Some time back, when it was hot, dry and dusty, I was waxing lyrical about all that WHES had in store for '24.
A Womens Class, a Junior Class, a non-competitive / 'come and try' event......
And bugger me with an egg fork if they didn't deliver on the entire bloody package!
WHES did the year go, you ask?
Who the hard enduro knows, but I can tell you how it ended. Well....actually I can't!
I'll leave you to do the math, but let's just say the championship placings across all classes are putting the biggest smiles on some of the worthiest dials.
"Ewes all know who ewes all are! Nuff said, 'til we raise a glass to you all at the wind-up."(Ed)
But before we raise our glasses too high to the year that was, let's just take a moment to appreciate, quite possibly, the best Toodyay Terror ever staged by WHES!!
Set in the Avon Valley just 45min out of the Perth CBD, the Terror is iconic on the WHES calendar. But this year the committee stepped it up a notch!
The track layout was entirely new, partially reversed and inverted on itself. The start shot straight out of the main spectator's arena. It was like a super-enduro-esque Parthenon. Then the riders disappeared into the valley before reappearing on hilltops all over the property.
And this year (for the first time) every single entrant was on the track at the same time, meaning spectators saw all the categories dissecting the landscape at once.
And in amongst it, Gold dissected Silver who dissected the Bronze and the Women......while the Juniors dissected anyone that got in their way.
You couldn't pack more mayhem into a hobby farm if you tried and, with no more than a bottle of Evian and a modest pair of jandals, spectators were able to get their fix on the lot - they were lost only in their choice of vantage points from which they could enjoy the carnage.
Crowd favourites for the day? There would be no dispute! The Women absolutely owned the Terror this year.
It's been a big year for this class with Jade Lawson and Nancy Appleby present and accounted for at every event on the calendar - these two even tackled the double header of Mildwood and MounTurner way back in May! Diana Pont missed a few but has thrown the pink bike at the track whenever she could.
"I have ridden this year more than any other year. I just decided that this year, I would put riding at #1 on my priority list" said Nancy. Her and Jade are out practicing between one and three times a week and their progress is evident, though Jade was quick to point out (with a grin) that despite the practice she "still almost died at Toodyay and nothing seemed to work anymore". Clearly something did!
All three just tractored on through everything that lay before them and all three finished the event, finding their moment in the spotlight and the sunshine as the day closed out around them.
Winner for the day? Sam 'seven laps' Rogers!!
Arriving late having tried to change out a starter, he went into the round with a pretty basic philosophy - "If I don't stall it, I don't have to kick start it".
Passing the Silvers before they even started, he was clearly out to make himself dizzy doing 7 laps to take out the win on the Rieju. The poetry in his motion was enough to give the rest of us motion sickness.
Juniors Oskar Thomas and Chase Lardner humbled anyone over the age of 18. "Oski passed me twice whilst I was stuck in the same damn spot on the track - not feeling the love thanks sunshine! You're making it hard to write nice things about you" (Ed - but what tremendous skill you young blokes have).
And as if all that was not enough, how about some total surprises - who the heck is Shane Moss?
I am not sure whether I heard right on the day but I believe this was Shanes first event in W.A. Straight into Silver and straight to the top of the podium on a 450 Husaberg four banger. Hoping we will see you again in 2025 Mr Moss!
Still standing? Still breathing?
Well, it didn't end until late in the night. Bronze rider James Filear stepped off the bike (having buried three laps of the Terror with the last one on a flat tire), and straight on the stage to rock the night out till close with his band Blue Hornet.
Anyone ready for next year yet?
And back we go, full circle to Jakob Petrig who now has to shake off a head cold, smash out his ATAR and get in a ute bound for Wildwood. Go well hard Champ!!
From Twist to WHES - what you do and have done will stay with us long after the mud cracks and the creeks run dry.
And as the dust gets thicker, we'll hold our breath in wait for next year. Thank you!
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