After the success of having the Garage Motorcycles and Aprilia bring out demo bikes in 2008, I thought we definitely needed to get some more demo bikes this year.
I spoke to Bills Motorcycles from Adelaide about bringing out some demo bikes and Andrew said he could help us out and bring along some for the Amtra blokes to try.
After watching the weather for the week coming up to the Callington ride day, and worrying that it would be good enough weather, I awoke on the Sunday morning to Crystal clear skies and a slight breeze.
Perfect conditions for a dirtbike day!
After I ran around like a madman for an hour or so getting the Long drop toilet and a few other things setup, people started to arrive, with Paul S and Jason from Bills being amongst the first to turn up.
Jason and the other guys from Bills unloaded bikes and setup their tents, they'd brought along a TE310, TXC450 (one of only 5 in the country) and TE510 Huskies, a CRF450X and a CRF250R as well.
Bruce from Adelaide Motors BMW also brought along some BMW 450X's for people to try.
Things really started to get under way then, but even though i've straightened the track out a bit and put in some jumps, it seemed that some of the Amtra guys found it a bit tough to string together a "flat out" lap.
The Pony Express got under way at 11:45, with the Bills Motorcycles guys and their motocross experience putting them in front fairly quickly.
The guy from Bills on the TXC got a reasonable lead, and handed off to his teammate, his son on a KTM 50!
Now we were a little sceptical, but 2/3 of the way through the lap, the little tacker was still in second place! Very impressive, but unfortunately short lived, as the transmission in the 50 gave up the ghost about then.
This left Bills team of Jason/Jason in front, with with Team Dave/Scott coming in not far behind.
Jaye was putting in a great run, with Tim being her partner for the race, unfortunately his gear shift lever bolt fell out, and he was stuck in 3rd the whole lap and had to pull out, leaving Jaye to "Iron Man" the rest of it, like Justin was on the KTM 200.
At the end of 30 minutes, almost all teams had done 6 laps, with Bills Jason/Jason coming in first, and Dave/Scott in second not far behind.
The first prize Trailzone subscriptions go to Jason/Jason for a great ride!
Next on the agenda was BBQ lunch, with meat patties, sausages and onions being the staple for the day. Last year we ran a bit (!) short of BBQ meat, but not this year, with plenty to go around.
While lunch was on and after, Amtra blokes gave the Huskies and Honda's a good thrashing, with all agreeing that they were right in the zone for our requirements. Some liked the CRF450X, some the TE310, some the TE510 or the CRF250R, the best thing was being able to jump off one, and straight onto another.
I rode the CRF450X, but it just didn't "gel" with me. I found the exhaust header bumping my right foot into the turns, and the gap between 2nd/3rd just awkward on this track. There was plenty of electric smooth power though, which reminded me of my old WRF.
The TE510 was like getting back on an old favorite, it felt very like my 05 510, but just a bit "crisper". There was some slight headshake on the very fast straight, but thats probably just some clicker adjustment away. Great power and handling.
The TE310 was quite different to the 510. It obviously didn't have as much power, and fell off the boil in the corners a bit if you weren't "on it", but quick pop of the clutch, or even just giving it a second to get into the sweet spot of the rev range and it came alive.
The lighter feel of the 310 made it quite a bit easier to ride than the 510, and I put in three laps on that and felt fresher than after doing two on the 510.
As things wound on through the afternoon, The bike swapping continued, kids had plenty of fun in the open paddock, and a few beers were opened once bikes were loaded to assist in discussing the various merits of the different bikes.
Amongst the last riders were Scott's little tackers, both having a ball on the PW50, and the girls on the Pampera and CRF230, which was great to see them out in our fairly male dominated sport.
The guys pulled down the Marquee and packed up and we loaded everything ready to be put away, which was lucky, as its hardly stopped raining/blowing a gale since a few hours after that!
The track that was quite dusty on Sunday now has some mud spots!
A big thankyou to Deb and Hilda for the lunch, Cass, Talitha and Tyson for helping with the Pony Express, Dave and Scott for bringing the Marquee and BBQ, and helping setup and pulldown of those, and Oli for taking photo's.
A big thankyou also to the Demo bike providers - Bills Motorcycles and Adelaide Motors BMW. Think of them when looking for your next ride!
And finally, a thankyou for all who attended, I think we must have had close to 80 people there, a great turnout!