A wrap of the 2014 series.
We take you inside the rapid-fire, obstacle-stacked, three-round thriller that was 2014 KTM Enduro-X Nationals.
Having wowed Melbourne’s urban crowds with standalone events in 2012 and 2013, the Enduro-X grew into a three-round national series for 2014 and scored a fresh moniker: the KTM Australian Enduro-X Nationals. And with the allure of big prize money, sick tracks and slick organising, the first major event of the season attracted not only a roll-call ofwho’s who in the off-road world, but a few Pro MXers and big-name internationals to boot. We decided to take a look at the all-new national series through the eyes of the winner, a former champ, the favourite, an international and a blow-in motocrosser who almost upstaged the lot of them…
CHRIS HOLLIS – THE WINNER
I’ve had a rough couple of years, so I was keen to come out swinging this season. And the Enduro-X was a good opportunity to do that. I felt good on the bike from the opening round. Riding the YZ250F was the right call because it’s so light and great in the techo stuff, but I reckon a YZ450F would have been good for the more open, flowing Calder Park track where you could use its torque. I had a dream run at the opening two rounds. I got good starts, rode consistently and was lucky. In this form of racing, it’s all about being able to avoid trouble. If you get a bad start, it’s so hard to flight your way back through the field without making mistakes or running onto someone else who’s made a mistake. I actually crashed in both my heats in the Sydney round and just made it into the finals. But it’s all about the finals; it doesn’t really matter where you qualify. I went into the last round at Calder Park with a 13-point lead, but that wasn’t very comfortable as there were 75 points still up for grabs. And I made my life hard by going down in the first moto. I finished ninth, and was just lucky that my nearest rival in the series – Toby Price – also had a crash in that first final and ran seventh. I struggled at that last round in Calder and I was worried there for a bit as I had to ride the final two motos with a sprained wrist. From that point, I was there to win the championship rather than fight for race wins. Winning the Enduro-X was the perfect way to start the year and kick off my relationship with CDR Yamaha. It was a cool series with lots of potential to get even bigger. The spectators get so close to the track and right into it. You could hear them going off during the races.”
TOBY PRICE – THE FORMER CHAMP
I was lucky enough to win the inaugural Enduro-X in 2012, and then ran third Outright last season. But this year was all about getting a fresh start after last year’s neck injury and the extended time I had off the bike. I’d spent plenty of seat time on the bike in the lead-up to this Enduro-X, but I definitely had more nerves coming onto the series than usual as I was just so down on race-time. I didn’t feel as on-point or precise as I usually do, and my starts were pretty average, but I felt good on the bike and my speed was there. In reality, I’m lucky to be able to get back on the bike and race again, so the Enduro-X was a great warm-up for me. Seeing some Pro motocrossers – like Beau Ralston – in the field this year reinforced how important good starts are for endurocross racing. Enduro riders don’t line up in start gates that often, but starts are key on these technical tracks. Beau managed to do that and he showed us all the way around at the last round in two of the three races. I had a little bad luck, but Chris Hollis was on his game. He was consistent for the whole series and got the job done. It’s all about riding smooth and stringing all those obstacles together and not making mistakes. I had my chance to close the points gap on Hollis at the series finale, but I went down in the first final’s first turn. I didn’t see that Hollis went down in the second turn and fell way back in the field. I worked my way back to third, but then stalled the bike in a rock section and went back to seventh – finishing just ahead of Hollis. So I failed to capitalise on the situation. I finally got a race win in the last final, but Hollis rode too smart and brought home the title. I’m looking forward to getting stuck into the AORC from here.”
DANIEL MILNER – THE FAVOURITE
I learned a lot from last year, where I felt great and qualified well, but went into the finals a bit too hot-headed and crashed in the first moto. I went over the bars, hurt my neck and spent the rest of the arvo in hospital. So coming into the first round of this year’s series, I made sure I got through my heats cleanly. But then in the very first main, I went over the bars and landed on my head. It was like déjà-vu. But I took stock and did alright there with 4-1-2 results for second Overall. I’d built a specific endurocross track at my mum and dad’s place and did a bunch of practice motos and sprints to get my body in tune with a technical track. And that helped me decide to race the 250 rather than the 450 – mainly because it’s that little bit lighter and easier to throw around. But come race day, it’s hard to ride to your own rhythm in endurocross as there’s always so much stuff going on around you and the track’s condition is constantly changing. And the hardest thing is that, because you need to change up your lines to put a pass on someone, you put yourself in bad positions on the track. If you come into a rock or log section on a slightly wrong angle, you’re on your arse before you know it. And if you get stuck, you can lose a lot of positions real fast. In the final two rounds, I went 6-5- 5 and then 3-8-5, but I still ran second Overall in the series. That shows how inconsistent the other guys were. You always seem to be battling with someone, and it’s just so hard to put in back-to-back-to-back clean races on these tracks. That’s the key, and that’s what Chris Hollis did better than the rest of us.”
BEAU RALSTON – THE BLOW-IN
I’d never raced an off-road event before. But I live near the bush, and on the Saturday before the Parramatta Enduro-X, I picked up a YZ450F that had been raced by Sam Halbert at the Troy Bayliss Classic. I went bush and hit some logs and rocks, and I got the suspension done by a mate, but that was pretty much the extent of my preparation. The off-road scene has been on my radar for a few years now and I have rocked up to watch a round or two of the AORC, but I was still trying to nail down another deal for the MX Nats earlier this year. As nothing was happening on that front and the Enduro-X came up, I thought, ‘Why the hell not?’. It’s in the off-season for the other championships, so I had nothing to loose. I was pretty naive about the whole thing. In fact, I had no idea about what I was getting myself into. Active8 Yamaha’s AJ Roberts noticed that I was wingin’ it and he gave me some helpful advice about bike set-up and riding technique. My 450 was a mission in the wet conditions at Parra. It was a lot of engine for that track, so I rode it low in the power and used a lot of clutch. I tried to just remember that, at the end of the day, I was still just riding a dirt bike. So I approached it as if I was on a level playing, and I was dicing with the top guys at that Parra round. From that first round, I learned that you have to keep your heart rate low and remain calm, and I practiced a fair bit for the two weeks before the series finale. At Calder Park, Mike Brown and I went 1-2 and 2-1, so we were tied for the lead going into the last moto. But in the last race, I got a bad start and forgot everything I’d learned. I got frustrated had a few stalls and crashes. That dropped me to eighth, but I hung on to second Overall. I really like the laid-back atmosphere and friendly people in the off-road scene, so that’s where I hope to forge a career.
MIKE BROWN – THE INTERNATIONAL
When you race overseas, you usually head from the track straight back to the airport and jet out. Which is what I did when I was last in Australia back in 1991 for a Perth super cross. This trip was very different. It was actually a dream vacation as I’ve done and seen so much in just two weeks. Toby Price was pretty much my tour guide and practice buddy and he helped hook me up with Jeff Leisk to arrange race bikes. And then Husqvarna’s team manager, Glenn Kearney – who I’ve known since when he raced in America – really looked after me on the weekends. The Aussie riders impressed me. There’s definitely a lot of depth here. I mean, you only have to look at the Six-Days and EWC to see that Australian off-road riders are getting right up there on the world stage. There’s money to be made in endurocross these days, plus there’s the cool-factor that X Games helped bring to the table. So, nowadays, you’re seeing a lot of the top guys in the Enduro World Championship coming from motocross backgrounds (which is also what’s happened in Australia with guys Toby Price, Matt Phillips and Daniel Milner), and that’s got a flow-on effect into endurocross. It was a kind of a pity that I couldn’t make the series’ opening round – Husqvarna had their grand opening in America that weekend – but I was happy with the 1-2-2 at the Calder Park finale and got the Overall win. It was a nice way to finish the holiday in Australia. I won some money, so I might shout myself a beer at the airport. I’d love to come back again, as the tracks here are the best tracks I’ve raced on.”
COLIN ROBBINS – THE PROMOTER
For us, stepping up from standalone events to a three-round series was a challenge because each event had to be set up separately – from sourcing the obstacles to the track build to the on-the-road administration. We were also taking the sport into capital cities where the series was not well known. But all three events were very successful, in that everything ran like clockwork. We learned a lot and made a lot of new friends, and we’ve lifted the sport’s profile. And we’ve burnt ourselves out, but we knew that was going to happen because the three events were run in different states in such a short space of time. What we hang our hats off is the fact we didn’t have one complaint over the three rounds. The riders’ conduct was exemplary and there was a real community spirit throughout the series. Plus the feedback about the tracks was very positive. In America, they’re built on a hockey-sized ground with several lanes. With more space at our venues, we spread it out a little more and make sure we build it in a way that spectators can get into the middle of the track at several points. They can get up close and personal with the racing action and see exactly how these riders get over obstacles. That’s a formula we realised four years ago. From the riders’ point of view, the tracks, spectators and prize money are all factors. As there’s very little prize money offered in other off-road disciplines in Australia these days, the Enduro-X has managed to attract a lot of guys from elsewhere. It’s a relatively new sport and we knew we had to create impact. We rely on the spectators to pay the bills and to do that, you need the top riders, so we were happy to pay for them. Our prize money extended into the support classes as they’re the future of the sport, which is why we got good fields in those classes, too. I’d have to say the night-time event in Sydney was the standout. And even though we had some rain there, racing under lights proved really spectacular. So for future years, we’d look to run all events on Saturday nights under lights.”
