Richardson's Harley Davidson

Harley Owners Group.

Making the dream a way of life.

National Rally 2009

Thank you to all who attended the Australian National HOG Rally in Launceston 2009.

We had a fantastic turnout of 1,900 members from as far as Perth, Darwin, NZ, Germany, [France] and even as far as Alaska, USA.

HOG Members will always have the number one priority with Rallies and Events. Every Rally we try some new ideas and strive to improve your experience. One of the changes this year was opening it up to the public. The lovely people of Launceston came in and joined in on the fun. Most members welcomed them and they all had a great time. We will be promoting future rallies to non-HOG members, focusing on the bike riding community who want or are interested in becoming a HOG member.

The HOG Boat
The party started on the mainland when members arrived at Port Melbourne, all ready to party on the Spirit of Tasmania. From as early as two weeks before the rally, members and their Harley-Davidson motorcycles were taking their place on board to enjoy the eight hour trip across the Tasman sea [Bass Strait].

Entertainment
With a massive stage and enormous speakers in place, this year we raised the bar on entertainment at the 2009 National HOG Rally. We trust we catered for everyone's taste over the weekend. We tried some new talent with the likes of Lowrider, however the members seemed to love the good ol' rock ‘n' roll with The Giants pumping up the stadium on Friday night and Jimmy Barnes blasting out his tunes on Saturday evening. The members bands on Sunday night were fantastic, although many members seemed to head home or retire early on this night. The ones that stayed and supported the members bands had the dance floor to themselves and even made the last band play another extended hour until the event ended at midnight.

Stunt Rider
Matt Mingay performed to his best again on his Harley-Davidson Nightster. His amazing skill and stunts amazed the crowd over the three days, you can check out Matt & Stuntz Inc. by clicking here http://www.stuntzinc.com/.

Chapter Challenge
Once again the Liverpool Chapter showed the other Chapters how it is done. Well done to all who participated in the games and show and shine.

Thunder Run
In 2009, we had one of the longest and most scenic Thunder Runs at an Australian Rally. As you can imagine keeping over 1500 motorcycles together was an enormous task. Some lucky riders at the back of the pack saw an extended scenic route of lovely Launceston and the surrounding areas. They seemed to find their way back to Launceston and everything turned out fine.

Overall the Rally was a lot of fun and a big thank you must go to the Tasmania Chapter for putting in a huge effort and helping out as volunteers.

Snippets from other Chapter newsletters about the Rally:

Perth WA
Nev Singho reported that he had just returned from the National Rally in Tassie at lunchtime today, leaving behind 25 members who were having a ball! Everyone wants to buy our shirts. The Rally had booked out the Aurora Stadium, and there was an impressive line up of entertainment including Russell Morris, Wilbur Wilde and Jimmy Barnes.

Blacktown Chapter
This report comes to you from Bridport Tasmania on our 2nd last day of our 16 day adventure of riding around the apple isle. We had a brilliant time at the rally in Launceston catching up with old friends and making a whole bunch of new friends. Once again HOG has put on a magic event.

Broadmeadow Chapter
The Tasmania Rally went well with only had a few disappointments eg. no flag ceremony so we started our own. Thanks to Trudy for helping with flag. Done approx 5000 KLM, no rain but very hot coming home up the Hume Highway. ..............
Back to the Tasi rally. If you haven't heard there was a few smashes down there. I was very lucky, when I was going over on the boat I had had a few drinks with a bloke that rides with the MRA and he explained that in Tasi if the sign says 40KLM you do that and make sure you follow what it said and he was right. So if you ever go down their please remember this, it is good advice.

NSW HOG
The National Rally in Tasmania was a huge success, with beautiful views and great company. Everybody involved thoroughly enjoyed themselves, in what can only be described as an awesome trip. The Tassie report later in the newsletter is a great read for all. .............

Having just returned from the National Rally in Tasmania and what a rally it was, one of the best that I have attended especially with Jimmy Barnes headlining the entertainment. As with most rallies the ride was the best part spending thirteen days on the road with a fantastic group of people is what HOG is all about. You really get to know the folks that you travel with and what a diverse bunch we are, but we have one thing in common our love for our Harleys. Reports and photos of the rally appear in this issue and make some great reading and viewing. We have collected a few new nicknames for members on the way and they make some interesting tales of which I am sure you will hear about over the next few months. Thanks to everyone who was involved in the planning of the trip and helped it go like clockwork, from Zorba who did a magnificent job with the accommodation etc, Trigger for introducing us to a guy who runs tours to Tassie and advised us on places to go and see to the Road Captains who helped plan the routes.........well done guys. .................
The National Rally in Tassie was also well attended and although only my second national rally I think that it will rate very highly with those that have attended more than I.

Rockhampton
Some 30 Rocky Chapter members attended this year's National Rally at Launceston; this was a fantastic effort considering the distance travelled. A great venue was chosen by the management of HOG. I feel this gave a number of us the opportunity to see Tassie and attend a Rally at the same time. I believe there was close to 2000 attended from as far as Alaska & France. This is also a chance to catch up with old distant mates, some we only see at State or National Rallies. Unfortunately Gary Boschen suffered a heart attack the day before departure, (we are all glad to hear that Gary is recovering well) Chris Jones had some minor electrical problems and unfortunately didn't make it on the boat, Brent had his bike sent home in a coffin which broke down near the Hastings Caves, he couldn't have picked a more southern location.

Generally the whole trip was a fantastic experience. And to top it off our longest serving member Vic Hyde won the major prize raffle at the Rally a - 2010 Street Bob, when asked how he felt?
He said quote: - "Embarrassed". Congratulations Vic, well deserved.

NATIONAL RALLY PHOTOS

Magnificent photos of the rally, taken by Glenn Wills (who does all HOG rallies) are available at http://www.hdimagetank.com.au/; you only need to type in your rego number an up comes your photos, you can also browse all 4,137 photos taken at the Rally.