AS most of you OBT regulars would already know the Hastings Valley Motorcycle Club held its second Pony Express for the year on the weekend, here is a bit of a report on the goings on.
The Pony Express has been for the last few years has been known as the survivor challenge, this year the name rang true as the humidity was at about 98%.
The event is run over two days with the Juniors on the Saturday and the Seniors on the Sunday.
I always volunteer to sweep ride the junior races which go for 1 and a half hours, this was to be the first time I had done it on the XR600 though.
As we were loading the bikes on Saturday morning,the sun was beaming and it was already hot,so I packed an extra Camelbak bladder plus another 4 liters of water as I knew it was going to be one tough race.
As my son Connor loves riding enduros he was entered in the 9 – 12 years 85cc class, which is the first race of the weekend through some fresh trails that were merely bunted of bush and long grass and the kids had to cut the trail in.
Connor got off to a great start and was in touch with the leaders and looking comfortable as they entered the bush for the first time,that is when my duties as sweep rider are required, so I set of around the track after them. That is when I realised maybe the XR was the wrong bike for the tight trails the kids were racing on, there are some seriously fast kids in that class.
Connor was in about fifth place and still in touch with the leaders when his stroke of bad luck hit, one of the kids ahead of him over shot a corner that was bunted off, subsequently knocking the bunting down, which lead the kid behind him to follow him down a wrong trail and from then on it was a bit of a chain reaction as 5 other kids behind in the dust followed. Six kids in the lead pack fell for the same thing, Connor being one of them and by the time they realised what had happened and turned around to join the race they were so far back they were never to see the rest of the lead pack again.
Knowing he was up shit creek he still pressed on and finished the race , looking some what knackered at the end but wearing an ear to ear grin. I was really proud of the way he still tried his heart out and gave the little KX what for, even though the race was a lost cause for him. He battled it out with two kids on CRF150R’s for the whole race and the KX held its own against them, I am really impressed with it and glad I bought it.
After the race I had to sweep the junior 125 Race as well and was really glad I packed the extra water as it was seriously hot by then and all but one other sweep rider had packed it in and racked off home the soft cocks.
After the races I suggested to Moose that he bring his boys who came in in 5th and 6th place, around to my place for a swim and a BBQ. Ten beers and a swim and Moose and I were doing some big talking about not sweep riding but riding the senior race the next day!!! I woke Sunday morning feeling rather second hand and it was drizzling rain, I had sometime during the night decided I wasn’t even fronting up at the track for sweep riding duties let alone racing as I felt like crap. The phone rang and I nearly didn’t answer it as I knew it would be someone from the club asking where was I.As it turns out Moose decided he wasn’t racing either but had turned up to sweep on his YZ125 and he was the only person to put his hand up to sweep, so I thought I best get out there to help even though I had a roaring head ache. Thank God it was a lot cooler than the day before!! Moose was really happy to se me pull in the gates at the track as it is a big day out for the sweep riders even when there are half a dozen or more, most of the sweep riders actually do more miles than the race riders except for the ones in the Iron Man section.
One hundred riders signed on to race, which was a good roll up although that many riders keep the sweeps really busy.
The racing was to get under way directly after the sighting lap,
I waited to the last rider headed of then followed them around the track which is a much bigger version of the junior track from the day before with some really gnarly sections including a rocky step up section. I was surprised how many riders came unstuck in the practise lap!!! There were blokes arse over head all over the place on their state off the art machinery. It must have been really down heartening to see me tractor past them on the Big Red Bus!!!
The pony express is a four hour enduro broken up into several classes and the Iron Men go first and then all the other classes follow in one minute intervals.
We use a Le Mans style start with dead engines,so the start is quite spectacular to watch as they run to their bikes, kick them to life and roar off. It was interesting to note that the kick start 2 bangers all got away quicker that the 4 strokes, except for the ones with electric start.
As you can imagine with 100 riders racing around 8km of single trail there was going to be some carnage. There were some spectacular offs, especially near were the crowd was, as the riders come back from the bush the last KM is on the MX track and with spectators and fatigue, mistakes were being made. NO serious injuries thoug so all was good.
You have to hand it to the guys who were racing Iron Man, 4 hrs of that track at race pace takes a fit person!!
The XR got to live up to its Tractor name as I had to tow a bloke on a RMZ250 with a split crank case back to the pits.
There were plenty of broken chains, missing guards and the likes all through the day but one of the most unusual failures came when the eventual race winner Anthony Myer riding a 2 banger YZ250 side swiped a tree in the bush and snapped his rear axel nut off and he then lost a wheel spacer. How he got it back to the pits repaired and back in the race still in the lead was an amazing effort!!! Man some of these guys can ride and being a sweep rider gives you a great opportunity to see first hand how fast these guys go through the bush, it is down right awesome to watch!!!!
If you ever get the opportunity to sweep at an event like that, do it I say, Moose and I had a ball!!
Will post some pics later.
