Fun? Bags-o-fun!

Dont be fooled that theses events, although entered by old bikes, are a serious challenge.

Team AMTRA (Won and Too), lined up on the starting grid and all fired up quickly.  Pete and Pat went off like afrog Ina sock and left me to play catch up (which I didn't), but no matter, I knew my wing-men were behind me.  Conditions were wet and sloppy from days of rain and the course was very slippery.  About 1 k in, I got bogged down in a sandy river crossing and I put the 175 down, not badly but still down.  Tony was on the scene straight away and suggested pulling out the plug to see if she'd sucked any water.  So I reached for my trusty PE tool and (gasp!) I'd left it in the car!  Fortunately, a like minded PE rider pulled up and gave me his.  No water, so a few more kicks and away we went.

The course was over 5 sections with a total of around 60ks.  Lots of tight, wooded single track, sandy single track, wide open hill climbs, steep down hill drops and plenty of steep, ugly creek crossings that got more and more chewed out with every bike.  It was hard work (in spots), but all good fun. 

Saturday's loop was a 'sighting' run for the main event on Sunday.

We lined up again on Sunday, and this time I was riding the 250.  I found the 175 lacked punch on the open hill climbs and I knew the 250 would be brilliant.  I wasn't disappointed!  Once again, Pat and Pete p15sed off, so I rode most of the day with Tony.  Sunday's course was the sme asSaturday's, but you could go a little harder cos you had a better idea where you were going!  The course was getting more and more chopped up, making the ride harder and harder, but still fun.  Tony kept an eye on me all loop and I was ther to help him when the big TT stalled in a few of the creek crossings.  The rest of the loop went relatively uneventful and we pulled into camp with smiles on our dials.

I found that Pete  and Darren had already changed and packed up, so they weren't going back out.  Tony also wasn't keen, and Flipper and Pat were already out, so I turned to one of my SA Vinduro mates nod asked him if he was keen for another loop.  He was, so a quick re-fuel of bikes nd bodies and we were off.  The course was toast!  Mud and bog holes every where, but still a hoot!  We completed a second lap and gave the bikes a good wash through on the final river crossing.

we all collected our medals, Pete Darren and Tony headed off while Pat, Flipper and myself stayed overnight again.  All in all, a great weekend. I know some photos were taken by Flipper and Tony (and myself), so they will get posted in the fullness of time.

Thanks to Pat for his brilliant paddock pizzas and pasta.  Thanks to Daz for sponsoring the uniforms and to Flipper and Tony for helping me out throughout the ride.

And of course , Team AMTRA for all the usual BS all weekend!

My prep for this event went to poo as i pulled the motor to get the kickstart slippage (a common problem with 125, 185, 200 motors) fixed. Engine A was a no goer, so engine B was dropped off at the mechz. I got the engine less bike ready, new tyres, removed the speedo to stop it getting trashed, checked everything else. Ring workshop, engine will be redy friday lunchtime. Pack all the crap for the weekend, pick up motor, install in record time. Bike fires up and took it for a quick test ride around the block, seems good. Load bike in ute, hitch up camper and point to Harrow.

Arrive at Harrow late in the evening, set up camp and relax. Saturday morning was relaxing as the ride did not start until 12. Soon we were off. The XR was hammering along and soon i was picking off bike after bike. The course was wet and muddy with creek crossing that were tricky. take the wrong line and you got stuck in no time. The loop finished with the usal crossing of the Wimmera river, with the crowd on the other side hoping for carnage.

Next morning it was pretty much the same except more ruts and chopped up river crossings. On the plus side the course was easier to find your way around. Second lap was a the fastest for the day, i hooned around in record time. I found a guy on a IT who was hammering along so we raced back to the finish. Now the gold medal was mine and by the time i got back i was stuffed. I noticed there was still time for another lap, after a quick rest i headed back to the start for another lap. I caught up with Britt JR on his IT 465, we rode together back to the finish. On the way we caught up with Serge as well.

Grouse weekend all up, fantastic weather and a decent challenging ride, the XR was ubreal as usual. Damage bill, rear wheel bearings shot (not that old), rear brke shoes toast, one rear indicator awol.

This was the first ride with the bike fitted with a rebuilt XR250 shock, bigger forks and disk brake front end. All mods were life savers. The front brake worked well, while the rear drum needed to be adjusted every 20 minutes until it ran out of adjustment. Who needs rear brkes anyway.

This was my first time at Harrow, and I can now see why it claims the crown as being the Premier event of the Vinduro calendar.

Apart from some rain on Friday causing some worry about the track conditions, the weather was very kind to us, and the muddy sections made things interesting. The 5 sections of the loop had varying terrain - some sandy soil, some slushy swamps, and others with lots of muddy gullies to navigate across.

When Serge & I arrived, Darren and Peter R had already set up the important things (e.g. a pit tent to get away from the rain), and we soon had the bikes unloaded and looking nice and sparkly.



Base-camp AMTRA was set up with the tents a bit too close together, and my snoring was apparently fairly loud on the first night.



It was a very picturesque setting to hold the Vinduro, and the turnout was pretty good, with about 140 riders attending.



The Saturday morning saw us confine the bikes to the Parc fermé area in readiness for the midday cold start test.



The team 'AMTRA Won' bikes of Serge, Peter R  & Pat, who started on minute 27.



The team 'AMTRA Too' bikes of Peter D, Darren & Tony who started on minute 28.



First team of 3 riders ready to begin their lap - surprisingly, most bikes started fairly easily.



Less than 100 metres from the start, it was into the river to get the boots wet, then lots of weaving on a single track through the gum trees.



A couple of kms into the single track, Tony, Darren & I found Serge having some problems with the PE175 in the middle of a creek bed. Thankfully the bike only needed a tiny bit of TLC to get it running, and we were off again.



The terrain swapped between open paddocks to tight, twisty, tree dodging single track, and just to ad some further spice, we began to be confronted with muddy ravines and gullies to get across. The first of them caught lots of people, including Tony (I fell victim to it in lap 2).



The midway refueling point was another chance to regroup and check the bikes out for any potential problems.



At the end of section 4 (lots of off-camber hillsides), we were greeted with this contraption to get us over a fenceline. I snapped the photo of Tony just a smidgin too soon, as he launched himself off the other side, and landed pretty hard.



Serge took it a more calmly.



Section 5 was through muddy swamp land around the edge of a large lake. It was a great place to practice those speedway powerslides, but the bikes did get to wear a lot of the mud!



The home stretch included a deeper river crossing to get some of that mud washed off, ready for the next day.





My TT looked a bit worse for wear at the end of the event (but we got 'Gold', so who cares), as I had a fairly solid 'off' into a dirt culvert in one of the paddocks. Saw it at the last second, and was lucky to wash off most of the speed by sliding the bike sideways into it. Now I've got to chase up some NOS plastic panels to make it look pretty again.



Serge was very happy with the PE250



It was a well run event, and a very friendly atmosphere. The only real downside is the distance traveled to get there...

Thanks to Pat for supplying us with home (paddock) cooked pizza for our evening meals, and pancakes on Monday morning.
Also thanks to Phil for lending his 3-bike trailer to Serge so that I could scrounge a lift with him, and also to Mat for lending me his AMTRA riding top so that I could feel more like one of the team.

A special thanks to Serge & Darren for supplying us with custom matching t-shirts, jumpers, and beanies to celebrate the AMTRA invasion of Harrow.

Peter D

Great report and pics, thanks ,and well done team AMTRA 

Serge, Pat and Peter thank you for a great ride report on the Harrow vinduro looks like you all had a great weekends ride.
I'm keen to ride to this event myself with the new format, just a pain in the arse its a 5 hour drive from my place.
Wade

Fantastic effort boys!

Just wondering who's amtra sign that is on the marquee? If its amtras could I please borrow it for this weekends koo wee rups 6 hour that Sean Al Ian and myself will be attending.

It is AMTRA's sign. I have two of them at my factory.

I'll bring them to the meeting tomorrow night.

Serge C wrote:

Thanks Serge! Greatly appreciated!

Evo wrote:
common wade what you really are thinking is " PRICKS " 

Great weather, riding and company for the weekend. Thanks for the pizza Pat-excellent. Thanks Serge and Darren for the team outfit.
It's all been said so here's a clip of Serge giving the PE175 a run on Saturday

cheers Tony

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