*Bring your own truck!
All roads lead to Gedinne
Gedinne is road race that caters for just about every class of classic motorcycle. It takes place each August on the outskirts of the southern Belgian town of Gedinne where the event gets its name from, very close to the Luxembourg border. This August saw the seventeenth running of the three-day event popularly known as The Belgian Classic Trophy and was the largest one to date with over four hundred entrants competing in twenty four races.
Having competed here eight times previously, but not since 2019, I didn’t need much persuading when Sean Henry phoned to say that he was organising a truck to transport a load of bikes and was I interested. In previous years, using the same lorry, we somehow managed to stuff it to capacity with nine race bikes (plus two scooters for getting around the paddock)so when I learned that this year we were taking fourteen machines, plus two, I was curious as to how this could be done. The answer, Sean arranged the construction of a welded platform, a mezzanine floor, which held an additional five machines above the rest of the bikes. Simple but very effective.
A truckload of troublemakers!
With the truck now stuffed to the gunnels, Sean and two assistants headed on down the N11 and caught the Monday morning Rosslare to Cherbourg ferry and from there skirted the tip of Paris, passing an Olympic stadium or two, en route for Belgium and finally Gedinne.
This year the Irish team included riders from both north and south, such is the current state of Irish road racing that any and every opportunity must be availed of. We also had Richard Ford, who has stepped on to many Irish Classic podiums over an illustrious career spanning over a quarter of a century, travelling down from the U.K. He arrived with four machines in his large, well kitted van, ably assisted by Jasper and Boots his long time pit crew, all of whom have attained honorary Irish status over the years, and parked up alongside our truck in what some Belgian locals refer to as the Irish Village.
Some bikes were even ridden in a classic style...
The Irish truck transported race bikes for Sean Henry, Andy Kildea, Gavan Duffy, Phil Lenny, Paul McMahon, Kyle Parkes and myself. Each entrant in each class gets two qualifying sessions and two races. At the end of the first 350cc qualifying session it was glaringly obvious that we had a potential podium contender in our midst in the form of Kyle Parkes. This young, unassuming Cavan man started attracting attention last year when he acquired a 350cc Honda K4 and on his first attempt at the Manx managed to set fastest newcomer in practice. Unfortunately he had to retire from the race with mechanical issues. This year he has been knocking on the door of a podium finish at both Cookstown and Armoy. So when he rode his way to pole position in the second qualifying session we were very excited indeed.
But then his name was called out over the P.A. And both he and Paul McMahon were summoned to the Clerk of Course’s tent to be informed that because they were using disc brakes they were both to be excluded from the two 350cc races. As a consolation they were subsequently allowed to enter in the 500cc race (on their 350cc machines) but had to start from pit lane, without a warm up lap, in race one.
Yes, we all knew that disc brakes were not eligible for the 350cc class. In previous years bikes in this class were allowed to run but were excluded from any results or prizes. I enquired with one of the organisers as to why this rule was now being enforced and it was explained that the insurance situation in Belgium is currently so precarious that, were there to be an incident, the insurers could refuse cover. Indeed I was also informed that there is a huge question mark over future Gedinne events as well as the other Belgian road races at Chimay due to the F.I.M. threatening to withdraw funding support which raises the possibility of the end of road racing in Belgium as the organising clubs are not in a position to make up the shortfall needed to run these events.
No traction control here
Both Kyle and Paul were understandably disappointed, but refused to let this dampen their enthusiasm and rode the wheels off their respective machines, upping their lap speeds by an over 5kph per lap. Gavan Duffy piloted his 500cc Honda to a fine 5th place in Race one and a 6th in race two. Newcomer Phil Lunny rode well to make it in to the top ten in Race two, Sean Henry managed 11th place in Race one. Andy Kildea was delighted to get a 3rd place podium in the 350cc Race one, but it was Richard Ford, no stranger to silverware here at Gedinne, who stole the show with a superb win as well as four 2nd place trophies and a 3rd place for good measure.
The dates for Gedinne 2025 are August 22nd, 23rd and 24th.
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