Stone Run 1998

[bonester]

My mates all went. I didn't. Bloody bank I worked for wouldn't give me any time off. Still regret it.
After details of the crash that occurred- anyone know what happened, or witnessed it? Thanks

[Gosling1]

Bones - it won't surprise you a bit to know that me and a few good mates including PC were on this run. I have a few pics and will bung them up later.

Basically - old mate from the Gladiators was belting down the break-down 'lane' on the inside, as were all his mates - some down the inside, some in the outside 'lane' - not really lanes at all, you know those narrow bits either side of the normal lanes on the first stretch from the Hornsby toll-gates (the old ones) .....

The Glads had the shits because they were not leading the ride. The ride was going to end up in their turf at Raymond Terrace, so they expected to be the front group. They had all spent the morning just tearing up and down the highway near the old tollgates, while hundreds of the rest of us just sat around in the sun waiting for the ride to commence. Once the ride finally kicked off........

Sandy Harbutt and the Gravediggers were leading the ride, followed closely by the Z Owners........probably less than 5 minutes into the ride was when all hell broke loose..........

Some chick in a small hatchback decided to stop her car so she could take some photos of the big run - with kids aboard - in one of the off-ramps to the left as you head down the big straight hill through the new cutting. She was pretty close to the bottom of the off-ramp - so close in fact that when old mate came barrelling through in that breakdown lane on the inside, he basically just ploughed straight into the back of her car and swiss-cheesed himself through the car and out the windscreen. The hog bounced back off the car and straight into the pack. Angry Anderson was one of the several riders who were cleaned up by the bouncing Hog and was also taken to hospital, as were many others.

One of my good mates from the Qld Z Owners was in the lead group - she saw the lot and only just managed to avoid the carnage. That group of abot 30-40 bikes continued on to Raymond Terrace flat-out. The rest of us - and our group was only about 100 bikes back from where the prang occurred - were all pulled up and had to sit and wait while the rozzers came and did the clean-up and accident report.

I think it was about 2 hours after the prang that we finally were on our way again, with coppers everywhere and little chance of speeding.

The end of the journey was at the old Barleigh Ranch speedway / flat track circuit a few k's out of Raymond Terrace. I have a few photos of the site and the boys - will dig them up and post them.

That is pretty much how I remember the whole gig. It was sad that a biker lost his life on the journey, despite the way they were all riding. Sometimes shit goes down and there is nothing that can be done about it. The Glads were part of the party afterwards and there was not much in the way of aggro or anything like that for the rest of the weekend - they lost one of their brothers and that's how it goes sometimes.

[MAXUMIS]

I think Doug Mulray got hit to from memory as well ? Great ride for a great movie imho .
Didn't do the ride but I do remember ..

[bonester]

Thanks Gos. My mates told me the chick drove her car into the bikes. You don't have the plate 'stone' do you? They showed a Vic registered bike with that plate on Stone forever.

[robracer]

Yep was there, Never forget how hot it was sitting on Ryde Road, had a mate on the back of the beemer & we broke down with clutch problems near Raymond Terrace.... luckily Ghost Rider picked us up in the van & took us to the rally..... we got on the piss & even got a ride home the next day, great memories

[Gosling1]

....I think Doug Mulray got hit to from memory as well ? Great ride for a great movie imho .
Didn't do the ride but I do remember ....

I can't remember his name as being one of the riders who was cleaned up ? Could have been I guess, but the only 'name' I remember from back then was Angry....I think about a dozen bikers were affected by the Harley bouncing back into the pack. There was shit everywhere......

.....Thanks Gos. My mates told me the chick drove her car into the bikes. You don't have the plate 'stone' do you? They showed a Vic registered bike with that plate on Stone forever......

Nah that is total crap, she was parked with the motor not even running. There were heaps of people lining the overhead bridges to take photos. She was definitely not moving when old mate smacked into her - he was hammering to try and get ahead of the pack - all the Glads were, just overtaking everyone within inches - it was a disaster waiting to happen.....as far as the 'Stone' plate goes - hell yes, I was running a Stoned plate !!! saved my arse at Hexham Bridge when we all went through a red-light camera. The only person who git busted was PC here is a picture of the plate, it was just a dodgy one made by a local sign company which I cable-tied over the top of my legit plate.......never got hassled at all during the entire trip

.....Yep was there, Never forget how hot it was sitting on Ryde Road, had a mate on the back of the beemer & we broke down with clutch problems near Raymond Terrace.... luckily Ghost Rider picked us up in the van & took us to the rally..... we got on the piss & even got a ride home the next day, great memories .......

yeh it was stinking hot I remember that well we sat in the fucking sun for what seemed like hours before the ride was ready to leave....
One of the bikes in our group also broke down - it was the only water-cooled bike in our pack ! we had to pull into the servo near Wyong - on the highway - and sort him out. I know when we got to Raymond Terrace, my 750 was so fucking hot......

Here are a couple of photos from that weekend - the first ones are a few of the WA Z Owners who stayed at my place before the trip and rode up with our pack.....












This last one is me and the z750 (which later morphed into the 750 dirt bike). I ran Z1000 sidecover badges on this run and fooled 95% of every Z Owner at the run !! It was hilarious. The tank sticker said 'Kamikasi' and the sign writer struggled to get it right.....basically using the same font as the stock tank badge - you just turn the W upside-down to become an 'M' - and swap the second K and S.

The high-rise exhaust was a Wastelands special - I had not seen any other pipe like this before this one was made in 1997. We used to call it the Rain Gauge for obvious reasons. These days you see them on every 2nd streetfighter *yawn*....front forks and front wheel are Z1000, rear wheel was Z650. Bellypan from an RD LC, camo paint job and single seat was from an AG100 .




Got a few more photos but they must be on the external HD. Will drag them out tomoz. Fucken hell - just realised something scary. In that photo I am wearing my favourite Bathurst t-shirt......Bathurst 85. Back then - it was only 13 years after that 1985 meeting to the Stone Run......more time has passed since the Stone Run than between that eventful Bathurst meeting and the Stone Run !!! I feel old......

[bonester]

Thanks Gos. Luv your work. Two Wheels magazine reported that the Gladiators 'thumped' few of the other bikers in grief of losing their mate. True? I dug out an old Two Wheels today.

[MAXUMIS]

Awesome pic"s Gos !!

[laidback]

Great pics Gos.

Sadly, I have lost so many old photos and often wonder where they went.

[MadKaw]

Me and the misses went on my ZX7R..
Had to go cross country to get past the accident scene...

[rooster]

I was fishing on a houseboat under Hawkesbury Bridge that day and it was flaming hot even on the water the noise from the bikes was nearly as loud as the boats doing the bridge to bridge

[timeeh]

Just in case (like me) you've never heard of the ride. Seen the movie (a few times) but never knew they did an aniversary ride for it. Gotta be the biggest group ride ever organised by the look of it?
http://youtu.be/eDCyWpTOsFU

[Gosling1]

......Thanks Gos. Luv your work. Two Wheels magazine reported that the Gladiators 'thumped' few of the other bikers in grief of losing their mate. True? I dug out an old Two Wheels today. ......

no probs mate. I don't recall any belting going on - it may have but I didn't see any aggro. They were all pretty upset - as you would be - and during the speeches that night, their Sgt @ Arms said a few words about their mate. It was a big night, some good bands etc.

For anyone who is reading this and was on the ride - if you saw a big red HD-powered trike on this run - that was Rod, he was riding in our pack. he carried his wheelchair with him on the trike......Top bloke, he was a disabled (para) downhill skier who represented Oz at the Disabled Olympics back in the late 80's or early 90's....not sure exactly when. He was always in a lot of pain from his injuries despite copious operations and painkillers - he was on a medically-approved pot painkillers man I have never seen anyone smoke so much dakka in one weekend !! He was constantly on the cones or with a big joint in his gob. Died a few years ago RIP mate - pain got too much for him.......

[macca9540]

I did the Stone ride also, well until it turned to shit. How hot was it. There was about 6 of us that made the run down from Old Bar and after the prang we all got split up as bikes where going every where to try and get around the accident site. After that no one went to the party, just went straight home. I still have my Stone patch that came with the ticket I bought. I wonder if it will be collectable one day.