DMCC Club MX Round 4, Wonthaggi and a Look in at Wattsy's Pony

v127, November 2013 Email: scooter [email protected]

Cover Shot Goes to: Scott Lewis #731 and Luke Holmes, #176, Combined Jnr 125/250 DMCC Club MX Round 4, Wonthaggi and a look in at Wattsy’s Pony Express, 16-17th November 2013

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SATURDAY

If only… I could do everything and be everywhere. With me ol’ mate Lambie on his annual hols, Adam Cornthwaite out with a bung leg, and Aaron Bonfadini out with a bung knee there was no-one game enough to enter with me in Wattsy’s Pony Express. But I was interested to see how it was all going to run so me and photographer Jo scooted down the Warbie Hwy on Saturday afternoon to Sanders’ apple orchards at Three Bridges to find the practice session in full swing. Damn it. I had been half tempted to bring my bike to test the track but the KATO was buried behind a few other bikes in my shed, and as soon as I got there I thought “I should have made the effort and brought the KATO on the trailer”. So we chatted to Al Bernhard and son Kyle whilst watching and photographing riders coming and going, and Daniel “Chucky” Sanders making final adjustments to the drop off with his shovel. The smell of apples – or apple cider – wafted from a large water-filled pit and at this point I thought, “mmm, maybe I’m not that keen to ride through this…”. Cade Vagg was predicting around 130 entries all up with a variety of rider abilities, and some well-known off-road racing and motocross names. As we left we spotted Andrew “AC” Carruthers of Valley Force Husaberg who had accompanied sponsored rider Mitch Harper on his TE300, pairing up with young gun Tom Mason. It was shaping up to be a ripper event and with reluctance we headed home to get The Scooter (RMZ450) ready for motocross at Wonthaggi on Sunday (and we saw “Bad Grandad” at the movies, and yes he is very bad, and funny).

Riders gather for the practice session Darren White of Dirtworks tests the Apple Cider Pit

Veterans Wayne Vandenburg and Darren Jessett 17th outright

Brian Badrock #326 teamed with Paul Bryant Tom Ravenhorst and Jessy McNally, 5th outright for 12th outright. Kyle Bernhard looks on. Tom is sponsored by Marriotts Motorcycles, Trak Rite, MakinTrax, Kyle and Jack Gaynor came an impressive 4th Able Onsite Services and Grey Army

And on the day…? Well here’s Alan and Croc’s report with some extra bits added from the Mylaps results information: “68 pairs teamed up for the day – that’s 136 riders, plus a dozen or so ironmen (“silly bastards”) so a great turn out for this inaugural event, perhaps the $1000 prize money for Pros and Expert classes had something to do with this. It was a mint day – the rain in the preceding week had left the track moist and loamy, even sandy in some areas, just perfect. It was to be four hours of riding for both the pairs and the ironmen. Kyle on his KX250 was teamed with KTM rider Jack Gaynor and they agreed that Jack would do the start. After a lap or two Kyle changed onto a KTM as well finding it much better suited to the track. By the end of the day Mylaps showed that he had got within 20 seconds of Jack’s lap times. But it was Shane Watts on Marty Orchard’s KTM200 (from Top Gear Motorcycles) and Daniel “Chucky” Sanders on his KTM300 who creamed the field winning by a huge margin of 15 minutes over Wade Ibrahim/Mark Clements – they were the only 2 pairs that managed 12 laps. Miller Hinds and David Murray won Over 35s (14th outright) and $500. Great to see some family pairings with Anthony Venn riding with his dad Ian and achieving 20th outright, quickly followed by Ken and Bayley Burt in 21st. And oldies Spencer Harrison and Whinner’s Motorcycles Anton Whinner did 7 laps for their 41st placing. The best ironman result was an outstanding 10 laps from A4DE and AORC rider Matt Goedemans. There were a few DNFs on the day – Dean Fiddler got the ambo ride, and Elizabeth Lee (the only girl riding), teamed with Nathan Heap also retired with a shoulder injury. Mitch Harper (Valley Force Husaberg), paired with Tom Mason, couldn’t finish due to injury:

Valley Force’s Facebook Page: Mitch had increasing back/neck pain as he kept riding then felt something crack in his back (he didn't crash whilst in second place chasing Sanders/Watts), so he pulled in and did the change over to Tom Mason. He/we decided to not risk anything, and Mitch stopped racing, leaving Tom Mason to finish off the laps - great effort Tom. Then it was off to Knox Private Hospital for a CT scan. Great service from the nurses and doctors, thank you. The scan showed a fracture in a bone around Mitch’s C7 neck/back joint which seems to have been done last week in the Prologue at the Wildwood Extreme Enduro. So it was a superman effort last week to finish as he did, as he was in lots of pain, so a bit of a rest and some healing and he will be good as Gold!!

One of the challenges for the day was the less experienced riders holding up the quicker riders but that’s single trail riding for you and the sweeps were there to lend a hand. I estimate about 100 people came to watch and at the end were treated to Wattsy and Chucky throwing themselves and their bikes into the now festering apple pit. And we understand a couple of female bystanders were dunked as well. All in all a great day and hopefully the first of many future Wattsy events. Many thanks to the Sanders family for the use of their apple orchards and surrounds, to Geelong MCC’s Vice President Cade Vagg for his excellent administrative work to get everyone entered and riding, to Chris Gray from the Yamaha Off Road Champs for assisting with entries, and not forgetting the many sweep riders that kept things safe and moving”

Chucky - Photo: RideHQ, Lee Popowski Wattsy and Chucky in the Cider Pit. (Photo: Daniel Sanders FB)

(Photo: Daniel Sanders FB)

Cade Vagg calmly in control Alan Bernhard listening to the trees Thanks Al for all your efforts there too – if you stopped lending your bike out so much you might get to ride… And a big shout out to the sponsors as well.

WATTSY’S PONY EXPRESS RESULTS

Heres the top 5 outright teams and Top 5 Ironman Teams Ironman 1. Shane Watts/Daniel Sanders 4:04:16.653 (12 laps) 1. Matt Goedemans 4:07:07.628 (10 laps) 2. Wade Ibrahim/Mark Clements 4:20:04.271 (12) 2. Christian Barrett 4:04:11.907 (9) 3. Wayde Carter/Jake Roberts 4:02:32.997 (11) 3. Ben Forsyth 4:06:48.504 (9) 4. Jack Gaynor/Kyle Bernhard 4:14:11.727 (11) 4. Josh Ames 4:11:02.395 (9) 5. Jessy McNally/Tom Ravenhorst 4:16:31.485 (11) 5. Dean Minichiello 4:03:46.088 (8)

SUNDAY

Our main agenda for the weekend was to race in the last competitive event for the Dandenong MCC this year, round 4 of their motocross champs. So on Sunday we arrived around 8:30am with the queue still quite long for sign in so I took The Scooter (RMZ450) off to scrutineering first. I was surprised to see they were already watering the track as the Wonthaggi area had received 120mm of rain during the week. But this track doesn’t need much sun and wind to start dusting up so they were getting ahead of the game.

We headed to riders briefing to learn that the track will be altered for 2014 with some major improvements and resurfacing so if you are available week starting 8th December contact the club and be a part of the changes. Glenn Capuano told the riders there would also be some exciting news about events for next year so keep your eye on their website/facebook page.

We were pitted next to Andrew Cornthwaite #78 and his Honda CRF450 for the day, right on the fence at the exit to the track. Perfect. I was entered in Over 40s Vets along with Andrew who was also going to try his luck in the Senior Open joined by a good sprinkling of other vet riders.

There were good numbers in the seniors and vets for this time of year and the junior 125/250 class was well supported with some tight and fast racing at the top end of the fields. Notable mentions for the day would be Van Slooten #25 and Lonsdale #26 playing tag in the Lites, Alex Stephenson miles ahead of everyone in the Senior Open, and Taj Marshall #54 and Jake De Zwart #372 in the junior 125 class banging bars. And Jo was out there capturing it all in the lens. Where else would she be?

Travis Chapman #310 and Lewis Stylianou #653 Jye Anderson #326 85cc Big Wheel

There was only one girl out there today, young Elise Geysen #311 completing all her three 85cc small wheel races, supported by dad on the sidelines.

Elise Geysen #311

Alex Stevenson #A and Joe Stevens of MAD MX Athlete Van Slooten #25 and Lonsdale #26 Development in Senior Open Just out to have fun All these guys need numbers ### – perhaps they should contact Tom Carroll at Kickstart?

Tom Carroll facebook: Kickstart Industries Mob: 0418 542 503 www.kickstartindustries.com.au

Chris Hunter #337, winner Senior B Grade Open

There seems to be a name hanging in the air at the moment (see last week’s interview) so when Jo spotted yet another Stephenson at the sharp end of the pack she had to go and find out a bit more: JO’s RIDER Profile Alex Stephenson, #A

Age: 18 Lives: Berwick Job: Brick Layer Riding: YZ450F 2014 in A Open First Bike? Pee Wee 50, then TTR125, then YZ85. Alex was with the KTM race team for 5 years as a junior and won the VORC at the age of 16 – his proudest achievement to date. He has been riding in the Pro Class in VORC and the Hattah desert race Why the motocross today? “I was entered in Wattsys Pony Express and my partner was Daniel Milner but he was called away to some commitments interstate. I thought I’d come here today for a bit of practice” Thumpercross: we recently saw Alex at the Lardner Park Thumpercross in A Grade Open where over 5 races in trying conditions he had two thirds, two seconds and a first up against Daniel Milner and Cameron Taylor Training: “I like to ride up round Noojee for off-road training but I head to Frankston Motorcycle Park for motocross” Who do you admire in the sport? “I guess it would be my brother Todd – he’s older than me but we’ve always trained together” Big thank you: to Peter Stevens for getting me on this YZ450

Alex Stephenson, #A, YZ450F

Junior 125/250 Taj Marshall #54 and Jake De Zwart #372

Dean Mosig, #85 Snr Lites, Jess Cini #789

Greg Parkinson #749, C Lites Cal Forsyth, #282, B Open, Honda CRF450

Over in the Vets class Denis Casey #v3 (“DC” to his mates) was holeshotting the start and obviously on a mission.

Holeshot DC, Vets Class Now it’s not often I get passed by DC. Ever, really. The reason I don’t get passed by him is he is always in front of me. Today looked to be no different; he had hole shot in race one and won his class, but mysteriously not in race two where I’d already got round half a lap before he took me on the back section. This wasn’t due to my new found burst of speed on The Scooter, it was that DC had missed the start after chatting too long in the pits and had left himself with plenty to do to finish in the points. But with another first in the final round he ended up narrowly winning the Over 40s from Anthony De Vond #102 (both got 65 points). Good to watch DC clear that massive tabletop that I can only seem to get half way over.

Vet class formation flying: Andrew Cornthwaite #78 with Anthony De Vond #v102 to his left and Frank Coran #292 on the right, and Eddie Cini #v661 making up the tail

Paul Murphy #555, 2 classes today

Craig Bonney #v49, Vets Andrew Cotterell #55. DC #v3

Alex Hay #20, Senior Open

Brad Balding #587 avoids Tom Pay’s roost in Senior 250 Lites Lou Stylianou #553 finding mud and Thomas Blake #586

85cc Big Wheel Class

Lachie Harrison #471 gets up close in the Senior Lites C Grade

Divvies

Harrison “Hazza” Huber, #505, 65cc Kawasaki 520 hybrid. No helmet required?

Watch out Viper Vintage Motocross in 2014. Rex Lee has a ride…

DANDENONG MCC MX RESULTS There were quite a few classes so instead of listing the results from them all here check on Mylaps for all the details.

It’s been a huge and successful year for Dandenong MCC this year, one of Victoria’s largest dirt bike clubs. They’ve hosted 10 rounds of off-road racing, 4 rounds of motocross, a round of the Nationals in May, a Thumpercross at Lardner Park, numerous practice days, the KTM Ride for Kids, a Gippies round and so on. There’s a very effective hard-working committee and lots of riders and parents prepared to chip in.

Today’s thank yous go to Glenn Capuano, Dean Unger (dad of Luke and Ash), Jamie Anderson, Darren Pay, Geena, Susie and Sue on sign-in, Heather Lee and Nancy cooking up a storm in the canteen, the sweeps, lads from Wonthaggi who flagged all day in the dust, Event Aid, and ‘Rat’ Beaton who headed out mid-week in the rain on the tractor to ensure the track was ready for the race day.

Heather and Nancy Flaggies

Next weekend… maybe a trail ride with my mate Cam, or a flit round Broadford. Oh the choices!

Sponsors/Advertisers: Whinner Motorcycles from Narre Warren have a great deal for Scooter News Readers. And on our cover this week are sponsors Krooztune who also have a great offer to Scooter News readers. Ciscos also share the Stop Press section with details of their services. All companies are heavily involved in this great sport of ours and supporting riders with their excellent service. Be sure to check out what they offer and consider them if you are ever in need – more details in the Stop Press section of the newsletter.

Photos: just a reminder, if you turn up at the track and see us there and you want some photos, come up and say hello, give us your race number and we will get some shots of you – you may even make into the newsletter. If you are looking for photos, don’t forget to contact us – Jo is sure to have some shots of you if you were at one of the events covered by Scooter News. Don’t forget our YouTube helmet cams too – search with stevedavisracing – you’ll find us there somewhere.

And I could always do with more friends so why not ‘friend’ me on Facebook – Steven Davis.

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