The 3rd round of the SA Reliability Trial series was the Robertstown 2 Day. And again I had entered on the Tenere. This year was the 37th running of the event which has always had a reputation of being a tough event and it lived up to its reputation again this year. I had drawn number 41 which put me near the front of the Clubman riders and I was in that wonderful position of being the only person in my class, meaning that I only had to finish to get a class win, but it also meant that the event was mine to lose.
The 112km course was run in a figure eight out of Robertstown. A daylight and night lap being ridden on Saturday and two daylight laps on Sunday. The course comprised seven competitive sections;
Section 1, was 5km long and started with a bit of tight stuff through some mallee scrub before dropping into a dry creek bed / gully for a few km, then end ending with about a 1km blast through some more open mallee.
Section 2, was the nightmare section. 5km of mallee scrub, but this time in some hilly country with more rocks than you could ever imagine. This paddock cut up really badly and the numerous hill climbs become deeply rutted bulldust full of rocks and the down hills badly wooped out with loose rocks everywhere.
Section 3, was the classic Robertstown section down Spring Hut Creek. This section is effective a 6.5km flat out blast along a wide sandy creek with a few tight bends and climbs up/down the bank to slow you down a bit. This paddock attracts crowds of spectators, many of whom setup camp along the banks of the creek for the whole weekend.
Section 4 was a 3km run over some lightly wooded hills with a few tight section and a lot of rocks.
Section 5 was a 4km of tight single track up and down the banks along a couple of small creeks and included what can best be described as a 300m long observed trials section of mud, rocks and water just to make thing interesting.
Section 6 was another one of the classic Robertstown paddocks. Basically a 5km run along the banks of a muddy creek full of reeds and rocks with numerous creek crossings before finishing with a quick blast across some open paddock. This section had a massive crowd gathered at the first creek crossing / bog hole to watch the fun and carnage.
Section 7, was a 4km run across some lightly wooded hills with lots of rocks in the grass to catch you out.
It was still quite cold and cloudy at 1:41pm when I headed out for lap one. For me, lap one was fairly uneventful, with my only drama being that I didn’t realise that I had ridden straight through Control 6 at the end of paddock section 3, until I was out of the creek and onto the road, I thought that the control was just another bunch of spectators who had setup camp at a good spot in the creek.
Lap two in the dark was also fairly plain sailing, with only a few problems trying to pick a good line up the shitty hills in paddock 2, which had started to cut up really badly. I still managed to get the Tenere up them all without any trouble. The only other think was finding that I only had ½ a sidestand when I went to park the bike in the impound at the main control for the night.
A cold, damp and foggy morning greeted us for day two.
Lap three, and the hills in paddock 2 didn’t seem as bad as there were in the dark on lap two. I suppose being able to see where I was going helped. I am only running a 100w globe in the std Yamaha headlight for the night riding not the HID’s that most everyone else run. I had a monster tank-slapper in paddock 3 after coming around a bend about 2/3 of the way along the creek. I came off one of the plateaus on the inside of the bend into a section of really deep woops at about 80kph. I had my chest on the handlebars and both feet off the pegs and well above the seat. I have no idea how I stayed onboard the bike, but somehow survived what had the potential to be a nasty painful crash.
Lap four, was ridden as a ‘Victory Lap’. I was in cruise mode and out to finish and have some fun, although this turned into pain on one of the shiity hills in paddock 2. I got a little bit out of shape when a loose rock under the rear wheel kicked the bike hard right as I was near the top of the climb. Not wanting to get stuck, I kept the throttle open and ended up hitting one of the many small trees and crushing the toes of my right foot between the tree and the footpeg hard enough to bend the footpeg mount and to bring a few tears to the eyes. I was still moving though, so I just sucked up the pain and kept riding. Over the next few sections the pain diminished as my toes slowly went numb, so I kept on riding. At Control 11, the Keyneton Club control at the start of paddock section 7, I was greeted by more Elvis’s than I have every had the miss fortune to see. In the spirit of fun I said I would ride through the middle of the first mud hole to give the spectators with cameras a good picture. Picking a line that I thought would give me a 50 / 50 chance of success, I flat jumped into the mud in 2nd gear, only to go straight over the bars when the front wheel didn’t quite carry to the other side (this was the only time I didn’t get straight through the bog holes in paddock 6). After a quick bow to the crowd I extracted the Tenere from the mud and parked the bike so I could watch and take a few photos of a few others trying their luck. From there on it was a just a case of cruising on to the finish.
Another one bites the dust (well mud really).
I rode into the final control happy to have finished. It might sound like an easy win when you are the only rider in your class, but there are no easy wins in the 2 Day, no matter how few riders are in your class. As I was given my finishers medallion, the machine examiners had to scrap the mud off of the Tenere for its final roadworthy inspection, but everything was in working order, so no penalties were incurred.
This morning, the day after the event I am stiff and sore with two black and badly swollen toes that are definitely broken from being crushed between the tree and footpeg, but still with a smile on my face from having finished another 2 day.
The final results will take a few days to be collated, and I am sure that I will be in my normal position near last places, but my 1st in class has given me the lead in the series and with a long break until round 5 (round 4 is the 24hr and I am not silly enough to try that again) I have plenty of time for the toes to heal and to get the bike ready for the 2nd half of the series.
Col
