Stars of Yesteryear
                    (and cx stars of today)     vol 1.
                    Featuring Smokin' Joe Eastmure.
 
 
 
 
 
 
Well folks, here's a local legend who along with Ian Drysdale (and a coupla thousand other aussies) also likes cxes and logs up heaps of k's. It must be a bit odd standing next to the same model bike as his with  167,000 less k's on the speedo. (10k)  (OzBob doesn't get out much)  This pic of Joe Eastmure was taken at OzBob's house a coupla months ago at Dora Creek  on his way to sunny Maleny on the Gold Coast in QLD.  Moving up there must be a bit hard to take after living for years in Canbrrrrrrr!!!  Joe is a diminutive softly spoken guy who also likes competitive running. And if anyone ever brought anything dodgy into Oz from overseas and got busted , it was probably Joe who busted ya! He was high up in customs somewhere in Canbrrr.  His actions certainly speak louder than his words when one has a  geek at the following:
 
Joe's motorcycling  background:
 
He  started riding in 1960 on a BSA Bantam and passed through a succession of bikes including a DKW RT 250, Yamaha YDS2, R60/2 BMW, Zundapp trials bike and 250 Suzukis.  Joe  dabbled in road racing on his  BMW and the Suzukis but passed that over and went to Europe in 1969 to do the big tour.  A second hand 450 Honda was bought in Britian and he spent 5 months riding it around Europe clocking up 25,000 miles.  The journey took him from Britain to the bottom of Spain, up to the Arctic Circle in Norway and everywhere in between including the then Iron Curtain countries. (I betcha Don Seedsman is starting to drool about now)
 
The old Honda did not miss a beat but its vibration and uncomfortable seat made it a pain (in the arse) to ride in the end.
 
When he got back to Australia in 1970 Joe took up production bike road racing again with a 250 Suzuki road bike and occasionally with his newly acquired R75/5 BMW.
 
The first Castrol 6 Hour Race was held at Amaroo Park in 1970 and with his  co-rider Dave Burgess they won the 250 class on a Suzuki.
 
In 1971 Joe rode a T350 (315cc) Suzuki in the 6Hour but it broke a chain while leading the 500cc class and dropped them out of contention.
 
For 1972 he again rode a T350 Suzuki this time riding the full 6 hours on his ownsome and was initially given the overall race win but the bike was then disqualified for not having a horn fitted! (Do ya think he upset a steward somewhere?)  After all these years that loss is still a bitter pill for Joe  to swallow.
 
In the 1973 6 Hour race he used the same T350 from the previous year (Hazell & Moore the Suzuki agents had given the bike to him) and again riding solo  won the 500CC class.
 
In following years he rode a succession of BMWs but one crash and a couple of mechanical failures meant that Joe  had to wait until 1977 when he finally won the 6 Hour outright riding a R100 BMW with Ken Blake as the co-rider.
 
Now the CX connection.  In 1977 Joe was contracted to race production bikes for Bennett Honda and prior to the release of the first CX500 they gave him one to test for production racing potential. (Joe thought he was in  heaven fer sure)!  He took it to Amaroo Park but sad to say not many laps went by before it was obvious the bike would not make the grade because it suffered from limited ground clearance and the weak front end (those small diameter fork tubes were to blame) meant it lacked the stability to really mix it with the competition at racing pace.  It's a pity the CX 500 Sports had not been available in 1977 as that bike then would have had road racing potential.
 
Very sad to say but Joe's  racing career came to an abrupt end in 1978 after a crash in Qld while riding a Honda CBX1000. (How can anyone ride a bike that wide anyway?)
 
Joe pensioned off his  old Suzuki T350 in 1984 as his principle  road bike when he saw the light and bought the CX500 Sports  after a brief flirtation with a GTR 1000 (That's  a kwakasaki) (4 sets of camshafts in 25000km - NO THANKS!!) and a BMW R100RT Classic (a complete bowl of aeroplane jelly to ride), His  trusty old CX is now the bike of choice and he says he's gonna  ride it until it finally quits.  He also  recently restored the old T350 and its now back on the road with Classic club plates. (Probably woulda been a winner at the VJMC rally)  Great story from Joe and I'm sure that Soichiro has his pitcher on a wall somewhere at Honda headquarters in Japan.             
                                                               
                                                                                                           Your intrepid reuters reporter...OzBob..........