The Club Committee
president - Mick Frost
0429 121 525
president@armidalemotorcycleclub.com
I grew up on a farming property so bikes are like second nature to me. I learnt to ride very young like most bush kids. My first bike was a Honda XR 75
I have been racing bikes since I was 16yrs. My first race was at Sunnyside, Hillgrove on a Suzuki DR 350 in which my partner and I doubled up on.
The race bug grew from there!
Spent many-a-day riding at the Styx River with my brother “Slug” and mates. Soon learnt to ride the most snottiest hill climbs you could ever find… rain hail or shine. If there wasn’t a race on you would find us all out there.
Went to all the AMCC kids days out at “Sunnyside” helping teach the kids how to ride and improve skills. Went to quite a few riding schools mostly being- Stephen Gall training days in which a few of us (Greg, Slug, Brett and myself) introduced Vaughan Style to what hill climbs were really made of!!!
My more serious racing career started back in 1992 when Greg Frost and I partnered up. We were fast!!!! So we thought!!! Had a few awesome & very successful seasons together. Racing in A grade and then the Experts class.
It seemed every second weekend we were off somewhere to a bike race….looking back now, god we did some Km’s on those bikes. We did a few seasons on the XR600’s (go those thumpers!) then the RMZ 250’s.
Had a couple of seasons racing with my brother-in-law Brett Steinhardt, again finishing on the podium most races.
Then the first KID came along!!!! Also a back injury……
So I had to have a few race seasons off – but I did do the odd ride.
When Mel turned 3yrs she learnt to ride….. Look out now, no excuses!!
Had to buy another fast bike!!!! Though I have always had a bike (except for about 4 months. In which I nearly got divorced over my complaining of not owning a bike…..apparently)
So I have been more involved with the AMCC since Mel & Duckie could go to the sprints and Grass track races and have a ride. Did the vice president part for a few years… apparently my L’s for the Presidents role and now that Cami is racing it seems I am going to be around for a long time! The bug has got him early.
I just hope that being President now, that I can do just as good a job as Simmo did.
There is nothing better than being a part of a club that is so family orientated, easy going and watching the smiles on the kid’s faces when they come back in from a lap is fantastic.
But this year I think I might just have to have a ride too……..
Favourite bike: Honda’s
Favourite race: Beaudesert 12hr
Most memorable races: Nulla Nulla Pony’s
treasurer - greg frost (frosty)
0427 498 490
treasurer@armidalemotorcycleclub.com
My first bike was a burnt out Honda SL125 wreck at about the age of 13 which I had to completely rebuild over the next 12 mths or so, a mammoth task for me at the time but worthwhile at the same time, I mainly rode it up and down the lane at the back of my parents house in Miller St, but had a ball and learnt as I went. I remember going with the Armidale MCC to a kids fun day at the Gara stock reserve maybe in about 1976 I reckon, something you could get away with then and tried to ride the super imposing hill facing the Waterfall way that is now scarred by 4wd owners and that hill looked unrideable and it was right after several failed attempts I gave up but did learn from it and now love nothing more than a killer hill to test me out and hopefully watch my mates fail at so I can get a rest.
My 1st serious bike was a new Suzuki PE175 in the early eighties the 1st one in town along with David Boundy and we rode around our neighbourhood and the old brick works and occasionally in the Armidale High School grounds, oh those were the days pretty free and easy and no one complained a lot and we had a ball, we also would ride out the side of the Grafton Road to Gara and spend the day out there honing our skills.
The next step was the Styx river and camping with my mates and what an eye opener that place was, never ending trails and killer hills and we set about putting a lot of the hill climbs and trails in that are still ridden there today, this is where I met Lynda and we spent a lot of time riding out there with Lynda and Mandy Courtney on Suzuki TS185ER’s while Dave was on an RM125 I recall and now days everyone needs the latest and greatest but it didn’t matter to us at the time. Then came road bikes and a new scene all together and Lynda and I rode thousands of kilometres with our close friends to many great destinations.
Racing seemed a natural progression and I have raced x country and motocross for about 34 years with varying degrees of success, I finished up the front in a lot of local pony express races and have managed to win several series in A, B and Ironman fields which I am particularly proud of as the Ironman is seen as possibly one of the hardest grades going and I have felt the pain many times after a Sunday 4 hour, the local Pony Express series started in about 1978 and has been going strong ever since and has developed into one of the only remaining series in NSW, my motocross career if you could call it that didn’t start seriously until I was about 35 and Tom Kylie and myself would travel and race all over the place along with Lynda for support and this was great family time where we spent many hours travelling together and meeting many new and interesting friends along with a solid core of riders from the AMCC, we were always well respected and represented our club well with some good fun and fierce competitive riding.
My serious involvement with the club started in about 1990 as a club secretary then president and treasurer which I still am today, we reinvented the club in the early 1990’s to involve more junior riders and our legendary Kids days were born at Sunnyside Hillgrove where we also held many Pony Express races and Stephen Gall training schools , the main core of the club never even had kids but gave freely of their time to run these awesome days, things were easier then with just a land holders permission letter required to run a club day for kids and no licence needed, so the kids got a full days riding lunch and a drink and a trophy at the end for five dollars. There are still many of these people riding today that owe a lot to the support and hard work of these early club officials as do the current crop of riders and the previous and so on, as Richard has said the club runs on people donating their time and skills freely, so get in and have a go if you don’t already.
The reason I have been and am so passionate about the club is the people that are and have been involved over the 36 years I have been a member, I have been involved in many ways and am proud to be a member of such a great club, we have been and are still renowned for the ease of which our events flow and the laid back and casual yet competitive way the club and its members go about their business of running events, but mainly it’s the kids and seeing them have a ball because that is what it is all about, fun.
