Wondering where the hell winter went, and watching temperatures wind out to the thirties, the Toodyay Terror 2.0 was always going to be the most macabre of backdrops for the final round of WHES 2023.
And who’d have thought, in all of that, that life would imitate art?
Post the apocalypse that was TT2.0, I couldn’t help but wonder on the parallels between Sam Rogers and that shady character that appears periodically on the Simpsons with very evil intent (if you are not a Simpsons fan just google Side Show Bob).
Off the line and straight for the hole-shot, there was no question the Reju rider intended on going home with heads on a platter!
As his hot pink kit, snow white boots, and long flowing 'bottle-blonde' locks disappeared into the dust and two-stroke haze, we all knew it was going to be murder on the dance floor.
And we weren't wrong as Sam took it all the way to the line three hours later winning the event and securing the points he needed to take out the WHES 2023 Championship!!!
Unfortunately, toddler toxins were sucking the life out of Darren Rudling, leaving the Stallion struggling at the gates and unable to put up much of a fight to keep Rogers at bay.
To say that the reigning champ has had a despicable year on the bike is to be grossly understating the reality of it. Despite tearing all sorts of ligaments out of his limbs in February this year, Rudling has battled long and hard to keep himself in the running for a second title. But it was pretty clear in the pits, pre-event, that he was going to struggle in conditions that, throughout the day, took out nearly half the field!
Luke ‘the Lab Rat’ Abbott was intent on taking it to Sam any way he could out on the track in Gold Class. However, coming off a dose of the nasty ‘C’ whilst on bike tour out east, Luke quickly found himself belching his innards outwards before the first hour had elapsed.
His heart rate monitor cyber bullied him into the medic's tent, which was probably a good thing given he was pushing 170 BPM whilst off the bike and chilling in the shade.
“..the peak was when I was sitting down; felt like my chest was about to explode” words straight from the Lab Rat on how it was out there on the track.
And as things just got progressively worse for everyone else, things just got better and better for Sam Rogers.
The King of Traction, Neil Price, managed to keep Rogers at bay for the first few laps, but the ride went south for Pricey sometime after the half-way point and he found himself heading straight for the pits (and possibly the porcelain?).
I am fairly certain that little bit of intel never made it to the man with the golden locks, as Sam did not seem to back off: not a jot!
With Ruddling on the ropes, Price in the pits, the Lab Rat retching in the medic's tent and the Braaap Daddy (Damien Pruden) suffering from organisational exhaustion (due to the insane efforts put in to get the event up), all Rogers had to do was keep the Jackal, Jakob Petrig, from tearing out his Achilles.
And that wasn’t easy because young Jakob is on fire this year. Damn that boy can ride! Though Sam had the win in the bag, Jakob did an incredible job of keeping him honest all the way to the flag!
In the Silver Class, James Oremek had an awesome finish to a massive year!
This young lad has stepped up out of bronze for 2023, and he is most certainly polishing off most of the Silver riders. The points chasm between him and Halen Wickert is not really a reflection of how well James has been riding this season. Though he still charges like a young bull out of the gate you could sense the maturity when, as each lap passed, he 'calmed his farm' and set about preserving himself to ensure he went the distance.
And he did, finishing first ahead of Tyler Bannink with a lap in the bank.
Toodyay in October was always going to 'sous-vide' most of the unseasoned riders; there was never any doubt of that.
Newbies such as Chris Bogdan found out the hard way just how hard hard enduro actually is. He made it to the line after a solid hour or so out in the dirt, but he left behind his Husky’s arse end, most of his breakfast and last night's beers.
“Definitely was a fun and hard track! I just wasn’t prepared enough for it! But, now I know to expect amazing, but hard events for the future; for the next season! And I’ll definitely be coming back!”
To his credit, he did manage to drag himself and his bike across the line at flag drop. So now he can claim the cred of having completed a Hard Enduro round.
Incredibly, the absolute brutality of this discipline just doesn’t seem to break the resolve of these riders!
Matt Gray has had a crack at two previous events on a KTM500EXC, which is the hard enduro version of racing a Honda Goldwing in MotoGP. For TT2.0 he outed the 500 in favour of the 'go to' 300 two stroke. Not used to the power he looped the bike out three times before discretion overtook valor and he retired to the pits.
Was he upset about it? Hell no!!!!
He is still smiling! And that, my friends, is WHES!!
Organisers, officials, committee members, volunteers and sponsors have all given so much in an effort to give the riders, and the crowds, the most incredible motosport experience over the course of the WHES 2023 season; a season that started way back on 1st April at the Graham Jarvis Invitational in Bridgetown.
Fools they aren't, these Hard Enduriacs; more so, just a little crazy! Bring on 2024!
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