Flagstone sidecar driver finishes second at Australian Historic Road Racing Championship

Klein who rides in the P3 class for motorbikes with engines from 1962 or older, finished second at the event held at Wakefield Park in Goulburn last weekend. 

Matthew’s father Bill Klein said what made his son’s second place even more remarkable was the fact he only met his sidecar passenger at the event.

“He met his passenger for the first time at Wakefield Park, he was from Sydney, Lionel, he actually came fourth in the world championships as a passenger in 2006,” he said

“He really knew what he was doing, he actually helped Matthew to win the championship.”

Bill said his son’s success was extra special as he had only recently returned to the sport.

“He has been racing sidecars for quite a long time, he had about a three year break because he had a bit of a problem with the motor,” he said.

The bike Matthew rode to his second place finish has quite the history according to Mr Klein.

“He is actually riding my old bike, it’s a Manx Norton with a BSA motor in it, it won at Bathurst in 66, it won Bathurst also as a solo, then another bloke bought it and turned it into a sidecar and it has been ridden by quite a few well known riders,” he said.

Mr Klein said one of the most impressive aspects of Matthew and his passenger’s performance across the four five lap races on the weekend was their continued improvement.

“He was in four races and he came second in every race, actually, the last race he led it for two and half laps,” he said.

“They went from a one minute 31 second time in qualifying and in the race they got down to one minute and 24 seconds, there was a lot of improvement, they just kept getting better and better.”

Matthew’s performance in Goulburn has now earned him an invite into the next championship meeting in 2018 in Broadford, Victoria.