Page 78 - Australian Motorcycle News (January 2020)

WYNN’S SYDNEY TO DARWIN

2

1

RAHIER HAD NO MEANS TO

CARRY OUT A REPAIR AND WAS

FORCED TO WAIT FOR SUPPORT 3

300 kays between Top Springs and Katherine. “The pitch black 5am start produced one of
There was nothing particularly remarkable the marvellous tales of sportsmanship to emerge
about Rahier’s BMW getting a puncture, but what from the craziness,” he recalls.
was remarkable was that Rahier had no means to “Chapman, leading Rahier for the bike
carry out a repair and was forced to wait for one honours, had no lights. Rahier immediately
of the BMW support vehicles to arrive. For the invited Chapman to trail him until sun-up,
first time in six days and over 6000km, Honda- an hour away. This meant that Rahier had
mounted Steve Chapman hit the lead. thrown away a golden opportunity to take an
But all was not well in the Honda camp. The unbeatable lead.”
front end of Chappie’s XR600 was badly smashed In that last competitive stage, Rahier reduced
and, as he was now without either a speedo or the margin from eight minutes to three, proving
headlight, leading out in the morning would both the diminutive Belgian and the BMW were
prove impossible. Steve Riley was on hand. quicker than Chapman’s Honda, but Chappie
“I was happy to give Chappie my digital speedo was the first to reach Darwin.
and help calibrate it but we were hassled by the Tholstrup and Snooks were dismayed their
officials,” he said. “Although it was all above publicity coup had failed. And it’s obvious the
board, it appeared obvious to me that Hans BMW marketing executives and beancounters
Tholstrup didn’t want Honda to beat BMW.” must have spent many hours of blamestorming.
So, without a headlight, Chapman was up the Talent such as Denny Hulme and George Fury
Alligator River. Long-time motoring journalist doesn’t come cheap, but perhaps they of all people
Peter Mackay, himself a contestant in the Auto understood Rahier’s desire to make the rally a fair
Division, remembers the situation. fight all the way to the chequered flag.

1985 WYNN’S SAFARI MOTO DIVISION

POS RIDER BIKE TIME
1. The big-buck BMW 1 Steven Chapman Honda XR600 21h09m
team ran in formation... 2 Gaston Rahier BMW R 80 G/S 21h12m
3 Peter McDonald Honda XR600 22h44m
2. ...before Rahier was 4 Allan Cunynghame Yamaha TT600 24h21m
stranded with a flat 5 Dean Johnstone Yamaha TT600 25h49m
rear tyre 6 Steve Riley Honda XR600 29h38m
3. By the time his 7 John Crawford Kawasaki KLR250 30h34m
31h17m
support crew (um, 8 Laurie Power KTM GS 600 31h53m
9
David Murray
Yamaha XT600
fellow competitor) 10 Paul Bell Yamaha XT600 35h50m
stopped, it was too 11 Fred Powell BMW R 100 G/S 36h18m
late to save the day 12 Glenn Williams KTM GS 600 36h20m
4. Steve Riley, an 13 Steve Wilson Suzuki DR600 38h15m
outstanding rookie 4 14 Wayne Farley Honda XR500 38h57m

78 amcn.com.au