Watagans Trail Bike Bash 2004

The weekend of the 6th and 7th of November I was lucky to be involved in a exceptionally well organised trail ride in the Watagan Mountains just north of Morisset, on the Mid North Coast of New South Wales, and as most people may be aware will be home to the A4DE in 2005.

One of the more open trails

The trail consisted of two separate loops with prime conditions after recent rain the week prior to the event. The first a 25km loop with some nice open flowing fire roads to single rail with a rating that the average trail rider could comfortably conquer with ease.

The second loop was actually divided into an expert section and intermediate sections along with most of the trail combined. It combined gnarly hills and freshly burnt trail into some of the best riding the Watagans have to offer.

Rod (left) and Chris, organisers of the Bash.

Promoter R & C PROMOTIONS along with SOUTHLAKES MOTORCYCLES and HUSQVARNA MOTORCYCLES put together an awesome display on both days with an alley full of trade stalls with major oil brands, clothing suppliers, tyre suppliers - the list continues. People flocked about as the early entrants received their show bags and chatted about who was going to beat who the following day.

Shot of a entrant in the bungie cord pull this guy was trying to win a new Yes helmet one of the many prizes that were given away over the weekend

Entertainment bellowed throughout the night with two bands putting on a class show for the campers who stayed. The local Lions Club served food for all with the entrants receiving free breakfast and lunch as part of their entry fee along with the free advice from the trade's people.

Does my bum look big in this?

The Paul Feeney Group even let the highlight of the first round of the Australian Motard Series be set aside so it could have a flash display of 2004 and the NEW 2005 series of enduro and motocross bikes on display for all to admire and climb aboard to feel just how good the HUSQVARNA range is.

When the first riders undertook the course Sunday morning people were still pouring in to become part of the atmosphere and engage in some awesome trail riding. Numbers for the weekend must have been around the 400 mark with the entire field having some form of happy moment to be told when they returned for the draw of a 2005 HUSQVARNA WR250 2 stroke. Many other prizes were drawn thanks to the help of everyone in the motorcycle industry, so a lot of people went home with a grin from ear to ear.

One of the great hills on the trail

Rounding out the weekend I was lucky enough to be given the chance to test ride the 2005 HUSQVARNA TE450 as a sweep rider of the course prior to the main prize draw and long into the sun set that day. I am very impressed with the potential the TE has straight out of the box and hope to see it fly the HUSQVARNA flag for the season of 2005.

So congratulations to all the people that made the Watagans Trail Ride possible and all the helpers for overseeing making sure the event went as planned, and hopefully see it take off again next year and be a bigger success than it turned out to be this year.

Trade Alley was a hit with all who attended the Bash

People who need to be thanked out loud are:

R & C PROMOTIONS, SOUTHLAKES MOTORCYCLES, MOTUL OILS, MOTOREX OILS, MONZA IMPORTS, PAUL FEENEY GROUP, HUSQVARNA MOTORCYCLES, ADB MAGAZINE, KELLY ENDURO PRODUCTS and everyone else that I have missed thanks for making the weekend a treat.

By Graham Lloyd, Lloyd Racing