Where does your story begin?
I was eight or nine years old when I started, on a Yamaha MX80, and I just rode around our yard, as we had three acres in the Blue Mountains. My neighbours had bikes too and raced. I was watching them thinking, when I finish school I’ll race just like them, so I didn’t start in Juniors like a lot of riders did. My next bike, when I was about 11, was an RM80, which I eventually traded in on a new 1993 CR250, and I got a new one each year up to 1996.
When I turned 18, I joined Hawkesbury Motorcycle Club. It was a very active club at the time, and I started competing in club motocross and enduro events at the Bilpin track. Hawkesbury had some prominent enduro riders in those days, like Geoff Eldridge, Geoff Ballard and Chris Cater, so there was no shortage of people to learn from. I was better at motocross at first, and it took me a while to learn how to go fast in the bush, but after the club sent some riders to the 1994 ISDE in the USA, I thought that seemed pretty cool and that I’d like to have a go at that. I was doing well in club events and started getting some support from Ballard’s and rode the Thumper Nats series, which was just getting started back then. I was very competitive in the Expert class, then in 1996 I made it into the Pro class on an XR400 and finished third.
So that was when you started winning big?
No, not until the next year, in 1997, when I won the Australian Enduro Championship at Manjimup in the 250 Four-stroke class, which was also the A4DE in those days. Then, in 1998, I won the 200 Two-stroke class on a KTM200 at Oberon and was doing a lot of test riding for ADB as well at that time. I was back on a Honda XR250 in 1999 for my third win.
I also rode the ISDE four times: Poland in 1995 as a Clubman on a TM250, in 1996 in Finland as part of the Aussie Junior team on a TM250 again, then Italy in 1997 again as a Clubman, and Australia in 1998 when I was back on the Senior team riding a Honda XR250 and I won a Special Test in my class. That was the year Australia podiumed for the first time in the Trophy, in third place, and Shane Watts took the outright crown on his 125. Then I retired from competition after 1999 to concentrate on my jewellery business in Sydney.
So have you walked away from the sport completely?
Not really. My three sons ride junior motocross and enduro, and I coach them plus a few of their friends and others, more as a hobby, not a commercial operation. It’s an interesting process watching kids take on advice and improve over time, and I really enjoy coaching them. We live in the Southern Highlands, so there is plenty of opportunity for riding with my sons. Plus, I have a Ducati Monster and I used to have a YZ450 Super Motard for a bit of fun on track days, and I sometimes ride the Transmoto series with my sons.
Did you ever consider desert racing like Hattah or Finke?
My kids have raced at Hattah for the last four or five years and I’d like to do it. I love it; it’s a great race. I’d have to get on the treadmill and improve my fitness first. Maybe when all the boys are in Seniors we can ride it together; one is still in Juniors at the moment. I’ve been to Finke as a spectator and ridden some of the course, but I’m glad I didn’t have to ride it at race speeds. I prefer more technical-type courses rather than the flat-out speed of Finke. I respect how dangerous it is going Mach 10 over those jumps and things, but it doesn’t really attract me.
Does any one win stand out for you?
My Special Test win in my class at the ISDE in Traralgon. When you win in an event like that, against the world’s best, it tends to be memorable, and I finished on Gold, fourth in class. In my first Six Day I scored a Bronze, then Silver in the next two, so it was good to finish with a Gold Medal.
The East European countries have a reputation for tough Six Day events. How was Poland?
That was probably my toughest-ever race. I was riding as a Clubman as it was my first ISDE and my only objective was to finish. The rain was constant, there were riders stuck everywhere on hills, the days were long, eight and nine hours, and I was crashing in the middle of nowhere. I couldn’t dry my gear properly, so I was putting on damp clothes each morning. It was a hard slog.
Stuart Morgan was on the Aussie team and he remarked to me, “Isn’t it shit? It’s just shit, isn’t it?” I said, “Yeah, I was ready to quit so many times, but I realised I had to get home,” so I just kept on riding and finished on Bronze.
Which bike has been your personal favourite?
My 1996 Honda CR250. I had a lot of help from Ballard’s in setting it up. It had a Marzocchi fork, a flywheel weight and a pipe, and it was competitive on a motocross track and fast in the bush. There was lots of power, it was light and handled well, so that was the bike for me. I won motocross, enduro, cross-country and endurocross events all on that bike. For me, it was exceptional.
What do you see as the biggest difference in bikes today?
The enduro bikes have changed a lot and are so much better these days straight out of the crate. There is no need for any major modifications to be competitive. They handle so well, and the suspension is better with all the adjustment available. I was riding heavily modified CR motocrossers or XRs, which were more a trail bike than a proper enduro mount, and both needed alterations in suspension and the motor to be competitive at the top level. Rider awareness of fitness these days is much better also, with training programs and riding coaches.
