SEAN Griffiths may not quite be able to match the list of places Lucky Starr has visited, but over the next three months he could certainly belt out his own version of I’ve Been Everywhere.
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The Bathurst sidecar racer has a packed schedule as he not only attends club meets, but will contest the national titles and the Eastcoast Sidecar Roundup rounds.
Last weekend when he competed at two clubs events in as many days typifies his busy schedule.
“I raced at Tamworth on Saturday, I finished there and left at about 8pm Saturday night, came back to Bathurst and got home about 1am. I had a couple of hours sleep then I was back to Cowra,” he said.
“It’s a lead up for two weeks time when we go to Mildura for the Aussie titles.
“It starts from them. The 19th of August is the Aussie titles in Mildura, that’s two days, then the very next weekend we’re in Brisbane for the start of the roundup, then we got to Bega.
“September is a quieter month, we’ve got round two of the roundup in Wagga and we are going to try and get back to Tamworth for a club day. Then October we’ve got the final of the roundup, the South Coast Cup at Bega, the Griffith Masters at Griffith and Woodstock then a week off and we are here at Bathurst for the Longtrack Masters.
“It’s a big couple of months.”
Though both the meeting at Cowra and Tamworth were club events, Griffiths views attending them as a way to promote his growing sport and to get valuable track time.
It has certainly helped Griffiths and his regular swinger Paul Cooper identify ways in which they can improve their set up and gain valuable seconds.
“Tamworth was good because it is holding the final for the Eastcoast Round up and it’s going to hold the Aussie titles for track this year,” he said.
“Woodstock [Cowra] was just a club meet, but I try and do Woodstock every time I can.
“A lot of people have said to us that club days are nothing and what are you wasting your time for. The open meetings are the big ones – the titles, the Akubra Classics, those sort of things.
“But I’ve only been doing it for 12 months and I don’t consider myself anywhere near the top. So the more track time I can get, the better and we’re enjoying it.
“We’re looking at tracks we haven’t been to before, or have had sidecars and stopped running them because of numbers. I’ve worked with them and said ‘If I can get a grid there will you let us ride?’ and they have been letting us.”
Amongst those people Griffiths raced over the weekend was another Bathurst outfit, that of Rodney Dodds and Nathan Damir who use a 30-year-old old Kawasaki, plus Wollongong duo Andy Bridge and Rob Weston.
Griffiths also squared off with Col Caldwell, who races his spare bike. He enjoys a good camaraderie with all of them.
“We have fun, we don’t care if we come first or second, especially me and Andy. We are up against each other every single week and every week it’s different,” he said.
“Sometimes we go one-for-one, sometimes I dominate the weekend, sometimes he does, but it doesn’t bother us at all. It’s all about the fun.”