Devenport Motor Show

THE NORTH, NORTHWEST, SOUTHERN CENTRAL AND SOUTHERN TASMANIAN AREAS COMBINED ON THE 27TH MARCH 2022 FOR THE FIRST TIME TO SUPPORT THE ROTARY CLUB OF DEVONPORT NORTH TO PROVIDE A BIKE SHOW AS PART OF THE DEVONPORT MOTOR SHOW WHICH HAS BEEN RUNNING FOR 16 YEARS.

The Devonport Motor Show generates money through gate takings and 100% of the profits from the Motor Show is distributed to Charitable organisations state wide. There was 140 plus motorcycles arrive for the show in perfect weather conditions. There was an excellent representation of Japanese motorcycles with the Kawasaki display leading the way with 27 bikes closely followed by Suzuki with 25. There were 82 Japanese motorcycles in total with the remaining 58 being made up of Italian, British and American bikes.

Richard Fedosejevs with his Honda Trail 70 in as new condition. Richard’s father bought this bike new for him and he has owned it for nearly 50 years. The bike has only 5,000k on the odometer

The day started at 5.30am with approximately 30 bikes being pushed 80 metres from a storage shed to the display. There was one bike, a Honda 750 that had the front brake sticking, it took three people to push it. Everyone who assisted with this task was moaning all day about tight ham strings. The general view was that it was their exercise for the day, well done crew.

Michael Hayward brought his 1978 Kawasaki Turbo which Michael called his book end bike because it was the last Kawasaki Turbo ever built. You could dial up the turbo boost to any level you liked, from a modest six psi to an arm-stretching 10 psi. Anything beyond that would usually lead to engine-shattering results.

We had great support from the South Central and Southern areas of the state organising a celebration of the Z1 and we thank Z1 Spares for donating a trophy for the best Z.

The winner of the Z1 trophy was John Lewis who presented this beautiful 1973 Kawasaki Z1 900. This bike was bought from the US and was a ground up restoration by John with a restoration cost of more than $20,000.

The Northern Area had a Suzuki display with a variety of off road, road, and GP bikes on display.

Mick Damon presented these two factory GP Suzuki’s a 1980 RG500 and a 1974 TR500

Malcolm Innes-Wayling presented two 1972 GT750J’s, both were ground up restorations. The bikes are currently on show at the National Motor Museum in Launceston and were removed for the day of the show.

The Northwest Area was responsible for the overall management of the bike display and provided VJMC membership information to prospective new members on the day.

All members chipped in to set up the bike show infrastructure and assisted the organising committee to manage bikes as they entered and parked on the day. Gate attendance on the day was over 5000 people at a cost of $15.00 per head, definitely a great day for charity and the Rotary Club of Devonport North.