Hattah Desert Race 2010

[ScottMember]

sb_250Y and I are heading out to Mildura this weekend to have our first crack at the Hattah Desert Race.

We are doing iron man so should be interesting as neither of our bodies have fully recovered from our offs at Finke.

We have been pretty busy getting the bikes back up to standard with sb_250y’s bike requiring a new top triple clamp and a new scotts sub mount.(along with a new barkbuster and the new bars we fitted out there) The whole thing was twisted pretty bad after his off at Finke in Prologue. He also had to replace the helmet he trowelled so a pretty expensive week for him.

My preperation has been pretty straight forward. I cleaned all the air cleaners we used at Finke all up 10 filters.. an oil change a carby overflow filter change and have been stuffing around with the damper to see how it dropped the actuator pin, appears to be all sorted now.

We head off Thursday morning, anyone else from here having a go?

[GregMember]

Is it a Scotts damper you had the trouble with and did it shear the pin underneath and cause the arm to free wheel sort of thing?

TB

[ScottMember]

Yeah it is a sub mounted scotts.

No lucky it didn’t break anything.

The clamp bolt that clamps around the headstem had come loose, the only thing holding the clamp was the bracket under the fuel tank, this allowed the clamp to tilt up at the front and drop at the back. As the damper was two clicks of maximum it was pretty tight and by the look of it just twisted and forced the actuator pin back down through the press fit bush until the pin was no longer in contact with the actuator arm.

[RoyMember]

Best of luck. The photos I have seen of Hattah look like a very physical track. How long is ironman.

[StuartMember]

4 hours for Ironman,

Maybe I should be doing Clubman 2hours or not riding at all as my ribs are sore as hell still.

[WayneMember]

There certainly won’t be any cobwebs appearing between the seat of your WR’s and your arses!

To top it off, while your near the border and close to SA, why don’t you make it a triple treat for the Bowen Brothers in June/July and head for Kapunda to compete in the 78th running of the 24 hour race! The Swann Insurance 24 hour reliability trial

It’s on on the weekend after Hattah! go on, you know you both want to! Your more than half way there!

That would be a monumental effort…..you would automatically receive OB legend status!

King Crash

Once again, good on you Scott and Stuart, getting out and doing what us nangars only talk about and dream of.

[StuartMember]

King Crash wrote:

Quote:

There certainly won’t be any cobwebs appearing between the seat of your WR’s and your arses!

To top it off, while your near the border and close to SA, why don’t you make it a triple treat for the Bowen Brothers in June/July and head for Kapunda to compete in the 78th running of the 24 hour race! The Swann Insurance 24 hour reliability trial

It’s on on the weekend after Hattah! go on, you know you both want to! Your more than half way there!

That would be a monumental effort…..you would automatically receive OB legend status!

King Crash

Once again, good on you Scott and Stuart, getting out and doing what us nangars only talk about and dream of.

Would have liked to be in SA for the following weekend, Unforunately shift work & a holiday roster dictates what I can & can’t do. Also my body at the moment.

Plan is for next year, we are already planning our lighting for the WR’s for 2011.

Big ask pacing yourself 24hours in the middle of winter

May be a couple of other big events to be crossed of the list next year as well.

[ScottMember]

Hey Crash, we actually spoke about continuing down after Hattah and doing the 24hr this year.

In the end turned into a logistical nightmare, being away from home and work and then to transform the bikes from hattah spec into 24hr spec on the road.

It’s pencilled in for next year.

[MalMember]

So how did you guys go in the Hattah?

Any pics?

[StuartMember]

Prologue was in fog with an extremely slippery track so I took my time after the big crash at Finke.

I was taken out from behind on a straight section on the first lap by a pro rider riding pony express, as they started behind ironman they caught us about half way around the first lap.

He blamed someone else for hitting him, I know it was only me & him with badbowie 50meters back.

Badbowie came over the crest to see me pinned under the bike, stopped lifted my bike & then carried on.

Any way my ribs aren’t fully healed & this irritated them as well as a few other parts of my body. Neck is sore as hell. Need another new helmet, as I trashed another FoxV3.

The sand over there is hard to ride in, the conditions were good (wet) no dust. Give me rocks & single track anyday.

Next race is something I will enjoy, Yellow Mountain….

[ScottMember]

We are back, sb_250y had a weekend he prefer to forget. I finished but damn it was hard work.

I’ll load a few photos tonight

Thursday was spent driving the 1000km odd out to Mildura. We arrived after dark.

Friday not much happening until the evening when they close the main street off for scrutineering and a display of all the bikes live bands and just a real good atmosphere.

Saturday was an early start up at 530am, on the road for the hour drive out to the track, damn it was cold the ground was covered in frost and when the sun finally came up there was a heavy fog. We geared up for our sighting lap of the prologue track, 200+ bikes all doing there sighting lap in thick fog was an eye opener there were bikes running off everywhere, as the track was pretty slick in places and visibilty was zero.
The quick guys did there laps and damn they are fast have no idea how they do it in those conditions.
It was then my turn got a good start but second turn laid down for a rest got going again then crested a dune and laid down for another rest this time I was stuck under the bike and took some time to work myself out from underneath. By this time I had been caught by the guys behind me and I got roosted BAD…. My goggles were of no use anymore so they came off and I just finished my lap. We then went over to the race track and set our pit up for the next day, then off to the carwash the bikes were filthy and took some cleaning. My time was one of the slowest so I was starting the next day at the back of the pack.

Sunday
Once again up at 530am and do the one hour drive to the track. We unloaded and set up. Thats when I noticed no back brake on my bike the pedal just fell through its stroke…. strange it was working fine yesterday. Tried bleeding it made it a little better but still had an issue and I was now running out of time before starting, ended up leaving it and riding it the way it was.

I lined up in my row, the starts here are pretty cool, a buggy drives across in front of the line of riders and after it passes you you can start. I got a good start and was already passing people by the end of the start straight it was real high speed for the first couple of K’s then straight into deep thick wet sand. I caught sb_250y and thought yeah cool I’ll ride with him for a bit, I then had my first off got up got going again I was catching him again as I saw him as we came down a fence line. I then got caught and passed by the lead pony express riders who started behind me. I crested a dune to see two Yamahas cartwheeling down the other side one was sb_250y and he was now stuck under his bike. I stopped and lifted the bike off him asked if he was ok, the other rider was screeming in pain but marshalls were attending to him by this time (Heard later possible broken leg). I then got going and finished my first lap. I recorded my fastest lap on lap two which was a 42minute lap very slow compared to Toby Prices best 25minute lap time. I pitted after three laps took my helmet off washed my eyes out went to the toilet sat down and had a drink. Got going agian and was riding like a gumby the track had wooped out bad I lost track of how many times I fell down. Pitted again after the fourth lap just for a chat and a rest, got going and was struggling real bad the track was rutted and wooped real bad with soft deep sand my bike wouldn’t even pull top gear on the long straights stopped twice for a rest on the track. I was glad to see the the chequered flag.
I think there was around 205 starters and 157 finishers I finished at the back of the pack in 142nd position.
Another very hard race

[ScottMember]

A couple of photos….

Me at Scrutineering

sb_250y at Scrutineering

The bikes parked after scrutineering

A view of the main street

[ScottMember]

Prologue

Some smooth parts of the track

sb_250y after his off


Into the pits

[ScottMember]

A video of the start of the Hattah Desert Race. First bike away was Toby Price

[Author]

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