Out in the beautiful country side near Maffra Victoric, round 2 of the Australian Hard Enduro Championship took place. We have had some time with the Ultra Bee between this event and the last so it allowed us to work on it and upgrade a couple things. First things first, we definitely needed some better wheels, so as stated in the last blog 18/21” was the way to go. It was possible for 140’s on the rear but to save some weight we went with the 120’s as a gummie. We made the decision to go with tubes to save on the added weight of a moose. We adjusted the suspension of the Ultra Bee to suit our rider John. There wasn’t quite enough adjustability in the shocks to get it exactly how we wanted so we settled with what we could achieve. The next and last thing was the handlebars. They were feeling a bit low so we custom built some risers to bring it up to where it was comfortable. These risers were a good idea so we have decided to design and make more to sell in our custom parts store (Coming soon). We were ready.
Tim Coleman, one of Australia's greatest hard enduro riders designed this new track out at Maffra, we just didn’t know it would be one of the best tracks in Australia to date. Saturday morning rolled around quickly and everyone was ready and waiting for the prologue to begin. First would be the bronze class to race around the 3km course. We had our eye on a promising rider on the women's bronze class - Grace Alexander. After the one hour course the Silver was up next. We also had our eye on a Silver rider Lincoln Seidel, who has proved very skillful and a very passionate rider. He proved he is consistently improving every race he is in. John was racing the Surron Ultra Bee in silver class. After doing almost 12km of the track, disaster struck. The rear shock had blown the seals and split the housing. This was unfixable. Because the Ultra Bee is a new arrival in Australia we didn’t have any spare parts with us, they were on order. Just like that, we were out of the race for Sunday. So off to the side lines to cheer our new found friends. After another 1 hour battle between the silver riders it was golds turn. Gold made short work of the prologue crushing the course, but the real test was the race on Sunday.
The results were up Saturday arvo to show starting positions for Sundays race. The 4 hour race would prove one of the most difficult to date, not to mention the most fun. The weather was perfect albeit a bit cold, the soil had plenty of grip and the air was electric. Gold was off first followed by silver then bronze. One word could describe the scene I was seeing. Chaos. Riders flying off the bikes in the man made section, over the bars, off the side, you name it, it happened. All riders took a absolute pounding. Anthony Solar, one of Australia's hard enduro greats took a commanding lead with Chris Perry close behind. After lap one, it was obvious these guys are the real deal, dominating the competition. Although seeing this track in person, anyone who could do at least one lap was a professional in my eyes. Grace Alexander was doing well until her foot came down hard and twisted her knee. Although not too damaging, it was enough for her to forfeit the race, but not without knocking out a solid lap first. Another rider had fractured his leg in the Saturday race and was out. This track was serious business. Lincoln was racing hard and kept pace up proving to be a competitive force not to be reckoned with. A stick had flicked up and struck him in the nose causing a lot of blood to pour out, but he kept going. A hard fall caused his foot brake lever to break, however only having a front brake he finished his last lap and the race. That is exactly what this competition is all about.
At the end of the day, watching all the riders pour in from the race they looked worse for wear, like crawling out of the trenches from a battle. I just wanted to hug them and tell them everything will be ok, haha. Our friend Jon (Gatto) Gatt has placed 5th overall, an unbelievable feat of skill. Anthony Solar came in first which wasn’t a surprise after seeing his flying first lap. Chris Perry would go one to take second and Ruben Chadwick third. What a race, pictures and videos could not do justice for those riders and what they went through.
What is next for the Ultra Bee? We will be looking into replacing the suspension but possibly not with the stock KKE shock. More tests will need to be done but rest assured we will be ready for the next event in 5 weeks at Rockhampton, QLD.
Greg Peterson, the event organiser presented the winners of each class a trophy for which they were all more than worthy. Greg has fought for this sport after dealing with so many set backs, he’s the only one that has overcome more obstacles than the riders themselves and for that everyone is more than grateful for his sacrifices to keep this sport alive and thriving. The safety at these events is second to none thanks to him and all the volunteers at these events. So I would like to say, thank you to everyone involved that makes this event possible.