BEARS Australia 2026

Well done Red, top results and a straight bike and rider makes for a happy trip home. A bit of decent competition also likely makes it more fun rather than just circulating out front. It beggars belief how a well-prepared Sportster can get around a track.
 
Just home from Lake Mungo, testing the country's reserves of diesel. Great to read reports of wins and great racing from the weekend. Credit to all involved in the Redax crew.
 
Race 3 at Mac Park, Veloce on pole, Ben 2nd on his Harley Sportster and his Brother Sam on his Buell in 3rd
That Harley of Ben's has some grunt off the line but you will see the Laverda pass him on the back straight and out brake him into the corner

Is a real credit to Ben riding that Harley, it still has 19" front wheel and whatever the rear is with basically road tyres whereas we run full on racing slicks

click on the photo and it takes you to the video, turn your sound up and enjoy


20260405_092346
 
3CBRG said:
That is impressive. Surely not stock frame on the Sportster?
Click to expand...
Way back in the 1980s, the 'Battle of the Twins' was a hugely popular racing series. Ducati, along with Harley Davidson, were the bikes to beat; they usually placed on the podium every time. Watching the late Jimmy Adamo on the Bevel drive Ducati 900SS mix it up with Jay Springsteen riding Harley-Davidson's Lucifer's Hammer was a visual and auditory thrill. Tearing up Laguna Seca, banging fairings (long before Rossi and Stoner did it) into and down through the infamous 'corkscrew.'
I don't know what frame the Harley runs in the BEARs series, but for the 'Battle of the Twins', frames had to be based on stock frames based on bikes for sale in the dealerships. The Harley used the stock frame from an XR 1000, with suspension and brakes modified or substituted for both front and rear.
Does anyone have photos of the Harley frame competing in the BEARS?
 

Attachments

  • IMG_E7448.JPG
    IMG_E7448.JPG
    228.5 KB · Views: 21
Jo said:
Thanks for sharing those awsome stunning pics of Matt & the Mule!
(y) :D
Click to expand...
Hi Jo,
Those photos from Mac Park are actually of our spare bike, Veloce
The Mule decided she didn't want to stay in 5th gear so we parked her for the meeting, big advantage in having two race bikes
We normally use Veloce as our wet bike as she is down 2hp on the Mule, 132hp as opposed to 134hp for the Mule

You can tell the difference between the bikes by looking at the fairing, Mule has a black highlight on the fairing, Veloce is all orange
Photos from One Raceway posted above are of the Mule, you will see the black on the fairing, had to make some form of visual difference between them or even I would not know which is which
But these days the Mule has some Harley paint work on her tailpiece from when a Harley hit her last year at Mac Park which is another way I tell them apart

Is interesting, I try very hard to make both bikes identical and apart from slightly different Inlet and Exhaust porting and Valve sizes between them they are identical but Matt to this day still prefers to race the Mule

Next meeting 15/16/17th May
 
redax5 said:
Hi Jo,
Those photos from Mac Park are actually of our spare bike, Veloce
The Mule decided she didn't want to stay in 5th gear so we parked her for the meeting, big advantage in having two race bikes
We normally use Veloce as our wet bike as she is down 2hp on the Mule, 132hp as opposed to 134hp for the Mule

You can tell the difference between the bikes by looking at the fairing, Mule has a black highlight on the fairing, Veloce is all orange
Photos from One Raceway posted above are of the Mule, you will see the black on the fairing, had to make some form of visual difference between them or even I would not know which is which
But these days the Mule has some Harley paint work on her tailpiece from when a Harley hit her last year at Mac Park which is another way I tell them apart

Is interesting, I try very hard to make both bikes identical and apart from slightly different Inlet and Exhaust porting and Valve sizes between them they are identical but Matt to this day still prefers to race the Mule

Next meeting 15/16/17th May
Click to expand...

Thanks Red! Actually, I (should) know all that; I just confused Mule and Veloce ...
:rolleyes::cool:
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top