Riverina Interclub Enduro wrap up (Leaping Log 2019)

With three rounds left to run since the June round at Tumbarumba, the five round inter-club series was going to be close for a lot of the class contenders.

The next round at Tarcutta was a Sprint run by the Wagga club. No trail, just line up and go was the order of the day for sub-20 minute loop. Nice and tight with some good pinches gave you no rest in the quest for good times.

The numbers were good for the round and traffic was an issue early on in the way the O’50’s were set off after the last of the ‘035’s. I crashed trying to pass on a tight corner and broke my throttle. It took a second or two to understand what was going on but after holding the RR390 to a reasonable RPM and just using the clutch, I got through for a rough 9 second lead on the first lap.

I had to push each of the following laps as I knew Ross was a guy that became quicker as the day went on. I spent a fair bit on the second last lap to get a good lead but had to just get through for the last and won the day by only 8 seconds.

Our next round was to be the rocky and tight Leeton round. News came late in the week before that the 4th round was cancelled, quickly followed by the pick-up from the Wagga club to run an “Enduro X” at the old speedway circuit in Wagga. This was going to challenge some riders with not a lot of information given as the club worked hard to get this round up.

We arrived to what was obviously a heap of work with bunting and manmade obstacles and took our time to look around what was to be a sub 3 minute loop.

The day involved 6 rounds of three laps per round. I maintained a 20 second lead on Ross and won the day although through a timing misunderstanding it wasn’t confirmed for a while.

As an event it added a lot of spectator interest and most riders coped with challenges. Times were super tight and on the last three laps I set a 2.38 on each of the laps. I look forward to next years if they run another.

The last round was held at Temora and was a very different event to the previous. Open trail for 35 minutes followed by a mad off camber dash around a hillside close to the pits in a sprint format. It was a dust bog at the end of the day that took some smarts to maintain good times. I was beaten by a better rider that came in for a one off appearance (10 Seconds) but beat Ross by a minute on overall .. securing the Championship!

Special mention must go to Ross Scarman who chased me all year on in the O’50’s. He always pushed to win and made me ride above my level on many occasions. Beyond that he is a super nice guy. I think, on a quick add over the entire year, have only beaten him by less than 3 minutes in 15 hours of racing.

Key points of this year

• Beta and Husky were the dominant brand on the Championship placings
• Beta placed in 1st and 3rd in O’50’s, 3rd in Expert, 4th in O’35’s
• Danny Gibson narrowly missed 2/3rd in the O’35’ by missing a round with a shoulder injury
• Nathan Grieve and Damian Foley place 10th and 3rd respectively in their first full season in the Enduro series for Beta
• Matt Waters will be a name to keep an eye on … easily setting the fastest times outright thru the year at the age of 16/17.
• Two Cross country events and three Sprints with a Enduro version and a Enduro X version

About The Author
Marty

Chief Know-it-all at Wright Motorcycles.
Spent time in the '00's with Honda's Off-road program and now happily retailing Motorcycle/ Outdoor Power and managing Automotive repairs.