Street race eagerly awaited

JOHN HAWKINS/151257

FAMILIAR STREET: Keith Pirie will race on his hometown streets in the Wyndham Street Race, which concludes the four-day Burt Munro Challenge event.

Sunday cannot come soon enough for Wyndham motorbike enthusiast Keith Pirie.

Pirie has competed in the previous two Burt Munro Challenges and will again be riding his Honda CR 600 and Honda CR 555 bikes in this year's annual celebration.

He will compete in every event during the weekend except the Speedway Spectacular, but the race he was most looking forward to was Sunday's Wyndham Street Race, which will bring the four-day motorcycling extravaganza to a close.

Pirie finished in the top 10 in last year's race, and said riding in his hometown streets in front of family and friends was a great feeling.

"I had good fun at Wyndham last year. I was in the top 10, so that's pretty exciting for someone who doesn't do any racing during the year ...

"It's quite exciting to do something at home. There will be a lot of fans or a lot of people throwing things at me. It will be one or the other," he laughed.

Pirie is part of the organising committee for the Wyndham Street Race and he said the popularity of the race was ballooning – much like the whole Burt Munro Challenge. About 200 riders will compete in Sunday's event, which is up on 160 from last year. Wyndham is known for its tranquillity during the year, but that won't be the case on Sunday– organisers predict a crowd of six to eight thousand for the thrills and spills of the street race.

Pirie said one of his favourite aspects of the Burt Munro Challenge was the chance to mingle with other passionate motorcycling fans from New Zealand and the world.

"I heard there's a couple of hundred coming over from Australia. It's cool that we can meet up with these people and talk about what they've done and how they've got here ... it's brilliant."

CHALLENGE DIARY

• Tomorrow: Bluff Hill Climb At Flagstaff Rd, Bluff. Racing starts 11am Night with Aaron Slight and Andrew Stroud Ascot Park Hotel, 7.30pm
• Friday: Burt Munro Challenge Beach Racing and New Zealand Championships Oreti Beach, from 5pm
• Saturday: Burt Munro Challenge Teretonga Sprint Races Teretonga Raceway, from 9am Burt Munro Challenge Speedway Spectacular Oreti Park Speedway, from 5pm
• Sunday: Burt Munro Challenge Wyndham Street Race Wyndham, from 10am

brendon.egan@stl.co.nz

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