A clear blue sky, rapidly rising temperatures, a merciless sun and, not far away, the sound of high-performance engines and seasoned motorcycle racers testing the tarmac and themselves.
It’s a typical Boxing Day in Whanganui, and the usual streets have been transformed into the best street racing track in the southern hemisphere. It’s the final round of the Suzuki Series and some brand new TT titles are up for grabs at the world-famous Cemetery Circuit.
The best riders and their machines are up against each other on a circuit known for its idiosyncrasies as well as its ability to test skill, speed and courage.
The Midweek reporter goes through the gate while practice is still in progress, opening my camera bag for inspection at the gate. My ticket is fastened on my wrist, a high-vis vest is ready to put on, a fancy bottle of coloured water and electrolytes is handy and I’m wearing a new hat with a wide brim. I look around and see hats everywhere: once burned, twice shy. Regulars have already set up their deck chairs at favoured corners or shady spots on fast straights or among the trees in the “esses”. Liquid refreshments of a brown colour are in evidence everywhere — the crowd is ready for a day’s racing.
Yes, it’s about the bikes and cheering on your favourite champion, watching breathtaking manoeuvres and scary tactics, seeing the odd spill and hoping everyone is okay, but it’s also about the atmosphere generated by this exciting road race, run in Whanganui since 1951. That’s 70 years of record-breaking and reputations forged in the searing heat of 70 Boxing Days, with another one about to get under way.
Families make a day of it; mates get together every year with a few bevvies; bikers come from all over the country to see the races and soak up the feeling. For some, it’s not about the racing at all, but the camaraderie of the occasion and the chance for some entertaining people watching. The Cemetery Circuit has it all.
Then there are the stars of the show — the men and women who risk more than they like to admit out on the track on bikes or sidecar outfits, to entertain us and to take on their betters or equals on the Isle of Man of the south.
Three video screens are set up in prime spectator locations, so the view is not just of the piece of track immediately in front of you, but all of it, because everywhere there are camera operators perched high above the track, picking up a clear digital image of it all.
The starting grid is in Ridgway St, near the beginning of the first straight that ends at the Wilson St corner. From there it’s a short burst to Taupo Quay then into the long straight, ending with the entrance to the esses where riders have to negotiate a railway crossing. This is a street circuit, after all. They flip flop through Heads Rd between two cemeteries and brake hard for the stop corner into Guyton St, otherwise known as the Robert Holden corner. His name lives on at the track he conquered so often before his untimely death at the Isle of Man in 1996.
Another short burst to Ridgway St, past Mainfreight then a hard lean left over the Bridgestone Overbridge into the start/finish straight.
And along the way are spectators, who all swear that the spot they’ve chosen is the best place on the course.
At every corner are track marshalls, kitted out in high viz and headsets to keep them in touch with the organisers and each other. Within reach is a selection of flags, the coloured codes of the racetrack.
The pits, behind Suzuki and out into Pacific Place and Taupo Quay, are busy with crew and mechanics checking machines and keeping their riders race ready.
Then, well before the advertised time, the Pre-89 Post Classics leave the dummy grid and make their way round the track to the start. On the grid are local riders like Jeff Croot, who is also one of the sponsors, and Taupō’s Karl Hooper, definitely one to watch. And so racing begins.
It’s hot, noisy and smelly, and we wouldn’t have it any other way. My camera captures almost 3000 images of bikes and sidecars from various vantage points around the track, and included in that are pictures of the riders as they circulate slowly with helmets off so the crowd can see the faces behind the names on the programme. They are heroes, some for more than one day.
There are spills and the St John crew take their ambulance for an occasional spin, but everyone seems to be okay. There is the odd hold-up due to false starts and red-flagged races, but the day progresses with exciting racing and people out there making names for themselves. Like local man Richie Dibben, who proves his worth in the Supermoto Champs as well as Formula 1, riding two completely different styles of machine. He’s a crowd favourite, especially among the Whanganui spectators.
I get burned by the sun, as do many others, with hats and sunscreen tested beyond their limits.
But I get to end the day in the pits, having a beer with Richie Dibben and his dad, Chris. Boxing Day doesn’t get any better than that.
A 6-year-old is believed to be one of the two people who died in capsize off Pātea coast.