EP#48 - AEC RD3/4 Review with Vets Class winner Geoff Braico

ADB's Mitch Lees is joined by co-host Jeff Briggs and special guest Geoff Braico, who won the Vets class at Round 3/4 of the Australian Enduro Championship, to discuss everything that happened at Dungog on the weekend and all the things you probably didn't know.  

Transcript

SPEAKER_03 0:00

Welcome to the ADB Podcast, where we talk all things dirty with your host, Mitch Lee. Okay guys, we're back. We're doing uh another podcast. This is another AEC Australian Enduro Championship rap. This is rounds three and four. Um, and with me I have my the usual suspect of Jeff Briggs. He's coming on to join me today, but also we have a special guest in Jeff Braco. Uh he is, well, he's been contributing to ADB for you were 16, 17, 18 years. So he's he's kind of special. He's special to us in lots of ways. But uh he's special because he's the he won the Vets class on the weekend. So I thought, well, why not get we want to get try and get one winner from each of the classes every round, every time we do this. So we thought Braco would be a good one to get on here. Um so we're gonna rip into uh rounds three and four at Dungog uh on the weekend. Before we do, I'm just gonna thank our sponsors, which is Dunlop. Uh Dunlop is sponsoring the podcast with the AT82 tire. It is a multi-directional tire, so you can flip it around depending on the terrain. So it's kind of got a uh one side of the knob is good for hard pack, the other side of the knob is good for soft kind of terrain. We've got uh Jeff Briggs is running a set of tires on his Sherko Long Termer. So we're gonna come to you guys soon enough with a bit of a review on that tyre. Um and Sherko. Sherko with the other sponsor of the show. Sherko sponsored the show with their finance, they have a pretty cracking finance deal. You can get 3.89% uh comparison rate over two years or 4.89% comparison rate over three years. That's with the Sherko Fast Finance. We've all written, all us here have written all their two strokes many a time. Pretty much we've written every Sherko two stroke, I'd say, in the last 10 or 15 years between the three of us. And um they're pretty shit up. They've won shootouts and they've won world titles, actually. Um anyway, so yeah, go check them out. That's at Sherko.com.au and look for the Sherko Fast Finance. Uh now, Jeffrey, Braco. I've got two the two Jeff, so I'm gonna have to be use surnames. Braco, mate, uh, thanks for coming on as well, kind of like our guest. You've come on our podcast before, you are part of the furniture at ADB. Uh, thanks for coming on, mate. No problem at all. Uh Brixy gets me away from doing some housework. It does. Uh Brigy, thank you as well for coming on. It's gonna be cool because you were at Dungog uh with Braco racing in the same class. So we might even get a bit of bench racing happening post-race today, which is cool.

SPEAKER_01 2:23

Yeah, well, one of us was racing, one of us was sort of not not riding real well at all.

SPEAKER_03 2:28

So yeah, well look, what you call not riding really well at all to the most of us listening is probably better than we'll ever ride. So take it go easy on yourself. Um so we let's just start classes. Let's just start with you know what? Let's start with the vets, because the vets is what Braco won. Um, so rather than normally we kind of start with the the three pro classes, but we're gonna start with the vets. Uh how speed-wise, Braco, going from it was only four years ago that you finished up racing in the pro class, maybe a little bit longer.

SPEAKER_00 3:03

No, it was my last official full season was actually 2015. But I've ridden I've ridden I've dabbled in the events over the years, but I think the last time I rode in the actual pro class, I think was the Kyogle uh 24, maybe.

SPEAKER_03 3:21

Yeah, okay.

SPEAKER_00 3:22

Yeah, 23, 24. And then as soon as I turned 35, I was like, I'm riding the vets, and it's just it's just a whole different ball game for me. Mentally, the not so much the pressure's off, but it's the guys at the front are so so fast and so calculated now. Whereas I am lucky to ride once a week. Um, I try to ride once a week if I can, but it's just it's just different, you know, it's way more fun, way more relaxed. And for me, it's it's I actually just enjoy going to the ro the races now because I mean, yeah, it's cool to win and whatever, but like I still like to compare myself to certain people in certain times and whatever. But man, like I get like three, four minutes into a test now and it's arms are pumped up, I'm puffing. Whereas before I could do you know 10, 15 minute tests, no problem. But now I'm 37, I have a two-year-old little boy, and now I actually just enjoy going to the races, so I get eight hours sleep.

SPEAKER_03 4:14

Yeah, it's such a good point. Um okay, so 23, three years ago was your last kind of pro race. Um, how is how does the speed in the vets class compare with the speed in the pro class? Uh, and and you guys you guys are racing all the same tests, all the same uh trail sections. It's there's really no difference between the vets class and the pro class except for who's in it, right?

SPEAKER_00 4:37

Yeah, so um from what I sort of looked at over the times, I think overall for the weekend, I think I was 22nd overall on Saturday and 23rd, maybe 21st on Saturday and 22nd on Sunday. And in all honesty, like some of those tests I did like a I think my best was maybe 17th or an 18th, but it was actually pretty crazy because in some of those tests, if it was 10 seconds faster or like 12 seconds faster, it was like sixth overall.

SPEAKER_03 5:04

Wow, okay.

SPEAKER_00 5:05

So, but then again, it was another, it was another, I might not have been sixth that might be talking shit, but I mean it might have, but it was still another, I was thinking 50 seconds or 45 seconds sometimes behind Will, but he would have like a solid 10-15 seconds on some of those boys. But I mean, Will's pretty phenomenal in those tight in technical conditions. Um, but everyone in the pro class is super, super tight. And it's pretty cool to see. There's a good there's a good crew there. I haven't I haven't been around a lot of them. It's just different. I mean, I only it's it's sort of like a reunion going back to these races now. But I mean, yeah, for me, the to see the young guys coming up and through and um it's pretty cool. But then there's also still like the old, not old guys, but it's still like the vets of the of the actual pro class, like um uh Stefan Gronquist. I mean, I could say that Will's a vet, even though I mean he's winning, but like um, you know, Jeremy, Stefan, uh if I had the results in front of me, there's a few other guys. Yeah, those guys will be facing who's oh Brock Rabham, yeah, yeah, yeah. So uh Scottie Keegan, good mate of mine, he was in there as well. He's sort of part-time as well, but can still do really well. And uh you don't really lose the you don't really lose that like fight in you to go fast. It's just more that you just I just don't have the the time and energy to put into it now to then go, you know, that extra 10 seconds or 12, 15, 20 seconds. It's not much. Like if I think I worked it out, I was on average four to six seconds slower per minute per test.

SPEAKER_03 6:33

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 6:34

So it's not that bad, really, when you put it like that.

SPEAKER_03 6:36

Yeah, yeah, that's impressive.

SPEAKER_00 6:38

50 seconds across an eight-minute test is yeah, I think it's five or six seconds per minute. So it's not so bad when it's like that. Um, but yeah, it definitely doesn't feel like that when you go out to the end of one of those tests and you you're just absolutely exhausted. But um you know, it was it was hard work.

SPEAKER_03 6:54

You haven't hit the magic four-o mark yet either. So you yeah, you you're a vet, you're you're nudging four-o, but it's that'll slow down.

SPEAKER_00 7:02

That's the thing that's quite that's the thing that's quite funny about the vets class, and it's um, you know, I I get it that you know that I people a lot of people call me a trophy hunter, but I qualify for I qualify for that. Totally defined by me. But um, I mean it is a lot of fun, and they still take it quite seriously in that class. And it's just we got seated way back. Well, I got seated way back on Saturday, so I was doing a lot of battling. Um, but yeah, it's pretty funny. Oh, you know, you shouldn't be in the vets class, you're too fast for us, and it's kind of cool because it's like they're a bit more like camaraderie, I guess, than um it's very it feels very much like a good like club day in that class where everyone's having a good time and you know they've all gone to work for the week, they've all paid their money, they're there for a good ride. And um, yeah, I'm kind of like the young punk of the class, and it's kind of cool. I like it.

SPEAKER_03 7:48

So it's been a while since you've been the young punk of a class. Um yeah, yeah, very long time. So let's talk, boys, conditions because you two were there, I wasn't, and from what I could see, it was it looked dry. Um, no one can do anything about the rain. Uh, because I feel like in our sport it's either flooding or it's dry. We kind of very rarely get the most ultimate conditions. Um what what what were they like? How bad was that dust? You want that one, Briggsy, or you want me to do it?

SPEAKER_00 8:18

Uh I can start.

SPEAKER_01 8:19

Well, Friday night we actually we got a little storm and I was in my swag, and it sounded like it was come down right, and uh but it it was over as quick as it came, unfortunately. Because I think if we got 20 mil, maybe 30 mil, the ground was would have just soaked it up, and it probably wouldn't have been quite as bad. Uh but yeah, the conditions were it that was probably the toughest indue I've ever done. Wow, to be honest, and only because I actually found the first test not too bad, but the second test um where we had the the steeper hills, it just got so one line and a knee-deep rut going up these hills where you're dog paddling in a foot of bull dust. It was just it was pretty technical in that sense. And it's like I even went and seen Will and Joy and a few of the boys, and I said, like, you just you can't even train for this sort of stuff. Like, where do you get a track like that to train that unless you go to Transmodo at the end of the day, you just want to go, oh yeah, let me do motors on it. Like it was such a difficult, unique track. But in saying that too, everyone's on the same conditions, and the boys were were killing it. Even Braco passed me to test who got stuck on a crappy hill. But yeah, the um the everyone was riding really well.

SPEAKER_03 9:36

So you talk about getting stuck on a crappy hill. From what it looks like, the trail sections had some act really tricky sections, sections that you could get stuck on and that you could actually uh could actually cause you some grief. Was it the hardest we haven't? I mean, we haven't done a time card in duro, we don't have that many of them throughout the season. Most of the time we get sprints in cross countries. Um so was it one of the trickier time cards that you've done because of the trail sections?

SPEAKER_00 10:02

Uh it's more the it's more the property because they had a bunch of stuff going on where I think last time we rode there, uh I was on that uh ADBYZ125, and that was just before COVID, and it was prime time, but then we got had a shit ton of rain on Saturday night and we got flooded out. Yeah, that's when I raced there last two. Yeah, so for anybody that's been to this property, um, the way that it works is you we're parked at the bottom, and then you've got the grass track side on the left, and then you've got the injury test side on the right as you're looking up the hill, and it's quite steep, and they had dramas with it being so dry, and so then what happened is they kind of they were kind of stuck because number one, I'm pretty amazed they actually were able to run the event because it's it's so ridiculously dry up there. I was blown away. Um, but so we weren't actually weren't actually riding on any of the grass sections because they were saving that for the feed for the animals.

SPEAKER_02 10:55

Wow.

SPEAKER_00 10:56

So we actually did we actually did the perimeter of the property, and then therefore what they've done then was they've they've made they've done a really good job. They did the perimeter of the property for the grass track test, and we had a couple little bits of grass track which were you know not so important where the feed was, and then the enduro test ended up having to be in the valleys and whatever, and it was super, super tight and really awkward. And then what happens when you have the bottom, you know, when you go to the bottom of a corner, and then the only way to go is to go up through the powder, it just becomes one big knee-deep rut, like Briggsie said, but it also had this like the ground was breaking up in a way that was really strange, where it was wasn't just a powder rut, but it also had like choppy bits in it as well. So you were because usually when you have those conditions, you might just get a long powder rut, and you can just power through it, but it actually like got super, super choppy. So you're battling with that and you're bouncing and stuff like that. So the even the trail, because you could probably count on one hand the sections of moisture on the trail. Like there was one bit at the start down the very bottom in the valley. I think there was, I think I counted on the way home, there was maybe five or six sections of the entire I think it was, I think it was a 40k trail section. Only like four sections had actual wet spots, and then we went through one creek that had water in it. The rest of it was also all powder, so it was pretty trick, tricky in that respect. But it's also the vision as well, like the dust, the wind picked up, thankfully. On Friday, there was no wind at all, and we're walking the tests, and there's just dust in the air walking the tests. Um, but yeah, unfortunately, the club, you know, the Dungog Club, they got they got screwed with the weather and they tried really hard and they did a good job um to manage it. Had a few little hiccups with timing and that sort of stuff on Saturday, but that was only because of just things that you know sort of don't can't really control with you know, having that much dust, you have to start 30 seconds apart, and sometimes it's safer to do a minute apart and what that sort of stuff. But um they did a good job because the tests were kind of slow enough that they weren't too scary in that respect, but because they were so slow, they got so chewed out. So it's a double-edged sword for everybody, but it definitely was not only physically tough, but it was just mentally tough because you're like, man, we've got to go through this next trail section and just eat person's dust again and again, and then the bumps started getting bigger on the trail, and then the dust rut started coming out of the trail as well. And like, man, I've I've ridden some of that trail section probably I don't know, six or seven years now, and it's definitely the the the ruttiest I've ever seen it. Um yeah, it was it was tricky. It makes you like I love riding dirt bikes, but sometimes I was like, Yeah, maybe maybe just mowing the lawn might be better than what I'm doing today.

SPEAKER_01 13:41

Yeah, I I haven't felt like giving up on a race for a while, and I was yeah, and then Saturday night I got off that bike and we pinned it into town to go to the IGA so I could get some pseudo cream because I had the worst chafe on my ass. So no, it was but it to be honest, like had it had a bit of moisture, I think it could have been probably the best in Juro ever. Um, the trail sections themselves, the new stuff that they cut in, was unbelievable. Like, so fun to ride, nice and tight, technical, windy. You had some big hills, big downhills. It was pretty technical, yeah. Yeah, but just really fun sections, too. Um, but I think the time card in juro worked out really well for the test because I would come back from the trail and I would get to a point and there'd be no one even lined up at the bottom. So you could pretty much just write in the tests, and I'd have no tests like dust for some of the tests. The tests were actually better than the trail in that sense for me.

SPEAKER_03 14:39

Yeah, wow. Okay.

SPEAKER_01 14:40

But the trail I was in dust for 50 Ks half the time.

SPEAKER_00 14:44

I um I got lucky on Sunday because they reseated us, and so uh for Sunday, I was essentially they they essentially did it like a six-day where they do like the pro class, then they do the women's class, then they do the clubby class. And so I got seated right to the front of the of the clubby class, and um, yeah, so Sunday I had no dust at all. And my first my first run through the trail was actually really nice, and then I got to the last the second test, and there was nobody on at all. So it was pretty good. But um, yeah, it was it was tough. It was it was tough to be there. It's really hard as well for the club, you know. You see how much effort they put in, and it's tricky because it's you know, and it's it's it is shit in that respect because you know, we are you know, it's not like motocross where they can water the track and whatnot, and you know, they've got to look after a minute and a half or minute 50 or whatever. Um, we have had some epic races there. Um, but I mean, yeah, it's it sucks when the weather's like that. Like that was, yeah. I can't even it's been a long time. We've I mean I've done two races this year, the New South Wales off-road at Maitland, it was it was bull dust as well. So haven't had a good run with the old New South Wales events this year.

SPEAKER_01 15:47

Um, I think everywhere's a bit dry at the moment, so yeah, which is weird because driving up there, it was still really green. Like it was it didn't look like it was gonna be as dry as it was, but yeah, it is what it is.

SPEAKER_03 15:59

Yeah. Um, so did you like the format? Um, and you do you think it worked well? So obviously with the the trail sections were well matched to the special test sections. Were there any trail sections where people were getting lost? Was it well bunted? Was the and were the special test sections kind of well managed from a um logistics perspective?

SPEAKER_00 16:20

They did a pretty good job. There was no they're pretty they're pretty fortunate because the the trail section itself, they've used it you know many times because I'm I'm pretty sure you know, like you know, state forests have a have a lot of say on that sort of stuff as well. So um, you know, you sort of one way in, one way out. And again, at the end of the day, like you know, you can't really go anywhere. It's pretty thick up there in that Barrington, that Barrington forest area. So they did a pretty good job. Um, I didn't have any dramas with bunting on the trail, on the sorry, on the tests. Um, me personally, I like having a few arrows in tests. I mean, there's that's I think in the in the contract between the club and MA, you gotta have a double bunted both sides. Uh, red on the right and on the left, so that helps. You can read the tests a bit more. Um, but I mean they did a pretty good job. I think they changed a few sections between Saturday and Sunday. I think they could have maybe changed a few more just to sort of ease the the pressure on the test because you seriously, on some of those sections, were just in a rut that was once you were off the start, you were in a rut for oh, I don't know, 30 seconds, and there was nothing you could do about it. Like you once you're in, that was it. You couldn't get out. Um, so that was a bit tricky, you know. Yes, it but it again, it's hard because the clubs are all volunteers and it makes it tricky in that respect. But for what the cards they were dealt with, I think they did a pretty good job.

SPEAKER_03 17:37

So was was it busy? A lot of lot of because that sounds like to me when you get those one-lined deep bulldust ruts, there's just a lot of bikes. Was it did they have a lot? Did it feel like there are a lot of people there racing?

SPEAKER_00 17:48

I think it was 220 seniors.

SPEAKER_03 17:50

Okay, that's pretty good.

SPEAKER_00 17:51

But yeah, so they they they structure it differently. They because of the because it's uh you have it after registered bike and license and everything for it to be in the senior section, the juniors are over in a private property. So if they had juniors, the injurier, the EJ class and all juniors running those tests, we would have had we would have had some big dramas, but it was well structured. Um, I think if you had any more riders, you would have had to have a longer trail section, which would have caused the problem as well. Um, but I mean, yeah, it's for like I said, with all the the cards that they were dealt with, the weather they were dealt with, the property, and just the ground, like yeah, they're they're in a bit of a world of hurt up that way. And I think they did a good job to pull it off. And I I don't know if there's any injuries, which was pretty awesome to hear. Um, you know, you hear these some of these races where there's some crazy injuries because of the dust and whatnot, but I think I think they did okay. Um and yeah, I think for what they um for what they had, it was it was good. I mean, it's the only plus side really for those events is you barely have to wash your bikes. That's pretty cool.

SPEAKER_01 18:50

You can blow the dust off. The uh they did run it really well, like it was probably one of the better ones run this year, well this year so far. Roma was good too, but like the the events have been really good lately.

SPEAKER_00 19:04

It's hard, it is hard because the the New South Wales off-road guys they get they cop a bit of flat for being a little bit unorganized here and there. Um, but again, everyone's volunteers, so it's such a battle, you know. And then if one if there is an injury or whatnot, it throws a spanner in the works and it changes the whole thing. But I think they did a pretty good job.

SPEAKER_01 19:21

Um but even like the permits, I mean, like if you're not registered to buy a UVP permit, you had to you know just email Trina. I'd assume there probably would have been 50 of them that she has to go to the registry and apply for and then pay for and get insurance for and third party like that it that's a pretty big job in itself because we don't have a rec rec rec permit like recreational regio like Vic. So you know, if anyone wasn't Regio'd, they had to apply for that, and then so for them to organise that on top, and I I actually thought they'd done a really good job.

SPEAKER_03 19:52

Yeah. Um how many hours of riding did you get? Because obviously a time card in Jure, do you expect to get more than you would in a sprint format in a cross country? Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 20:02

You do you do a lot.

SPEAKER_01 20:03

I think uh Saturday seven hours thirty-seven minutes on my Garmon Saturday. Oh god, okay, yeah, it was a big day, they're a big day, and then Sunday was five hours twenty-three minutes, I think. Yeah, and five thousand calories. I hear Briggsy too. That was the Saturday, yeah. Not bad, I think we did three hundred and thirty-eight K's total for both days. Okay, gosh, it's a lot of riding.

SPEAKER_03 20:30

Um, but that's that's good though, because especially people who've driven from a long way away. You know, my kids have just started racing, and it's sometimes hard to drive an hour and a half, two hours for them to ride for 20 minutes and then come home. So um it's good to hear that at least you get a fair bit of riding, and if you're coming from a long way away.

SPEAKER_01 20:46

Well, it's the first one I was wishing I was doing less riding, put it that way.

SPEAKER_03 20:51

Um, okay, let's talk about the pro classes. Let's talk about Will. Uh, he was going very fast. Uh 30 seconds, I think he had outright um on day one over his next closest competitor, which is pretty impressive.

SPEAKER_00 21:04

I think it was more, I think it was more than that, wasn't it?

SPEAKER_03 21:06

Yeah, we were he won every he won every test, I think. Yeah, it's incredible. So round uh sorry, round round four, he was up by 30 seconds. Uh and where did he go? Round three. I think it was 50 by round three. Yeah, what was he, round three? 53 seconds. Yeah, god, yeah, he was. It was 53 seconds in round three, and round four, it was 30 seconds. So he was flying. Could did either of you guys either get passed by him, see him at a special test? Could you see was he was did did this track and these conditions like you just explained, deep long ruts, does it suit Will?

SPEAKER_00 21:40

Oh, for sure. It was it was uh it was very technical, it was right up his alley, you know, and he's doing everything he needs to do because you know, once they get to the more sandier tracks, I think uh you know that's where he uh he struggles a little bit, but he's he's so methodical and so switched on with this sort of stuff. Like um I didn't go to Roma, obviously. But I heard it was pretty technical as well. And I think QMP is very similar. So he's doing the right thing by trying to get his points all right up there for these first couple of rounds while it's technical and you know, you know, essentially suits his style. Whereas when they get to Sandy Tracks, I think people like Jai, Corey, uh, who else? Uh I think um uh the other guy on the Yamar team Max, the Kiwi fellow who had a man, he had a he had a poor bastard, had a shocking weekend. You could see all the videos of him crashing and stuff like that. And I mean, full credit to him for not giving up because motocross is that would just be compared to what he's used to riding, like that. Man, I would I spoke to that young, the young uh E1 guy, uh young E1 Kiwi, I think his name's Ryan on the gas gas. Hey, we smoked it on Saturday and he did good on Sunday as well, but he smashed on Saturday. And I said, You got in conditions like this in New Zealand? He just looks at me like looks like I'd never he's never even seen anything like this, you know. So full credit to those boys, but they um everyone was chasing Will and you know, as they rightfully should, he's the he's the top dog with it all. And um he he was all class all weekend, and I know the KDM boys were were pushing hard. Um Milner was giving them heaps, which is always good to see. Yeah, um, and yeah, I mean it's it's a deep field for sure. And I I think everyone was pretty close. So I was trying to get results up before, but everyone's everyone's really close, and it's good to see, like it's good to see the competition.

SPEAKER_03 23:24

Um so yeah, once you kind of bump uh bump out Will, the rest of them are all pretty tight, you know. You you you don't have many much between them. Um why does it suit Will? Europe has t taught him to ride long, deep ruts, typical European kind of stuff, or is it what why does it suit Will?

SPEAKER_00 23:42

It's just it's just off-road, it's old school off-road. Yeah, okay. You know, it's not the it's not the wide open, you know, some of these off-road events you go to when you're like, man, this is pretty fast, like a motocross rider can you know suit it, blah, blah, blah, blah. But this is this is hard. Like it's technical. It's you know, and he did it to do it on his on his WR450 as well, is impressive as well. But like he's those short bursts, tight tracks. Um, because there was some really, really tight sections as well. So that you look at you you watch the Enduro GP tracks, and you know, they are tight, technical, come out of a corner, blast it, break hard, turn into the corner. It's all about point and shoot, and that was very simple, uh very similar to how that was. Whereas I feel like you know it was a sandier track or a more flowier track. Um, is you know, everybody can adapt to that sort of thing, you know what I mean?

SPEAKER_03 24:40

So yeah, that's impressive. Um next in line in E2 was Jai Dixon. Now, this is probably gonna be the battle that we're gonna watch for most of the season in E2, which is how it's been for years now, Yamaha versus KDM. But he was a fair way off. Um, total time has him, you know, well, a minute and a half off will. Did does it did it did did Jai look like he was a bit out of sorts on the weekend, or did was it just that Will was that fast?

SPEAKER_01 25:08

Um when I seen him, nah, he didn't. A lot of that time he lost in the first sprint on the Saturday. I think he was like uh what was he 24 seconds off. So for one sprint, that's probably where he had the most damage, that first one. Yeah, and remember Jaya used to be a motocrosser, he's adapted to off-road now. Um, but that's where another thing where I think that Will's so crafty is that he can walk a test, and then generally his first sprint is the fastest of the day. Whereas I think you'll find Jay might go the other way a little bit. His first one will be a little bit off, then the second and third, as he learns the track and knows his breaking zones, he'll gain that speed back. Yeah, um, so for me, Jay's that's something he'll probably want to work on. I think Daniel Milner will help him heaps with that. But when I spoke to Jai, he was he was sort of just like man, we're we're trying, you know, we just got to figure it out. Um, so they're a little bit, they're not lost, they're certainly working hard, but I think Will's just riding damn well at the moment, to be honest.

SPEAKER_00 26:14

He's he's really good in those conditions. He's yeah I remember I remember when he came back from Europe and um uh rode with him up at up at his house, and I was like the track was pretty epic, and it was better was his backyard track, and I was like, far out. He is he is really, really good in those conditions. Um when it's like true, when it's like true enduro stuff, like it's it's impressive, you know. It's um yeah, he's a bit of an animal with that sort of stuff.

SPEAKER_03 26:47

So um he was the the surprise for me was Kogan Locke, the young fella coming in third in the E2 class, which is pretty cool to see. Uh he's kind of uh you know been making his way up over the last couple of years. He dabbles in the hard enduro stuff as well as the uh enduro uh Australian Enduro Championship. Um so to see him in third was really cool. That being said, he was nearly four minutes off Will, who was first, so that's a big kind of gap between first and third. Um that's total time anyway for the Saturday. Uh but how old is he, buddy? He's only 17, isn't he? Yeah, he's young. So that's impressive. You know, and like I said, yeah, it is. He was a junior two years ago. Um and and and he races the hard enduro. In in fact, when he first kind of burst onto the scene a couple years ago and we we started noticing him, I thought he was just a hard enduro kid. Uh, and then looked like he was doing more of the uh off-road stuff. Uh so yeah, third place is pretty pretty buddy impressive impressive. Then you got um Brock Nichols in fourth. Um and Scotty Keegan, breakout, your bit, your buddy. He managed to pull the top five in E2. Was he pumped about that?

SPEAKER_00 27:49

It was pretty funny because we were washing our bikes on Saturday night, took about 12 seconds to wash them, but we were washing our bikes and he we hadn't really looked at the results, and we were laughing because um, you know, uh we do ride together, we ride once a week, and both of us uh both of us are known for being like fast, not racing. And um, like so both like practice practice kings, I guess. And um he's he loves doing these time card in juros, and I think he won New South Wales in Juro outright there one year, and um yeah, it was pretty cool because he runs his own business, he's got a young family as well, and it's um yeah, especially he goes, I didn't think I was no, I wasn't that fast, and I was like, Well, time say otherwise, mate. You did pretty good to me.

SPEAKER_03 28:38

So it's cool to see some of those guys like yourself, Brago and Scotty K. Is he how far off the vets class is he? Because I can imagine he'd love to come and steal a few traces off you.

SPEAKER_00 28:48

I think uh yeah, I think he's 35 this year, maybe just turned 35. So that was pretty funny because I was actually thinking about that on the trail because you're out there by yourself, it's you've got your own thoughts, and I think because I know uh like uh ex racers like uh Jarabioley, uh I know Greenie can do vets now. I mean, if I even sorry, if uh even Hollis wanted to get in there, you know, that sort of stuff. And I'm thinking to myself, um might as well just try and stack these number one plates in the Vets class before before all these other dudes come in and whatever. And um, but yeah, it's it's funny because he said it's me because I man, Vets class seems like a lot of fun, and I'm like, less pressure.

SPEAKER_03 29:26

So you gotta make hay while the sun shines breaker, and you've got to talk it down. Tell him no no no no, it's boring, mate. Stay in those pro classes.

SPEAKER_01 29:33

Well, yeah, Stefan could have been in Vets three years ago. Yeah, yeah, exactly right. Stefan Gronkis can be in there as well. I'm petitioning about for a 40 to 45 class. No, I'm I'm at the the far end of the vets class and I'm racing you 35 year olds like an 18-year-old racing a 10-year-old. It's the it's a bit of an advantage there, right?

SPEAKER_00 29:53

I think if you've got a if you've got a factory ride, you can't enter the vets. So I like that until he's full privateer. But also, I think if you've got a child, then your vets like your vets class should be fine with that. I think before Maitland, I had to man, I think I was up with Harley at like 1 a.m. and I'm like getting to the I'm on sit on the start line before the cross country, and I'm like, I have had nowhere near enough sleep for this race. But um, yeah, so if you've got a child, I think you can race dance class. Yeah, it's like an e-bike. If you're 35 and you've got a kid, you can ride an e-bike.

SPEAKER_03 30:25

Yeah, I think like I think it's like the Paralympics. There should be some sort of like penalty discipline system where either, depending on how many children you have and what age they are, you get a head start.

SPEAKER_00 30:36

Um exactly. How many like should be multiplied by the amount of kids you have versus the hour of sleep you got the night before?

SPEAKER_01 30:43

That's a handicap. I would have won.

SPEAKER_03 30:45

Yeah, you would have. Um okay, let's jump into E3. Um, conscious of time. So we'll we'll we'll talk Corey McMahon. Is he gonna be Will's closest competitor? He won E3, um, and he won E3 pretty convincingly. Um he beat Max Midwinter in second, and Brock grabbed him in third. We'll talk about that in a second because Brock's achievement is pretty cool considering what he was writing. Um, is Corey still Will? Did Corey look the closest to Will on the weekend?

SPEAKER_00 31:16

Yeah, in that conditions. He sorted it out on Sunday, he was much closer on Sunday. Um I spoke to those boys a fair bit, and they uh both Corey and Jay are both dedicated, but it doesn't help when they got you know their team manager just bagging them out flat out, like as motivation. Like Milner gives them because you know Milner he's done his time and he's done it his way, and he's very decorative what he does. And man, the shit that they talk in that KDM truck is it's a really it's actually a really good time there. Like I it is I get married, I get carried away with the banter. That's it was it like we sat on that truck on Sunday afternoon and they were just going for it, and I was it was great, it was it was really good to hear. So I think that motivation will drive Corey to yes to being Bill's will uh being Will's biggest competitor for sure.

SPEAKER_03 32:08

Yeah, and and I know what you mean. I love the Milner banter for you can really rip in. Um, and you know what you're getting with Milner, so that's the right.

SPEAKER_01 32:16

Well the the worst thing for them is they can't even say anything because he's probably likely to throw the gear on and go and prove it wrong straight away anyway.

SPEAKER_00 32:23

So I gave him I gave Milner my resume. I I handed him the uh I handed him the four number one plates that I got from the weekend for the two vets for the New South Wales in jury and the two vets for the uh was the off-road and I said, here you go, Milner, there's my resume if one of these boys is you know, and he was like, There you go, there's the winner, that's what I want. I love it.

SPEAKER_03 32:44

You were on a Cato too.

SPEAKER_00 32:46

I mean, you know, yeah, I should have ridden the ADB Cowie, but I couldn't I couldn't pass up the fact that my personal 350 AXE I got the light and I just plugged the lights in and it all worked, and I was like, Yeah, that's it.

SPEAKER_01 33:00

No, I think but yeah, I think Corey on certain stages will be the biggest competitor, but I can still see somewhere like um is it Cassetton where the sand is the gi is gonna be the one to beat, you know. Um and then Corey will be trying to battle in saying that about Corey won Hatter, right? So yeah, he is a bit of a he is a bit of a dark horse, Corey, for sure. Yeah, there's gonna be rounds where I think I think QMP is gonna be similar to Dungog again. I if from my experience when I raced it last time, dusty and rocky, and the trail's not real friendly either. But is it enduro as well? I've heard it's a two two-day enduro, yeah. But moving down the Vico and South Australian rounds, I think that's where you'll see Joy and Corey start to really steal some tests, possibly some wins.

SPEAKER_03 33:52

Yeah. Um, okay, Brock grab him and Max Midwinter. This is in the E3 class. Um, I don't know Max very well. I know Brock quite well. We used to do testing, you might remember Braco like 10 years ago with Brock, bits and pieces on ADB. Uh and since then he's been chasing kind of all different events. He's done a lot of the desert stuff falling in Ben's shoes. Um, and now he's more back into some of the off-road stuff, and he's um on a Stark. Um I saw him doing battery swaps, so I'm assuming he didn't get an entire there's no way in the world, surely. What'd you say? 350 Ks. You're getting 350 Ks out of a battery, Briggsy. You had Stark's free.

SPEAKER_01 34:31

No, it was only a 50, a 50k loop. When I spoke to him, he thought he'd get it, and he did obviously get it because he got the bike back to the pits. Um, and I think don't quote me, um, because I'm not sure, but I was speaking to Hammy, and I think he's allowed to use two bikes. Yes, I saw two bikes. Um, I don't know if that's right. He was changing, he did change the battery though. Yeah, okay, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 34:58

So he might have been using one just charging one or he posted on his Instagram, uh, he posted on his socials that like a time lapse of him changing the battery. So he's got that pretty down pat because he did that last year at New South Wales around as well at a cross country. He actually changed changed the battery during the three hour.

SPEAKER_01 35:15

Yeah, okay. Yeah, so he must have been changing it between trail loops, like each tet, like um time card. So he would have changed the battery three times on the first day and then twice on the second day, I assume. How long?

SPEAKER_03 35:27

How long is that work period?

SPEAKER_01 35:29

Uh we had 15-20 minutes.

SPEAKER_00 35:32

Yeah, is that is the battery cheaper?

SPEAKER_01 35:34

Is the battery cheaper than fuel at the moment? Yeah, but he had a petrol generator charge. Yeah, yeah. But in saying that too, like pretty good, pretty good effort. It is really good. It's pretty cool. It's cool. It'd actually be it'd be good to get him on the phone and and hear how it went for him. Was it a challenge and you know, um how hard it is to do the battery.

SPEAKER_00 35:58

Another thing that I heard, another thing that's it's pretty funny. You hear all the bikes go off and then you hear the vacuum cleaner go off as well. Then um, but everyone I spoke to said that his bike was one of the most impressive going up the gnarly hill. They said that they like he comes through and the and the the Stark just drives so incredibly well. Um so a lot of people were saying to me, like, because I asked, I said, Oh, what's the best looking bike going up the hill? And I think it was um Glenn Carney who was walking around the pit, said, Oh man, Brock's Stark is very, very impressive.

SPEAKER_02 36:33

There you go.

SPEAKER_00 36:33

So and I've done a few club days with him as well on that thing, and um, same thing. Like, I'm sitting on the start line behind him at the club day, and like he takes off, and you're like, Man, that thing just just tracks. So have you have you ridden it, Braker?

SPEAKER_01 36:47

I've never ridden a Stark, never ridden one, but I'd need to ride Brock and see what it's like. Yeah, it'd be nice to see how his is set up for the off-road stuff.

SPEAKER_03 36:54

Yeah, definitely. And I guess because he can tinker with the horsepower, he could potentially get more battery life out of it if he just tames the power back a little bit. Um doesn't need necessarily need all you know 80 horsepower or 60 horsepower or whatever else.

SPEAKER_01 37:07

He he was running 60 in the test, he said. Okay.

SPEAKER_00 37:10

The trail was pretty the trail was um there was only really like a couple of deep like as crazy as it sounds, there was a felt like there was a lot more downhill than uphill. Um so you know, there was a couple of super long downhills. Um I think in like if you had a if you had a race where you just the trail was just a lot of uphills and you're putting a lot more load on the motor, I think he would struggle. But I reckon that um I mean he's pretty smart on the bike too, so he would he would know he's done plenty of injuros over the time, so he would know exactly uh exactly what to do and how to do it. He's not he's not silly like that.

SPEAKER_03 37:49

So and those long downhills, he's getting some regen breaking out of it. Briggsy, you'd probably get about one percent back with all these breaking downhills.

SPEAKER_01 37:56

So they do that today. Yeah, they do, but I spoke to him about it, and he doesn't run it high because he apparently they'd done a study on it, and the regen actually puts more load on the motor. You'd have to ask him what he told me, but yeah, he wasn't running it, so I think he was just low regen and just sort of going down the trails using no power at all, just like a mountain bike type thing, essentially.

SPEAKER_03 38:17

So uh Max Midwinter. So he Brock and Max swapped second and third on Saturday, Sunday in the E to E3 class. Um, Max, do you guys know Max? Have you ridden with Max? Have you done anything with Max?

SPEAKER_00 38:30

He's kind of No, I unfortunately don't know much about him. I've seen him around, but I haven't I don't I haven't really had much to do with him, unfortunately. But he rode good, I'll give him that.

SPEAKER_03 38:38

He certainly did, and that's the class, like like you said, I don't know. We haven't really done much with Max before, and uh, but he's in the right class to do well because it's probably the smallest class out of um all the pro classes. So if you're gonna finish well, that'd be the one to do it in. Um all right, E1. Um you had Jeremy Carpenter took out Sunday, uh, and then um Ryan Howard, like we said earlier, he took out the Saturday. Um that's that classic. Yeah, Hayward, sorry. That class is um that's probably the best class still, do you think? We bring you and I talked about this earlier in the season. Um E1 class is probably gonna be the most competitive, do you still agree?

SPEAKER_01 39:16

Yeah, I do.

SPEAKER_00 39:19

Possibly, yeah. I think um and I I think so, yeah. And it was actually pretty cool because uh Jeremy has obviously you know come over from France and I think he's been going at it oh at least four or five years now, I think he said, and this was his first E1 win. And I think from what I from what I heard, he uh he got pretty excited that last test and dropped his bike and uh his partner Jess Gardner was there and they had a big hug. And he was like, he worked hard and he's a good guy, and it's um yeah, he he lives and breathes the sport, and so it's pretty cool to see him like pretty pumped up to get that E1 win. I think he got fourth overall as well for Sunday, so that was pretty cool. And I mean, equally to see the young Kiwi guy Ryan do as good as he did on on Saturday in the conditions was was pretty impressive as well. And the um yeah, the E1 class is is definitely going for it, but um it was cool to see Jeremy do what he did because uh he's been he's been at it a while over here and you know to come over and get used to the Aussie conditions and you know um the shit talk that he has to deal with as well. The Aussie shit talk. Yeah, he's he's he's got it down pat now. He's good value. When he first came, I remember being over here up at Clarence actually when he first started writing, and he was the typical French, you know, like I'm the fucking I'm the man, you know, sort of thing. Like, let's do it. And um, and it was pretty cool. Like now he's yeah, he's he's settled in really nice and he's a good guy, and it was cool to see him achieve that goal for himself, you know.

SPEAKER_03 40:53

Yeah, for sure. Um, and like you said, he does do a lot with uh he's just Jess Gardner's partner who will get under his second in the in the women's class. But um, yeah, he's been over here for a while now, kind of having a go, and it's good to see him get his first E1 win. I think that is his first. We were I was going back through the results earlier and I couldn't find another one. Um and yeah, Ryan Haywood did really well. They swapped the he he won on the uh Saturday. Um and Coop, I think, split him uh on the Saturday. Uh Coopish Ido. Now he's fast, we know he's fast. Um, and look, a second and a third is nothing to turn your nose up at. Did you expect Coop to do better being on that Yami team, or is he bet pretty much where you would expect him to be kind of second-third, maybe getting the odd win?

SPEAKER_00 41:36

I don't know too much about Coop. Uh I saw there was a photo of him going over the bars on one of the logs. So I don't like I said, I don't know too much about him. Um I've seen some epic crash footage of him from like a sixth day and stuff like that. So I think if I think he does pretty good. I think he's won a couple of E1s. I'm not 100% sure, but um, I mean he won Roma.

SPEAKER_03 42:00

Yeah, he won Roma.

SPEAKER_00 42:00

Did he? Well, if if he cleans up the the the crashes that he can have, then he's very much a chance to be winning that class for sure. Yeah, but them conditions on the weekend I think were a big separator too.

SPEAKER_01 42:10

Like we've seen it with Will a little bit, but ever you see the technical tests bring the speeds. You'll have people win that weren't even winning in the first round because they're just such different tests. Yeah, okay. The speeds are down, they're so tight, they're technical. And that's what Jeremy being French, he's grown up in a lot of different terrains and all that. It that probably suited him a lot more, that sort of technical riding.

SPEAKER_03 42:37

Um anyone else in e I mean, Max Purvis, we kind of touched on him a little bit before. Um, we've just lost lost breaker, he'll be back on. Uh Briggsy, Max. Well, I mean, like you said, motocrosser coming into those conditions is not going to be ideal. Um, but he is on that team. That's the best, you know, one of the best teams in that um in that class. Did you expect him to do a bit better?

SPEAKER_01 43:02

Oh, not really. Nah. It's like that saying Mitch Payton says, we can work with speed. I think AJ's under the same impression. Like Max has got a lot to learn. It's his kind of his first full year in off-road. Um, he's taken it under his wing and and you know, he's doing really well. But to throw like one of the fastest motocrosses in Australia and New Zealand into them conditions and expecting to just you know get up there in the top, it's probably a little bit too much. And I think AJ knows that he's a realist. Um, he kind of had a laugh and said, Oh, Max Cartwheel down that big hill once, and and was telling me that he had a bit a bit of a shocker for the day. But I think you'll find when we get to the Victorian and South Australian rounds where they're saying and even Hadder, Max will be one to watch. Yeah, okay. Um, we know you know he's qualified first at various Pro MXs and And you know, had some pretty unbelievable rides. So I think speed's not the problem. It's just that experience. And as we've seen it before with Ty Simmons and Bo Ralston and all these other motocrosses that come across, it does take them a year or two to find their feet in the bush and just to learn to slow down, to smoothen out. You can't attack everything like a motocross track. Sometimes you just need to ride a bit more efficiently, a bit smoother, and and use a bit more technique. So rather than bash your way through. So yeah, I think give him another couple of rounds and a few races, and he's only going to get better.

SPEAKER_03 44:35

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 44:36

Um he um yeah, he he he's he definitely struggled, um, which is to be expected, like Briggsy said. I think he just he finished just in front of me both days. Wow. Okay. So yeah, but I think a lot I think he he he would have been on the ground a lot, like for sure. Like I saw multiple, I saw multiple videos and pictures of him on the ground. Um so and it is hard. Like, man, some of those heels and then in Juro tests, like were very, very if you didn't get a good run, that was it, you were going down the bottom, and that's exactly what happened in the videos that I saw of him.

SPEAKER_01 45:09

So yeah, well, even that one that Oz Niro posted of that first, that hill on the first, that he was the only one pushing up there in that video. That was him, you know. So it's just different writing, like it's so different, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 45:23

Um, Stefan Grandquist in that class too, we kind of mentioned it before, he's there the triumph representative. He's you know done a bit of racing in Japan on a Triumph this year, etc. Um, but Stefan probably about where he is. I thought he'd go a bit better than that, to be honest. I thought he'd be a little bit higher.

SPEAKER_00 45:41

Oh, I think he's still just man, full credit to him and and uh Emily, his partner as well, for doing what they do. I think it's cool that they've got the the triumph program there. Um, but I mean, you know, Stefan uh Stefan does a lot of writing. I think he might have even, in all honesty, he might have shifted his focus a little bit to his Japan gig.

SPEAKER_02 46:02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 46:03

Because um, you know, he's got a he's got a pretty sweet deal there, what he's doing. I was asking about over the weekend, and um that's something new and fresh for him and the the Aussie Enduro stuff he's been doing forever. And I mean he's he's the old dog in the in the young Bucks class, you know what I mean? So I think his strong point is like the cross countries versus the yeah the short sprints. Yeah, definitely. So I think I mean he's still he told me he wants to go a little bit better and a bit faster and that sort of stuff, but again, it's all man, like it's three, four seconds per test, and he's up there, you know what I mean? So it's not much, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 46:36

It's close. Yeah, he cut he came out my house two weeks ago, him and Giada's come out just to some motocross bit of riding, and he's only switched from the motocrosser to the enduro model of the Triumph, I think recently. So okay. So he's still figuring that out. The different chazi, it's not quite that different, but it's got a different swing-o, I think he said. Um, a few other little things, the six-speed gearbox, the motor's a little different. So he's trying to work that bike out still. Uh, I think he'll improve over the year. He's getting better every round, so yeah, yeah. He's heading in the right trajectory. Just stay in that A1 class, you old bastard. Yeah, it'd be hard for him to set a bike up to, to be honest. He's I think he's 6'4. Yeah, he's tall. He's he's tall, you know. And so, and because he's fast, his weight shifts so much dramatically, like from the back to the front. Like, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 47:31

And what's he racing in Japan? Is it 250 or 450? 250, I'll be back. I don't know, yeah. Yeah, 250. Yeah, because if he's racing a 450 in Japan, then 250 back here, it's a that's another big jump as well. So yeah, definitely.

SPEAKER_03 47:43

Yeah, we're keen to get him on the show to talk about why he's glow dropping uh adventures too with Triumph because it's probably kind of pretty cool what he's doing. Um, and I guess yeah, going back and forth isn't that easy. You guys, you know, we we've all been overseas, whether it's for launches or for other bits and pieces, and come back and had to ride a race within a week, and it's just kind of not easy. And I know he's going back and forth a little bit this year with Japan, so that's uh probably another reason why he doesn't get as much time testing. And um, yeah, yeah, I guess if he's moved from the motocrosser to NGR, that's a massive change, too. So we'll hopefully see him climb up the leaderboard a little bit in the next couple of rounds. Um all right, let's talk then uh the girls. Um, I mean, there's not much to say except for Jess. Jess is we knew this was gonna happen. Start of the season, Briggs and I were debating over whether or not she'll clean sweep it. And we pretty much said, look, we know Maddie's fast, Maddie will take it to her, but realistically, it's gonna take Jess doing something wrong in order not to sweep it. And so far we're three rounds in, we should be four, but obviously round two got canned up in Queensland with the rain. So after three rounds, she is on track to pull a clean sweep. Um, Maddie was is also clean sweeping second, I guess you could say. Um did Jess look she's significantly faster again, and these conditions I imagine would suit her to a T. She's so technically good, Jess. She's been doing it for so long. She also understands how to manage uh time card enduro probably better than any anyone else in that class. Maybe Emily Grandquist would be close. Emily's shown some pretty good results. Um, was she on another level?

SPEAKER_01 49:12

Um well she beat me in the first test. There you go. Wow. Maddie beat Jess in one a couple of tests as well over the weekend.

SPEAKER_00 49:21

So it was uh I went over to Jess after the Saturday and she had a little smirk on her face because the first something of the first things that someone told her after after her test or when that thing was, she goes, Oh, you beat Jeff. And um, I think one of my other mates, Benny Kearns, came up to me and goes, Can you get going? Like Jess beat you in the first test. And I was like, Well, I can't see. So that's a bit of a tricky thing. But um, no, the girls are doing good, and then um, they didn't get to do the full trail section, unfortunately, because of them of uh because I think there was one or two of the girls that couldn't get their license or didn't have their license, so they did a bit of a funky setup where they did the enduro the the motor cross the cross test and the enduro test back to back and then did the trail section with the juniors. I think that would have been a bit of an eye-opener for for some of the other girls. Uh like girls like Jess and Emily, who have been there for a while, I think would have been okay on the trail, but I don't know too much about what Maddie's deal is with Enduro. Um, but I mean the trail would have been tricky for them. Uh because I especially myself on Saturday I was passing uh I got seated behind the girls on Saturday, so I was passing the girls in the the test, and some of them were struggling, um, you know, not trying to take away anything from what they were what they were doing because it was pretty gnarly, but the girls did a good job. Yeah. Um they get the the younger girls or the newer girls, I should say, they get quite scared, obviously. Um and so and they get thrown in the deep air, and they're you know, shoved in the in the mix of all the boys and whatever. And um, you know, the I once I I sort of tried to explain to them, like just in the tests, when the guy comes up behind you, just hold your line, because it's a lot safer for you to hold your line. And once once they sort of started getting to know that, it was a lot easier to pass them, and it's it's just safer for everyone involved, you know what I mean? Because the last thing you want is to for these girls to get disheartened by someone taking them out in a special test. So yeah, sure. Um as far as the fast girls go, like, yeah, they're Jess is riding really good. Um, and I think uh Emily is is she's gonna start getting a little bit more settled in with the enduro the enduro model triumph as well. And um yeah, the girls are still doing really well. I think Jess is some crazy number of podiums or wins now that she hosted. So yeah, she's like part of the you know, not trying to take it away, but she's like part of the furniture up there in the AORC. It's like it's almost like a guaranteed that she's gonna be on that on that girls' podium, which is which is pretty cool.

SPEAKER_03 51:48

Yeah, yeah, she is a genuine freak. We had her on the podcast and we were doing a bit of research a couple of weeks ago, and we're doing a bit of research into everything that um she's achieved, and um yeah, she's broken pretty much every record you can break, and that's that includes um outright wins, round wins, special test wins, uh four days, six days, AEC. So it's pretty impressive what she's been able to do, and it looks like it's gonna continue for 2026. Um Maddie Simpson, like we just said, she was going fast. It's really cool to see her come through, kind of Jess's uh understudy, essentially. Um really cool to see her come through, and she's young too. So, man, like Jess's you know, we when we chatted to her in the podcast, she's still got a few years to go, she said, but she obviously can't be around for as long as Maddie is, so Maddie can be. So so long as Maddie kind of hangs in there and keeps this form that we can see, you know, she's been second uh across every round so far. Um so yeah, it'd be cool to see her hang in there and not go overseas and not do anything because it looks like she'll be one of the ones to follow and watch um when when Jess essentially hangs the boots up. Um now Emily Grandquist, yeah, we mentioned her before as well. We do a lot with Emily and with Stefan with testing with ADB, those two are legends, and they've helped us out a lot and they've and they've been a lot of fun to test with. Um that she's doing good on that triumph. I think she's I feel like this is one of the better years that she's having uh in recent times anyway. She's gone third, third, and then award a fifth uh in round four. Uh she's currently third overall, and like you said, she's obviously got to adapt to the enduro model too. So um, yeah, she's she's doing pretty good. We'll be cool to see her um yeah, how how she goes on an enduro triumph later in the year as she gets used to it.

SPEAKER_00 53:33

Um I think it's more impressive that she named that her name's Emily Grandquist now after all these years.

SPEAKER_03 53:39

I know. I keep looking at the colour. Yeah, it's been a long time.

SPEAKER_00 53:43

Oh Steph dropping the knee after 12 years, I think it is, maybe even longer. It's pretty awesome.

SPEAKER_03 53:48

It is, it is. I remember when they got when they announced it, and I'm like, Are you gonna keep Carlson or gonna go with Grandquist? Because we all know you as Carlson and she was undecided, but that's obviously uh they've made a decision. So she's a grandquist now, so that's pretty cool. There are a few double up names in there. There's also Emmy Rupert. Um Rupert, who's obviously well that's Will's sister. Yeah, Will's sister, so yeah, that's kind of you see the scene.

SPEAKER_00 54:08

Um the she had her partner uh there, I don't I can't remember his name, and their little one as well. And he was more exhausted from pushing the Pram around the pits for the weekend than I think Em was. So it was pretty cool to see.

SPEAKER_03 54:20

Good honor. Yeah, she's there with the with the family, eh? It's impressive when you see uh that's M's kid, I assume you're talking about breako, to see mums, you know, they're doing it. Yeah, I believe so.

SPEAKER_00 54:29

Yeah, so that was cool, man. The girls, the girls do it tough, they do it tough, and they did a good job. And um, to get through is is impressive. And they've also got the women's development class as well. And those young girls are they're trying hard, you know. They get it, like I said before, they get a bit of slack because they hold people up in the tests, but they're doing the best they possibly can. The poor I come around one of the tests, and there was four of them laid out in this one log. Um, and so there was no dust in that respect, which is awesome. But um, yeah, they try hard and you just got to encourage them. And I mean that's what's cool about being in the vets class. You can you can do that and pass on that knowledge and and try and help them out rather than discourage them to be in that difficult situation.

SPEAKER_03 55:08

So look, they're 50% of the population and they are the future of the sport. If we want our sport to grow, we need more girls out there racing, because um that's a big kind of uh or until recently, I think people like Jess and um you know and and uh uh Gemma uh Wilson, you know, they've done a really good job at kind of um bringing girls into the sport. So we hope it kind of continues. There's also another name down there, Nina Chad Nina Chadwick, who's Ruben's sister, I believe, too. Reuben Chadwick is a Australian harden champion, and he actually won on the weekend at the Hard England Championship too. So a few double up names down the list. Um all right, guys, that wraps up our AEC uh rounds three and four in Dungog. We're off to Queensland, QMP, uh rounds five and six. And Briggsy, you mentioned earlier that's May 16 and 17, so we've got four weeks. You mentioned earlier that's potentially gonna be another time card in Juro. They've they've got the format as TBA, but when Greeny was on the podcast a month ago before we got started on all this, he did mention it's probably gonna be an enduro. That's what you're hearing, mate. You guys are hearing it's an enduro.

SPEAKER_01 56:13

Yeah, that's what I heard. Uh I was questioning whether I was gonna do it after done, I'll be honest. There's a lot of run. Um, yeah, I I'd like to see him go sprints, but they won't. They'll probably try and get two time card in juros in this year where they can because sprints are always a good backup for dusty rounds and where they don't have the property or whatever, you know, uh, to do the the time card in juros. So like Kempsey, I assume it's gonna be sprints. Um Cassidan or Canalplan, whichever one it is. Um they'll do a cross country again in the sand there, I'd say that'll be our first cross-country. Yeah, and then they'll go sprints the second day. So hopefully they get through cross-screen. Oh, really?

SPEAKER_00 56:58

Yeah, when when was when was QMP? Uh May, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 57:06

16, 17, May.

SPEAKER_00 57:08

Yeah, they got. I just I just had I just had a look at the I think it's in Bow Desert. So look at the Bow Desert thing, and there's there's not much rain coming before then. So yeah, um, which is a bit of a problem because that place is pretty good when it's raining, but man, it's that place is brutal when it's when it's dry.

SPEAKER_03 57:22

So yeah, we've done launches up there in the dry, and it's like you're choking on the dust. It gets it gets pretty rough.

SPEAKER_01 57:28

Well, it's real rocky too, QMP. Yeah, uh a lot, a lot rockier. Like Dungog had no rocks. Um, QMP is all rocks. Uh so and after it's hard. Getting a flat on the second trail loop. I'll be running moose at the next round. So did you mate? That's a bummer. Yeah, but I hey, I got it changed and back in and didn't lose any time. So it still made me time card to me.

SPEAKER_03 57:51

So mate, now I know where I'm coming next time. I need to get a set of tires changed. Bring them up to you to do. Um, all right, boys, thank you so much for coming on the podcast. Uh uh Breako, are you going up to defend your rounds three and four titles uh at QMP or are you staying home with your family?

SPEAKER_00 58:11

No, he's in New South Wales. I'll probably do K I'll probably do Kem C. Yep. Um I've got to keep the streak, I've got to keep the streak alive. So um, you know, I'd I'd hate to sound like a tosser, but I'm undefeated so far in my best career, so I'm pretty happy with that.

SPEAKER_03 58:27

So I think that's pretty bloody good, mate.

SPEAKER_00 58:30

Um, but I'm I just I just enjoy it, man. I I really do. I went and did that event up there, the trans motor there at Kem C a couple of weeks ago, and it was a really good time. And they put a lot of effort in up there, that APO ranch. So um yeah, that's always a good property. Hopefully they have good weather up there. But it's good to see like it's encouraging to see the AEC series doing what they're doing. You know, it's it's not an easy, it's not an easy thing to do, and they're trying hard.

SPEAKER_02 58:55

Yep.

SPEAKER_00 58:55

Everyone's everyone's doing what they can to do um what they're doing. And it's good to see like the KDM, there's a KDM truck there now, and there's also a Cowie truck there. So it's good to see the couple of trucks back on the back on the scene. And um, I think it's growing. It's good to see that there's a bit of growth there, and yeah, I mean it's got to happen, right? We've got we need somewhere for our kids to ride, yep.

SPEAKER_01 59:14

So especially too in the current climate of fuel, to see them trucks still turning up and just not taking a sprinter van with a quick shade, like yeah, that's a massive cost at the moment. So yeah, yeah, prop props to the teams.

SPEAKER_03 59:26

Yes, definitely. And everyone who turned is turned out.

SPEAKER_00 59:28

I think now it's just yeah it's just got to be, you know, this like like the same with club days and that, it's gotta be done. You know, these kids need somewhere to ride and race, and you know, if this series wasn't happening all those years ago, there wouldn't be money in Milner's pocket or Will's pocket or Brainy's pocket. So I think it's um it's good to see that they're still doing what they're doing and they're pushing hard and trying to do better. You know, I've heard they're trying to get better timing and that sort of stuff and better scoring systems and whatnot. And but they're trying hard, which is cool. I I I commend them for doing that, so it's good. So definitely appreciate it. And yeah, big props to the Dunlop club uh Dunlop, Dungog Club for doing what they did over the weekend.

SPEAKER_03 1:00:04

It was good, so yeah, and it I mean the series is responsible for multiple six-day wins across our men's and women's um outrights. We didn't kind of couldn't even dream of that um 10, 20, 30 years ago, with the exception of Watsy. And also, you know, Dakar. We've won Dakar titles off guys who have you know cut their teeth racing ALIC, which is now AEC. So I'm with you guys. It's an awesome series. There's 12 rounds too, you know. So this there's I know it's six weekends, but it's still 12 rounds, so there's plenty of racing that guys can kind of get done. And in a country our size, uh, you know, to get to get 12 rounds in or six weekends with a with a population of 25 million compared to the rest of the world is pretty bloody impressive. So um, yeah, it's cool. We love it. Um uh these reviews are fun because we get to get all the inside goss, especially when we've got an ADB uh contributor who's winning classes. Um, so yeah, if you uh if you want a signature off Jeffrey, you guys are gonna all have to wait until Kempsey. Uh button. I mean the bird guys make sure you go and pester him at Kempsi for a signature just for me, anyone out there. Um, all right. Thanks, thanks, boys. Thanks for coming on, and we'll catch up for the next round in a month's time.