EP#57 - Wildwood becomes World Hard Enduro point score round!

The Wildwood Rock Extreme Hard Enduro has become a point score round of the World Hard Enduro Championship but what does that mean of local Aussies racing the series? We sit down with Wildwood Event Manager Steve Braznell who explains the Pros and Cons of becoming a point score round, how it all came about, what it means to Australia's best hard enduro event and how you can get in on the action. 

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:00

Welcome to the ADB Podcast, where we talk all things dirt with your host, Mitch Lee.

SPEAKER_01 0:08

Alright, ADB crew, we're back with another podcast, and this time we've got a uh a guest who promotes the biggest hard enduro event in Australia. It's Steve. We're gonna introduce him in a second. Just before we do, though, I am gonna thank our sponsors. We have Dunlop. Dunlop sponsored the show with the AT82 tire. It is a multi-directional tire, so you can flick it around and get different traction on one side of the knob to the other. It's kind of a soft and hard terrain tire, which is pretty cool. So go check it out. This is Dunlop AT82, and Sherko are also supporting the show with their finance deal. They've got a 3.89% comparison rate over two years on their 2026 two-stroke range, or a 4.89% comparison rate over three years through the Sherco Fast Finance. So if you guys are in the mode uh for a Sherko two-stroke, go and check them out at Sherko.com.au and have a look at the Sherco Fast Finance. Now, without further ado, Steve, Steve, for those who don't know Steve, Steve is the promoter for Wildwood and has been for since the dawn of time or since it started, I'm pretty sure, isn't it, Steve? Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:07

16 years now. That doesn't make me feel older.

SPEAKER_01 1:11

Welcome to the show, Steve. Thanks for coming on, mate. We've covered your event so many times. It's such an awesome event. In fact, there wouldn't be many years where we've missed covering it all. We've had everything from flooding rain almost in some series, including last year's, through to dry ones and freezing cold ones and warm ones. It's uh yeah, for you know what, for the people out there that may be a little bit more unfamiliar with uh Wildwood, the that's the uh Wildwood Rock Extreme Enduro that Steve runs. Um, can you explain to us what the event is and how it runs?

SPEAKER_00 1:41

Yeah, so the event is well, it's a prologue-timed event on the first day or in the morning, um, and that just seeds the riders for a three-hour hard event. So I have had a longer course over the years, and we've narrowed it down to I think last year was like six kilometers maybe. Um and the fastest lap time we had there for poor um the poor gold riders was just on that one hour. So um, yeah, the the rain that we had last year, it's uh it's funny when you look at the the dry years versus the wet, it goes from say 54 minutes a lap for the gold to 38 minutes and then back to an hour. Like it's uh crazy property that's ultimately just full of a lot of rocks and just good steep climbs. And we've thrown in a whole heap of man-made stuff over the years. Um, just building it and building it, and then you'll see solid fences and just a good spectator sort of atmosphere. Um, yeah, it's been good.

SPEAKER_01 2:41

Three classes gold, silver, bronze. Um is there a clubman class? Like an iron clubman.

SPEAKER_00 2:48

No, I don't I'm not about the iron class. If you if you're an iron rider, you're you're riding in the bush on the weekend. You're either gold, silver, or bronze. Um, and we do have a uh women's class as well. So promoting the ladies, um, we can get up, we've had up to 11 ladies ride in one year. That was like really good. Um, and then we've even reached out to to juniors, which is now between 12 years old and um 15. So you've got to have your hardy juror endorsement for that one. But ultimately, those little kids um they hit the course first and they they get it whether it's wet, dry, um, whatever it is, and they'll do half a loop of the bronze track. So it's it's a good little thing to watch a 85-2 stroke doing something that the the men are crying about, or it's good.

SPEAKER_01 3:36

Yeah, yeah. I've I've I've uh for those listening, I've flicked to Steve the odd text message around my six-year-old son's been doing some fun stuff on his electric balance bikes or whatever else, doing his hard his version of hard in juror. He's his his name's Jax, he's obsessed with Earthberg and all the big hard enduro events. I think because he grew up watching them with me and he just likes seeing bikes go cartwheeling down a hill. That's always entertaining to a six-year-old. So I've been pestering Steve saying, mate, you need to build a course, you need to include the six-year-olds. It might only be my son, he'll be the only person in there, but he would absolutely love it. So, I mean, there's no no pressure, Steve, but it is cool to see 12-year-olds at least getting a go at this. And look, don't bring up the endorsement thing with me because that's a whole nother kettle of fish that we've delved into in other podcasts. But maybe with the exception of Supercross, I don't understand the dis different discipline endorsements, but anyway.

SPEAKER_00 4:23

Yeah, let's just leave that one alone. Yeah, that's right.

SPEAKER_01 4:25

Yeah, that's discussion for another time. There's nothing like good hurdles and roadblocks in the way of people getting into our sport. Um, okay, so where we've got you on the podcast today to talk about why would being included in the world Hunt and Juro Championship ranking system. So it's it's kind of cool. When we first got notice of this, you kind of alluded to it to us obviously last year. You said some big things are coming, some pretty cool things are coming. Um but we had to wait until an official announcement was kind of made, until we could do any discussing about it. Uh, and the Hut and Jura World Ranking System only started in 2026, so it was kind of all new to us. It wasn't like it had existed in previous years, and Wildwood just wasn't included on it. It it had didn't exist until this year. So kind of based off what I can tell and how the system works, uh, it looks like it's essentially for people out there that maybe once a year like me watch tennis for half a day, and you understand there's like an ATP ranking system in tennis. So you see guys come in at rank number one and 57th and you know, 134th, or whatever it is, they're essentially trying to create a ranking system uh for hard enduro, uh like a global system. So you earn points uh at any event that they go to that's on the list, where be it, we'll get to those in a second. Um and then you earn points and you earn yourself a ranking, and then that kind of uh goes towards uh entry into events, maybe. But then so we'll get to that in a second. Then there's the points system and how it works. So there's supreme, premium, masters, and challenger events that they can enter, and they get different points depending on which um event you enter. So, like Supreme, for example, Ozberg Rideau, Romaniacs, they're on the Supreme events, and Wildwood, as we're gonna discuss in a minute, falls into the Masters event, there's premium above that, and then there's Challenger underneath that. You get the points go from 2,000 in Supreme to 1200 in premium to 500 in masters to 250 in uh challenger. Um it says only your eight best results count towards your final ranking, so you've obviously got to pick the events that you want to do because you want to maximize your points, but you also want to finish. So I'm guessing if you don't finish an event, you don't get the points, you know, essentially. So you kind of got to pick which events you go to. Um and it talks about there being $100,000 in prize money for the top 10 writers for the year. This might be stuff that might you might be getting your head around too as well, Steve. So I don't expect you to be able to answer all this kind of stuff. So I'd I'd like to uh know a bit more about that. It'd be maybe good to get the guys over in Europe on the phone one day as well to kind of explain the whole system to us. Um and Wildwood, like we said, is a master event. So you can re you can get 500 points if you win Wildwood or if you just complete Wildwood.

SPEAKER_00 7:09

If you win Wildwood.

SPEAKER_01 7:11

Okay. So if you win Wildwood, um so it essentially just gives it global relevance. There's something like 24 events in total uh for the World Hard and Jure ranking system, so guys can pick wherever's closest to them. It doesn't have to be obviously on the other side of the world making things difficult. They can gain points and then finish XYZ position on the ladder at the end of the year by maybe racing events that are closer to home, um, which is kind of cool. And I guess it's maybe bragging rights. You can turn around to your mates and say, Look, I finished 54th in the World Hard and Dura Ranking System this year. Um 24 events, four continents, Australia gets one, which is pretty cool. Um I guess before I get into questions specifically about Wildwood, except for bragging rights as to where you might feature on the our equivalent of the ATP, the tennis uh ranking system for the World Hard Enduro ranking system, except for bragging rights, what is the benefit to a writer in becoming say a hundredth, as opposed to winning? We know in winning there's some prize money, but is there any benefit to someone getting all these points up and ending up with a hundred points and say being a hundredth, uh sorry, ending up with X amount of points and being a hundredth on that list?

SPEAKER_00 8:22

I think I think that the bottom line is that you'll be on the list. Yeah. So that the fact that you're coming to Wildwood this year with the chance of getting any sort of points, um, all the results. I've got a there's a fair deadline to be a part of this. You've got to have your press releases, you've got to have results. It all has to be done within a matter of 24 hours after the event. So I think that's why you're seeing the world ranking being so up to date, because the criteria is to be involved was um, yeah, like there was a little bit involved to be a part of it and a bit of commitment from my end. So there's obviously some stuff we have to have done. Um yeah, the the points are going to be really good. Obviously, like you said, the the hundred thousand dollars that was put put up by um Erzberg and Romaniacs. So they've they've fit fit the bill for that top 10 writers will get the 100,000 divided between the results at the end of the year.

SPEAKER_02 9:18

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 9:19

Um, and then obviously as the as it gets bigger over years going by, uh that prize money will grow because in the the top master or supreme events, they'll actually contribute more money in the long run to make that pot bigger. That's that's the goal, to support the riders that are doing it. And then the the smaller guys don't get left out. So the the challenges, the masters, and even some of those premiums, they're still part of it, even though they're not that Earthberg that's on the TV and we watch it live at you know, nighttime in Australia. Um it's just to make sure that those that are supporting the sport are being recognized as events, and then it flows through to the writers globally to say you can go to Australia, America, Europe, anywhere on the calendar, and you're part of that um that ranking, which is really great. Um we should see a couple of Australians sort of make their names on there. I know Anthony's going over overseas at the end of this month, so he'll he'll manage to squeeze his name in there if he can finish when he gets over there. Not to um put a thing on you, Anthony, but you know, you're uh you crept in last year on the points there, and um it's just gonna be good to see like a global, globally recognized thing. Um, obviously the Hard Enduro World Championships on. Um, we did try and get that. Like I did work on that one for like 12 months. I tried to get that here, but unless I want to sell my whole body, including organs, there is no way that someone would even pay enough to get close to uh having that here. So sadly, sorry, followers, but the world ranking came up. Um I grabbed that opportunity through Martin at um the World Ranking Area, and um ultimately I knew about it before Wildwood last year. I'd gone right back to October. I'd I had been working on it in the background right then, building all the details I needed to have for the for the process. Um, yeah, and it's it's just been a good thing to obviously give a couple of people a heads up like yourself. Uh kept it under in the bag pretty good, otherwise I would have been in trouble. But um, yeah, so it's it's just a good thing to be looking at a calendar and seeing the Australian flag sort of present. It's always been a well, we're on TV, we're on YouTube, we're on the socials, but to have that sort of flag amongst events that you know people watch and go to is like really cool.

SPEAKER_01 11:54

Yeah. Have they talked about um obviously you know, the point in getting a world ranking at this stage is like we said, the most important thing is probably prize money. So they're gonna give you that hundred thousand dollars up between the top ten writers, so it's important for them to beat every round. There's also um bragging rights and being able to say you finished XYZ, get an actual uh scoring system as to kind of where you fit in in the world of hard and duro. Um but will it end do you think it'll ever end up like a tennis system whereby they our our heart our hard and duro I mean this is the dream, but our hard and duro events get so popular that they now just take the top 250 ranked that end that decide to enter ranked competitors, and so then all of a sudden, maybe more so the Supreme events where I know you know Eurzberg's like they they or everyone's waiting to get on into Eurzberg, Romaniacs is the same thing, they end up with wait lists. Can you ever see it get into a point where you've got to actually have a world ranking in order to get into any of these events?

SPEAKER_00 12:55

I I don't think so. I don't think that's not really the intention from emails and correspondence I've had. It's more about every rider is equal to join these events. So yeah, well, luckily enough that I don't think most of these events aren't really capped, like they or in Europe they get massive numbers, but yeah, in in Australia, like we've got room to put more in. It's just a matter of who wants to dint their bike or uh contribute to spare parts nationally through our manufacturers, which I tend to support well these days. So um, but yeah, it's not about that, it's just having some fun. We introduced the finishing medals a couple of years ago, um, and they're unique every year. I've just sort of improved them more and more. Um, so just making it like that real iconic thing that you can come to Wildwood, do a lap or two or six, and and have a bit of fun with your mates and actually have people supporting you on the sidelines.

SPEAKER_01 13:55

Yeah. Okay, let's talk specifically about Wildwood and where it slots into the world ranking system now then. So tell us what did Wildwood have to do just to get accepted into the ranking? Because yeah, from everything that we've discussed in the past, it wasn't as simple as sending them a few social media clips and the you know, this channel seven, seven plus latest, you know, highlights reel that you did and say, here we go, this is what we do. Well, what did you have to do to get on a world ranking list?

SPEAKER_00 14:21

To get on the list, I guess I'll just try and recap what we did. But um ideally we we had to tick off a criteria list, which is um logging into the portal. Like I've got a login to get into that uh ranking program. Um and now initially it's it's putting in the details of Wild Board bit by bit, the amount of spectators. Um, do you have YouTube? Do you have Instagram? Do you have all these different social channels? And and it all adds up to being that small little point. Um, the TV part, that's obviously a real big part for them. They want that. Are you on TV? Are you exposed to people outside of the normal? Um, so that one, luckily with seven plus, we've sort of just got that in the background, which has been a good thing for us. Um, the live commentary, um, you know, people that have been at the event will see me running around with two microphones. One's talking to the live feed and the other one's talking to the PA system. So it's all those little things. Um, this year having roaming guys on bikes. So we're gonna step it up and have a couple of people just getting around, not in the way, but you know, picking a few exhausted people and just asking them what they are actually doing here. Um that's a little cool change. Um is the event over one or two days? Um, obviously for us, we've always been about the finishing result being the three hour. So to put my thinking hat on, we can actually add a really small amount of points to the prologue, just to add the fact that you can get points from prologue and then the main event, which is something I haven't normally done, which which is okay, just means I'm gonna double the length of the prologue track and involve like a bit of a downhill and uphill, might add an extra three minutes or two minutes to someone's lap. Um, so just little things like that, all added up to the score. Um, I think it was like a total score of five, would be your Earsberg. So um when you added our one up for Wildwood, it was sitting around sort of, you know, just ticks over that four, 4.2. I probably needed an extra 0.3 of a percent to get into the premium. Um, all that means is like we we don't have enough international writers in the past. So the level of countries that are coming to the event, all these little details contribute to how you got into the category for each different type, which was cool. Um, and then prize money. Obviously, we have always done prize money. That's another part as well. They want to see the prize money, the finishing medals. It was just perfect for Wildwood that we tick all the boxes, and something comes along that says, if you support the sport, we support you, which was really good.

SPEAKER_01 17:11

Yeah. Um, okay, so that clears it up so much more. So there is a set of criteria that you guys needed to tick the box on, and that essentially placed you in either um premium uh uh sorry, supreme premium masters, or challenger. Um, and Wildwood has ended up at Masters level. Um, you mentioned you were probably only just off being uh premium. Is there anything you're gonna do over the next 12 to 24 months? We've obviously got Wildwood coming up November this year. Anything you're gonna do over the next 12 to 24 months or that you can do to try and get yourself into that next level?

SPEAKER_00 17:49

Yeah, it's just a number of things. Obviously, we put in the amount of reach and the exposure we get because that's what they're after. The bigger the exposure the event gets, the more I can say, well, we reached 500,000 people, 100,000, 20,000 or 10. All of that was part of the process of what reach we have from each event. Um, last year we had 19,000 people watching the live feed. So all those little details all come back to that. So the more we can sort of get on that stage and promote it, get some more international people coming, whether they're from New Zealand or whatever country, um, it's just going to add to these tiny little specks that'll get us up into that premiums sort of space. And that's where we need to be because like we've got a fair fair travel for everybody. So 500 is is a carrot, but it's it's not like a you know a massive 1200 points, which it's still good. We could see some mid mid-pack riders from the top level, sort of, I'm sick of coming 50th or 20th. I might come to Wildwood and have a go at taking home 500. So it could just be those, you know, back back in 2011, we had this random guy called Graham Jarvis come, and no one know you no one knew who he was. Um, he lacked the whole field in the mud, and we had Campbell, the trials rider, so come second, which was it didn't shatter every Australian off-road rider, but they definitely knew who Graham Jarvis was after that. So we we could see like a new blood of rider come through that mid-path.

SPEAKER_01 19:29

That's cool. Other names, uh Wade uh Wade Young obviously came over. He raced for a couple of years um on a Sherko. Even last year, we had Will Readan coming back from the US. He's an Aussie boy, but you know, he the guy the the bloke placed 10th at Erzburg last year, uh, and he's a top three guy in the American Hard and Dero series. So there's been plenty of kind of international talent come coming over to do Wildwood. I think that's what's kept us as media so interested as well, is that it's the own one of the only, with the exception of Supercross, it's one of the only championships in the world, uh sorry, in Australia, where or not even a championship, single events, where all of a sudden someone from overseas that we follow on social media or via whatever channels they have just pops up and and gets to kind of show off their skills in front of us. Um we don't really get that for things, even like think, you know, we love think. That's that's one of our you know premier events in Australia, and we absolutely love it. But I'd love to see some Baja guys come over and race it. I'd love to see all these other, you know, whereas what would seem to attract international riders, and it seemed I know you probably worked your ass off behind the scenes, but it seemed to do it quite easily. They just kept turning up. Um have you seen any increase since you guys became part of the world ranking system? It might have put it on the map for maybe a few more hard enduro guys, especially European guys. Have you seen an increase from any international riders in the last couple of months since this got announced?

SPEAKER_00 20:52

Uh, not through direct contact, but yeah, obviously we're watching sort of the social media. You can watch where the countries are hitting your website. We're starting to see the hit rate from different websites or different countries getting a little bit higher as well. So it's definitely getting a bit of a, you know, we do our TikTok videos or whatever we put out there, and it gets a sort of a bit of a fair reach. But um, yeah, we had a good amount of international riders for like the first probably geez, maybe 10 years.

SPEAKER_02 21:21

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 21:22

Um, and then obviously we had all those, you know, other incidences that sort of popped up and delayed racing, and um, it's dropped off a little bit, but there's always that you know, rider saying, Hey, I'll come out if you do this or do this for me, and it sort of works. And it's still good to see riders sort of do that. Um sadly, the last guy that did that ended up hurting himself, so the knee reconstruction took precedent overcoming. But um, yeah, we'll we'll definitely see some flavor of international. Um, obviously, under motorcycling Australia, it's a few extra things for me to do. Level four officials, um, all that extra stuff, the FIM sort of uh approval letters. So it's it's not a simple just turn up, pay your money and ride. There's it's gonna be um there's a little bit going on, but it's nothing we haven't done in the past. Like we've done it for years, and it's it's all um anything can be done, you just gotta get it done.

SPEAKER_01 22:21

Yeah. So what's in it for you, for you guys as promoters? I mean, it's it's a lot more effort, it's really awesome for the guy participating in the event and for us as spectators to follow along. But I'm guessing, like so many things you guys as promoters do, which is essentially volunteer your time to put on these awesome events for everyone else. For those out there that don't know, Steve has a full-time job within the motorcycling industry. This is this is certainly not his full-time job, unfortunately, as much as we'd like it to be. Um, like just you just want to see local riders get the opportunity to earn some points and and go towards a world ranking system and potentially bring over a few, you know, mid-level international riders. Is that the the benefit for Wildwood?

SPEAKER_00 23:04

I think the benefit for Wildwood is that we can contribute to them being globally recognized on a list. Um, and you know, riders have come and they've done every year, they've dropped off for a couple of years, they've come back. Um, you know, it's a good blend of you know, that's what happens in racing, that's life. You you race for a bit, you have kids, you back it off, and then your partner lets you go riding again. That's the honest truth. Um, but um, yeah, but for the for the job factor and what we get out of it, obviously Wildwood's a club. So we've got a whole heap of members that are you know well in ingrained into the hard enduro community, um, from enduro to hard enduro, it's a good mixture from kids to you know older adults. Um, so it's probably for me good that when we have a club practice day or an event that's really small, it's just a good like going out into the bush, but people get to do the harder technical stuff that it then becomes the race at the end of the year sometimes. Um yeah, it's a hard it's a lot of hard work. Uh, probably the week before Wildwood. In the last couple of years, I've just thought, what am I doing here? Like I'm just burning myself out, obviously taking time off from my full-time job. Yeah, a lot of people ring me up and go, don't you just work on the farm? And I'm like, the farms farms don't pay bills, mate. I've got to get a proper job, and this is all about the passion to smash 500 pegs in just to put some tape on for you guys to attend. So I'm in too deep, mix. I can't get out because I've done it.

SPEAKER_01 24:44

No, I know. I was gonna say, mate, you're part of the furniture. Every time we've thought of Wildwood for the last 16 years, it's like, I'll just call Steve and find out what's happening here or there, or can I come to this, or can we get that? It's it would be very different without you involved in the Wildwood scene, mate. Um it's interesting the international writer thing. It it the the genre, the discipline of hard endure has obviously exploded in the last 15 years, probably more so the last five to ten years. Um you know, we we used we've had Earthberg for a while, and then kind of Romaniacs popped up, and and for a lot of a large bit of time there, it was just those two events. Now we've got events everywhere. Um, and Red Bull are sponsoring a lot of events everywhere, and that kind of brings, you know, a bit more attention to those events as well. But does that make it harder? So the guys who are the top tens now of Hard Enduro, I imagine, are far harder to get to come down to Australia than say it would have been 15 years ago when they were just you know maybe not as well known, but also this is a weird thing to say, but their time was not as valuable 15 years ago as it is now. I imagine there are events everywhere trying to get them to get there, and so all of a sudden they can say, let's we're talking your top five, um, your Manny's, your Billy Bolts, they can say, Yeah, I'll come, but it's probably gonna cost you this. Is that is that like where the discussions are now going because the sport of Hard and Dura has just grown so much?

SPEAKER_00 26:04

Yeah, that is exactly where it is going. Um, even your say let's just pick your top ten list. If any of those guys would want to come to a just a random event outside of the world ranking, the the number one chat is dollars. Yeah, I'll I will come to the event. If there's dollars, if you're paying for my mechanic, if you're giving me a roof to sleep under, like there's a lot of things where you know, back in the day I just sent Graham a text message after Herzberg one year, and he's like, No worries, I'll be there and take your 10 grand, and he literally came and took it. So uh you know, the ones that pay their own way and they do their own thing, but that top group is really yeah, obviously, in as an event we want the best, but when you look at the bottom line, it we would be in the red heavily just to have two guys there. So that's where it becomes back to like when they're here, they want to do some coaching, get some exposure. So we can sort of offload the cost of those riders coming, saying, like most people just say, I'll run a coaching day at Wildwood. I'm like, well, I've sort of got some other stuff to do that week. Uh but I'm happy to offload them to wherever you want to take them and you do it. So um, yeah, that's one thing that can help me. So anybody that wants to get a rider out for Wildwood, just saying, Yeah, we've got some coaching and we can find some people, that'll that'll help the flights and ease the pain of of the event, fit in the cost, I guess you could say.

SPEAKER_01 27:40

Yeah. Um hey, so someone who is entering let's just pick Wade Ibrahim, for example, he's our um Australian hard injury champion from last year. If he was to go and race uh Romaniacs and Erzberg and do quite well, let's say somehow he top tens or he top twenty, so he picks up a fair few points. And then after that, he just chased some of the smaller events. Is there a chance that he could position in the top ten in the world to earn any money, or do you need to be essentially dozy riders, if they're gonna make any money out of that a hundred thousand dollar pot, will they need to be at every one of those supreme rounds?

SPEAKER_00 28:22

Uh pretty much if you're in that top group of points at the end of the year, um, then you're entitled to the money. So if at the at the moment it's Tristan Hart sitting in 10th on 500 points. Yeah. If if if Wade, for instance, or Anthony would to go do three to four events like Wildwood around the world, there's 1,500 points. They're now they're now sitting as the number one rider, even though the other events will still happen. So yeah, it it doesn't really matter who you are, it's just the effort you go to, because it does cost a lot to go globally racing for Australian riders. Um, it's to try and reward those guys and not just have that common group of ten at the top all the time.

SPEAKER_01 29:06

Yeah. Yeah, I like that idea actually. I'm thinking of it now that you know, if the likes of the Wade, the guys that are top three, probably, you know, Reuben Wade, Anthony in Australia, um, if they could get a promoter that's close enough so the travel isn't too big and it isn't too expensive to maybe help cover the costs of just getting there, even on a budget, and then they will pick up some prize money when they're there, they improve their ranking system, and all of a sudden they've entered four or five events at 500 points each, maybe pick up a few of those 1200 pointers and then even do one of the big ticket items uh and finish in the top 20 and get some points there. Um there's potential that they could, I'm not gonna say make money, it's too early in our World Heart and Duro discipline to really start to make money, but let's just say break even because when we we had Wade Ibrahim on the show six months ago at the end of last year, and we were joking with him about you know what it costs to go racing, and he kind of under his breath muttered into the six figures that he spent racing a dirt bike this year that he didn't recoup any costs for at all. So even if he gets half that back because he gets some money from prize money at other events that he goes to, there's motivation to go to those events because he can pick up some ranking points, and then he ends up being ninth in the world ranking and gets some money there. Um, I like that idea now with that that you've explained that quite well, that they could pick up potentially some extra money at the end of the year just through the ranking system.

SPEAKER_00 30:31

Yeah, and and be recognized, obviously, as well. So, yeah, do as many of those sort of lower level events, obviously, because everyone goes to do those premium or supreme events. Um, if you just sort of focused on the premiums and picked up 1200 points and 500 at mine, then it that sort of gets you up that list quicker than you think. Um I don't know about recouping that much weighed Ibram spending money within the 10 grand you get back at the end of the day, but uh anything's better than nothing, and um that's why we all do it.

SPEAKER_01 31:05

Yeah. I'm looking at the list of events, obviously Eertzberg Romantics, it's Supreme Events. In the premium events, I'm trying to figure out for the guys out there that are like, oh, what can I go to where I could maybe even knock off a few. I go to Europe, right? I go over there for a month and I smash out uh what are we looking at here? You got June, July, August, you go that's Silver Kings Day. You could probably go to the end of the year. So if you if if people out there listening turned up in Sweden in the middle of August, you could run August, then same name as your Wild Woods, Extreme in Italy, then Hicksba the Hispania in Spain on the 23rd of October. So if you got there on in August and you spent August, September, October, three months kind of, or two and a half months in Europe, maybe enjoying a bit of a holiday, you could potentially work a little bit, you could pick up some points through there. Then you came back to Australia and raced at Wildwood, you pick up a fair few points. You can put if people look at the list of events between Masters, Challenger, Premium, and and obviously those Supreme events, uh, there is the opportunity to maybe get yourself into an area of the world for more than say a month or two and pick up multiple events in one go and earn some points. So I think that's pretty cool too, you know. If they kind of plan their year of racing out, but it does. I'm looking at it now, and it's obviously the the cool thing about this champion, this um world ranking system is that it covers four continents by the looks of things Europe, America, Australia, uh well, Central and South America. There's even Ecuador in there as a challenger event, um, which is pretty cool. So, I mean, look, even if you, like you said, recruit 20% of your costs, you get to go to Ecuador and other cool countries.

SPEAKER_00 32:44

You get to go to a lot of cool countries. Like originally I was in this group chat with the world promoters, like say 15 years ago, there was this little WhatsApp group, and I was in there and you'd be talking to Martin and all these other guys around the world just as a small little figure in the page. Uh, and now you look at this calendar of events, like you said earlier, the Hard Enduro calendar, like Australia, you can race every weekend if you want. Like it's it's unreal the amount of good premium events that are around the world. It's a pity that these three the same weekend as Wildwood, but um, you know, each to their own. That means we might get a bit of a I'm sick of getting beaten by Graham. I'll come and beat Anthony or Wade here and try and you know do something different for a change. But um yeah, it's just good to see the sport globally. Like that's a massive list on that word ranking calendar, and and wear that little Aussie flag at the bottom.

SPEAKER_01 33:42

Yeah, I love it. It's good, it's so good that it's there. And you know, the other, like you said, there are some clashing of events, but um mate, who'd rather would you rather go to Australia or would you rather go to Kosovo? Which is no, I'm just kidding, that's probably an awesome event. The Enduro Bung Extreme Race in Kosovo. But look, I'd probably rather be here in Australia in November. It's starting to warm up. Anyone out there listening, the weather's getting better, maybe tag a holiday on, go and see what Australia's got to offer. I think that's the other cool thing, too, is hopefully for a lot of these European guys, they kind of think, well, I'd probably never normally go to Australia, but hey, chance to earn some points. Why don't we tee it up at the same time? Come down, do a race, and then go see a bit of Australia too. It's kind of cool. Hey, you know what? You should this is where this is this is right for tourism bodies within Australia, within our state government, state government, say Victoria or federal government, get on board with this. It's now a globally recognized event, which is kind of cool. Um all right, so last couple of questions for you. Um will it change the structure of Wildwood? Will you have to do anything different moving forward with the race itself? Are we going to see longer format, two days, three days, four days, anything different? No, no, no.

SPEAKER_00 34:57

We can actually keep it exactly how it is. The the prologue getting a bit of a reshape, which on my socials the other day I moved the old bus, you know, just got the here and just pushed it out of the way for a little bit. So just just those little things making the prologue work. We've always kept it inside the prologue track. You know, this is probably leaking it to everybody now, but for the riders, it'll be the prologue plus we'll go down one of the hills and back up. So it'll be a bit more of a just that little bit more to sort of spread out the the who's who of the prologue sort of timing. Um three hours is enough for us. Like we've tried four hours in the in the past. Uh gold riders have said, yeah, four hours is where it's at, but spectators don't want to stand around for four hours and watch dirt bikes in the mud, sadly. So um, you know, three hours means when the when the rider finishes, we've got hundred, two hundred people cheering them on. Um, it just adds to the atmosphere, and and it's all about sort of you know the the sport and the social aspect of putting everyone on the on the map, really.

SPEAKER_01 36:08

Yeah, for sure.

SPEAKER_00 36:10

Yeah, no other changes. Might just sneak a few little things in, but I don't want to give too much away. I've already given prologue stuff away now.

SPEAKER_01 36:17

I was gonna ask about the bus. I saw that being moved on social media, and I thought, oh, the old bus. How how long has that bus been in the same place for?

SPEAKER_00 36:25

A couple of years. It was somewhere else at the start, obviously when it had a motor in it still, and I took that out and moved in the track, and then uh yeah, it's just sort of just been that unique thing that no one has a 32-foot Bedford bus sitting in a track, let alone riding through it. So yeah, the funny comments we get, oh just ride over the top of it or ride around it, or ride, you know, just no worries. I'm sure we'd or have a guy fall off the top of the bus, it'd be great. But uh yeah, we'll do something special. We'll do something special. It's gonna be alright.

SPEAKER_01 36:58

Well, that's good to hear it's not kind of kind of when we first heard it was gonna be part of the Harden Duro World Championship ranking system, we we got a little bit nervous that it was gonna mean you had to make this thing nasty, like turn it into the the same as a Supreme event, essentially. Um, but then yeah, having chatted with you in bits and pieces and having uh being able to uh read the rest uh some of the press releases that got sent out. Obviously, it's not going to be the most for bronze, silver, and even gold guys, it's not going to be the most nasty event you can put on just to make sure it features in that world ranking system.

SPEAKER_00 37:32

No, I don't I don't think that hard enduro doesn't have to be nasty, it just has to be technical, and the riders need to battle against their own skill levels as much as possible. So some of those events last year just went way too far. Like some of the the visual stuff we were watching and the the riders just potentially just dropping bikes off cliff faces, that's ridiculous. Like totally goes against the safety of the sport, and um I think a lot of the top riders did complain about that as well. So um we know it's already tough, six K's in an hour. I'd say that's a tough day for three hours. Um, and then if you've got the likes of your, you know, other or better riders behind you in front of you, it actually becomes more of a race, which is what it originally was intended to be, not a you know, a two-day ride where it's gonna be through the hills and back. It's it's a three-hour event and it's to the timed sort of clock. So yeah, I sort of like the fact that it's it's always been a race and not a uh we'll turn up and put some points on both days and and then we'll calculate it at the end. It's it's it's been a good thing. Results have always been not a challenge for us, but we get it done in the day, and if we have a problem, we sort it out because things do happen sometimes, but ultimately it's it's like you said, everyone's volunteering, spectators are getting too close, they're getting asked to stand back, like we're doing everything we can to not fall off the map.

SPEAKER_01 39:06

So yeah, yeah, yeah. Um yeah, I I think that's probably one of the things that Will Readham, when we interviewed him last year, said that he liked so much about Wildwood. And this is a guy who's raced hard endure in the US at the top level for so long. And you just think the US do everything better than everyone else, they've got the bigger population, bigger resources is the big one, etc. But he actually said that Wildwood was one of the best events that he's done, and that was in the wret, slippery, miserable conditions that were last year that looked so hard when we were watching the live coverage and the replay on Seven Plus. It was like, oh, this looks awful. But he said that it was awesome, it was such a good event. So, um, yeah, I think that's probably a big kudos to you guys and the team because that for that coming from an international writer is is a is something that's pretty good. He even said, I said when he when he announced his retirement at the same time, I said, Is there a chance you'll come back for Wobwood? And he said, You never say never. So it'd be exciting if he turned up this year. You just never know.

SPEAKER_00 40:02

It would be good. I I I tend to get it done rain, hail, or shrine. We've run it in the wet, we've had 42 degree days. Uh last year it was it was wet and then it was dry, and it was just like, you know what? Knuckle down and let's get it done. I think the most entertainment for some people was the car park and the way out to to fix the paddock after the cars were all left. I I just left it for months. I just closed the curtains and didn't want to look out there. And then one day I went, you know what, I'm gonna have to fix this because I don't think my uncles are gonna be too impressed with these ruts and mud every minute. So I spent a whole day making it look all nice so we can probably do it again this year. So yeah.

SPEAKER_01 40:48

Well, let's hope we get some good weather for this year. Um, is there anything else we've left out uh trying to explain how Wildwood fixed into the world hard enduroco enduro ranking system?

SPEAKER_00 40:59

No, I think that's it really. I I think for me it's just the more I can get support from everybody, the more we can have those international riders come and have like an you know, we've had good industry support and obviously good sponsors over the previous years, and that's great for me because when I commit to 15 grand in prize money, knowing that whether people come to watch or not, it's 15 grand for prize money. Yeah. Um, you know, it it's gone from a a small, you know, the event when we first started was a few pegs with some tape on it, to uh we'll double bunt the course to now we're double bunting areas and putting in solid metal fencing at a proper gap so we're getting the spectators as close as we can, but still without reach. So it's definitely evolved from you know 16 years of effort. It's it's taken a bit of a tumble in all different directions. Some people don't see it, and then others who are at the club they they participate and they know the the good, the bad, and the ugly of running events, like others in this podcast will probably listen to. Um it's not getting any easier. I think you've touched on that already. But um yeah, until we get told we can't do it anymore, or if I give up, it'll it'll just have to keep happening.

SPEAKER_01 42:22

So yeah, I think I think yeah, the like anyone out there listening, like Steve said, any support, if you're a business out there that wants to support an event like this, it's awesome. Any support goes a long way, but also turn up, watch, buy stuff uh while you're there, food and everything else, and also come along and enter. It is an awesome event. Um, we actually had Jez, you know, Jez well from Dirt by Burrito. He was covering it for us. Was it last year or year before? Anyway, we sent him down there and he got so sick, like the day before we was meant to get down there, and he did it with you know, green snot hanging out his nose. He was full of full of medication just to get himself through, but he still said it was it's still one of the best events he does. So um, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 43:03

I'm pretty sure I I spotted him and made him come up and do the prologue with the microphone so he could spread his germs all over the microphone for me. So um, yeah, James is yeah, the the burrito guys are good value, supported them from day one. I think I was in their first couple of episodes talking about what and how would you do this? Sitting in the bus. Um, yeah, any anything for the sport is good. And and those guys and you yourself are a good example of you know, bums on seats, that's what keeps the industry running and the sport. Um, obviously there's a few different sort of things going on outside of Wildwood, which is which is sort of great. Um, but yeah, events are getting really tough to to operate. So for those that are operating events, they need the support because once they're gone, you'll be just watching your bike sitting in your shed. That's that's pretty much it.

SPEAKER_01 44:00

Yeah, agreed. And I think too, prize money nowadays, especially in Australia for events, you know, i is pretty few and far between. The think guys still have decent prize money there. Um and you guys do too. So, you know, if you fancy yourself, why not line up and have a go at the money? Um, and we've proven that in the past. It's not always the the top two, three guys in Australia that win Wildwood. We've had guys come out from overseas randomly and win it that we didn't even know were turning up. Um, what's to last little bit, what's the prize money this year? Same as it has been the last couple of years.

SPEAKER_00 44:32

I haven't got a final dot on the figure, but obviously it'll be greater than 15 grand.

SPEAKER_02 44:38

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 44:38

So we'll we'll spread that out. Um for me, I did an adjustment of the prize money a while back and we we sort of took a bit off the gold and we spread it across the bronze and silver. So your bronze and silver, I think last year, it's up to the thousand bucks for for a win in that class. Um obviously we we can't spend more than we're making, so it's a bit of a tough one. But um, yeah, we've always had prize money. I think it was probably a little bit nicer to Mitch Harper and Matt Phillips originally when it was 10 grand for first. Yeah. Uh but but things happen, and the event like if I've got to go buy five grand worth of metal fencing, then that that's where the fence goes if we need that for insurance reasons. And I think we're gonna spend it on fencing rather than prize money, but it'll still be great. It'll still be a big money, and like you said, it's there's not many events that do prize money, so it's it's it's it's good.

SPEAKER_01 45:37

No, we we we've got a national event that don't do prize money, um, you know. So uh yeah, I'm sure as riders out there who are pouring everything into it, if the prize money covers the cost to go racing that weekend, well, that's just extra motivation to turn up. So we applaud you for doing that, Steve. It's an awesome part of the of what Wildwood is as well. So um, but anyway, that's that's gonna wrap us up for today. I hope that explains to everyone how the Hard and Dureau ranking system, uh the world hard and duro ranking system works with Wildwood now, uh, being a master's level event. Make sure you get down there, you can pick up some points. Uh, and if you do a couple more events that's on that list of uh uh throughout the year, you never know where you might end up on the top in the top 10 to it potentially earn some money, but more importantly, to get a ranking to figure out where you kind of sit amongst the world's best uh hard enduro riders, which is pretty cool. So um, mate, Steve, thanks for getting on. We might actually get you on the podcast right before Wildwood, a couple weeks beforehand, in case there's any been any changes or if there's any big riders that are gonna be turning up to talk to us about. Um, but until then, mate, we'll we'll probably uh yeah, we can't wait to be down there. And like you said earlier, there is gonna be extra levels of commentary, uh, which is gonna be exciting. There's gonna be people out there um in and amongst the track to kind of give yeah a bit more live commentary as they go, and there's gonna be uh increased TV coverage in terms of uh different camera uh different uh footage and bits and pieces too, which you know you've kind of mentioned to us in the past as well, which is exciting as well. It'll make for a better spectacle. So if you've ever wanted to be on TV, this might be your best chance. So go out there, attempt to do something stupid in the prologue. You're more than likely gonna wind up on channel seven, which is pretty cool. Um, but yeah, thanks for coming on the show today, Steve. Yeah, no worries.

SPEAKER_00 47:17

Or better still, if you're a spectator and want to get yourself on TV, by all means, dress up however you like. Just have any clothes on, that's it.

SPEAKER_01 47:25

That's a that's a better, safer way of doing it than trying to backflip a log or something in the prologue. So, yeah, that's it. You've heard it all there. Um, yeah, head on down to Wildwoods in November. What's the date for Wildwood November 6th?

SPEAKER_00 47:38

The 8th of November is the same day.

SPEAKER_01 47:40

Yep, 8th of November. So head on down uh in a couple days before that and check it out either as a competitor or as a spectator as an awesome event. Thanks, Steve, for coming on the podcast, mate. We'll speak to you closer to November 8th.

SPEAKER_00 47:51

Thanks, Mitch. Thanks, team. Thanks for listening.