it out in the pre-75 open race, duelling with Beau Lorenzi and Mark Bennet for the top placings.
Lorenzi finished the better of the three taking honours, Gras second and Bennet third.
The Evo open was a great contest with Kieran Virago banging bars with Beau Lorenzi and Lawrence Fairley (Sydney) all race.
Virago was elevated to second place behind Fairley, with Lorenzi filling the last podium position in third.
The charity meeting featured a number of events not normally seen at dirt track meetings.
One was the pre-75 25-lap race that began with a Le Mans start.
It was a fantastic race for the spectators who were trying work out who was in the lead after so many laps.
Gras persisted and finished a close fourth, in what he said was the most enjoyable event of the weekend.
The second of the feature races was the 125cc mini sidecars.
This event only came about after Rod Watts, Gras and Virago transported all the local machines to Penrith for any rider to climb aboard.
It was well received by the crowd and will be a regular event in the future. Kieran and Darren Virago teamed up and showed the crowd how it was done, finishing in front of Rod Watts and Jan Barbaro in second, with Gras and Andrew Short finishing in third.
On a local note, the Griffith Motorcycle Sports Club is holding a practice day this weekend for dirt track and motocross at the Pines Speedway with free spectator admission.
Sign-on is 10am and you must be a member of GMSC and you can join on the day. Canteen facilities will be provided.
The club is also holding round 6 of the Golden Wheels inter-club dirt track series on Sunday, September 9.