Which bike, which issue?

Artwork from Roger Harvey

Cormack Poster. Click to view largerThe poster, by VMX Magazine Illustrator Roger Harvey, was done for Chris Cormack of Officer, Victoria. It certainly is a 'one-off'! Chris Cormack's wife Mim asked Roger Harvey to do something special for Chris' birthday and this is the result.

Roger first met Chris at Classic Dirt 3 at Barrabool in 2004 although, surprisingly, they'd grown up in the same area. Chris is well-known as one of Australia's better YZ fettlers, and has supplied immaculately-prepared big-bore Yamahs for the likes of Bernie Ryan and Steve Gall on several occasions, including providing a very trick YZ490 for Gally at CD6. However, Chris saw his reputation momentarily shredded in 2007, after spending four hours on the Saturday of Classic Dirt 4 at Broadford, trying (unsuccessfully) to start his YZ-250 for a magazine comparison test.

Given the Yamaha background, Roger chose a YZ-E for the poster, although Chris doesn't own one. "There's something funky about those central side-panels and the exposed muffler" says Roger. Aussies will of course immediately recognise the Milledge Team MLTF riding kit that so splendidly decked out Mike Landman and Trevor Flood in the latter part of the 1970s. So what does each part of the poster represent? Each sticker has been altered to represent people in the life of Chris Cormack. Wife Mim; Darren "Elvis" Mayberry, the eccentric works bike collector from Pakenham Upper; Roger himself, the cartoonist from nearby Berwick; Richmond Football Club (as Chris is the most AFL-obsessed rider on the Aussie vintage scene); Austin Cormack (4); Chris Dinuzzo, the Red Devil rider; Harry Cormack (8); and vintage MX documentary-maker Ian "Macca" McCormack (recent commentator at CD6). By the way here's a bit of trivia from Roger.........did you know that Macca secretly rode the third leg of Australia's final round of Mr Motocross, 1974. (After eventual title winner Trevor Flood sat that moto out with a painfully stubbed toe)?

Keep up the great work Roger!