But his lead did not last long as a huge wheelie forced him to momentarily ease off his throttle, allowing Trevallyn’s Andrew Blackberry to pass him into turn one.

Swan and Blackberry put on a great show for spectators, passing and repassing in the opening laps as Blackberry’s lighter, faster bike opened a 100-metre gap at the end of the back straight, only for Swan to close up under brakes and sail around the outside on to pit straight.

Just as Blackberry had opened a gap that looked too great for Swan to overcome, he lost the use of his clutch and dropped to third.

Even then, Swan did not have things all his own way.

Just as he would have been forgiven for thinking the race was his, Cody Travers edged his Honda VFR400 past as they entered the front straight for the last time.

The drag race to the hairpin on the final lap saw Travers exit first and lead into the sweeper.

But Swan was not finished, closing on Travers under brakes just as he had done before to Blackberry.

In an effort to retain the lead, Travers left his braking too late and was forced to run off the track and take to the dirt as Swan ducked inside to claim the race win.

Swan said that he enjoyed the race.

‘‘Even when Andrew got a bit ahead, I thought I’d be able to peg him back,’’ Swan said.

‘‘I got him when we came up on a lapped rider, but then he lost his clutch and Cody went by me on the 400 — I had no idea he was there and I thought Andrew was still just behind me.

‘‘I tried to outbreak him into the hairpin, but he went around the outside of me, so I chased him down the back straight and got him under brakes.

‘‘It was lovely to finish a race for a change — winning was just a bonus.’’