A BIG V-TWIN bark was the signal for the rider to accelerate, to try to stay ahead of West Australian racer Owen Coles … but it was always in vain, the Vee Two Alchemy would loft its front wheel and shoot past the Ducati Darmah I was astride, a passenger facing backwards trying to capture Coles’ wheelies on film.
That was 30 years ago, and it was pretty close to terrifying as I tried to hang on, shoot pictures, all while the rider of the bike I was on was trying to put me in the perfect place for the perfect photo.
That rider was Brook Henry, owner of Vee Two, builder of the Alchemy.
The Alchemy — Henry’s frame equipped with Ducati bevel-drive motors, also built by Brook — with Coles aboard — usually destroyed all comers in WA, back in the 1980s. Henry would go on to build Daytona-winning twins and sell 100
