2010 MX Sidecar Championships Broadford Victoria

Walter Preisig

The Suspension Shop is located in Adelaide, South Australia, and was established by Walter Preisig to service the market in Australia with a new generation of YSS gas shocks that are continuously under development by him in partnership with YSS in Thailand.

Walter has been developing racing suspension for over 25 years, gaining a wealth of experience in suspension technics, customer service and motorcycle maintenance.

Company Background

Go to Harley Suspension

Ducati

Walter Preisig and Steve Baker

The Broadford Nats were awesome. Yes conditions were tough at times but the rain and mud are a great equalizer.

Greg and Brian Anthony on Murray William's 1000 GRM EML were on fire and in the first race where off the line like a scalded cat.

Walter Preisig and Steve Baker on a Promax 998 GRM EML went in to the first corner second, with Bret and Hamish Dobie in third and, once they got that freight train rolling, you could here them coming, and at times looked like they were going to join the Preisig/Baker boys in their chair, they were that close.

Preisig/Baker chased the Anthonys for about a lap and a half, but the mud and the rain finally making it too hard to see and going wide on one of the corners, allowing the Dobies to pull a great undertaking manoeuvre. They chased the Anthonys hard, but didn't have enough time to catch them.

On Sunday we woke up to more rain and mud, but at least it stopped raining for the sidecar race. It was very important to the Preisig/Baker team to get the hole shot and, after seeing the performance of the youngsters the day before, they knew they had their work cut out for them to get to that 1st corner. The Preisig/Baker team's experience paid off in the gate choice and once it dropped, they looked like they where hanging onto a Saturn rocket. Thanks to Len Burman and Damien Huckstepp (Preisig's mechanics) for their hours of painstaking work in building a fast and reliable engine, but with the muddy conditions it was more about being able to stay on line than speed, the mud was so deep in places that the bikes were brought to a halt at times trying to get traction. The Anthonys tried everything to pass, but in those conditions it was always going to be hard.

Walter Preisig - Steve Baker

So for the last race of the day the Preisig/Baker team needed to win, as they were still behind on points and the youngsters were fired up and wanted blood. It was good to see that they were paying attention and made a much better gate choice. The track was drying, so conditions were improving. The gate dropped and they were off again, this time with the rival teams on the inside line of the Preisig/Baker pair - again they got to the corner first, and they made sure they held the racing line. I think the Anthonys where so focused on trying to pass the Preisig/Baker combination that Dobies was able to slip past, then all that could be heard again was Bret Dobie holding that bike of theirs pinned. Just as Preisig/Baker went over little down hill jump into the corner, they got a little hurry up nudge. After that, the Preisig/Baker pair raced up the hill and didn't slow down until the two step down jumps. When they went off the second jump, they landed at the bottom and looked like they would be po-goed right off the course, but the Promax shocks worked perfectly when they needed them most, with the Preisig/Baker team taking the final win, and the rest as they say is history. Thank you to all the sidecar teams and all the other competitors who turned up and put on a great show.

The way I have been talking, you would swear there was only three sidecars! There was not - the Smithy brothers brought out their late fathers immaculate Norton outfit and rode it like they stole it. They certainly gave it their best shot, but in the conditions it was always going to be tough on a pre 75 bike. Their father would have been very proud of them, although I don't know if he would have been happy when they brought it back covered in mud - well done. Two outfits came down from QLD: Ron Ash's EML, piloted by John (Popeye) Cooper with Vaughn Fletcher as Swinger. In practice they looked like poetry in motion, but all to no avail: as they got to the gate, the bike lost its spark and no one had a spare bucket of sparks to get it going.

Written by Steve Baker