Tumbulgum is a function centre near in WA, just 45 minutes South of Perth, that plays host to a spectacular natural terrain motocross race. The event has run every year since 2004 with the exception of 2015, and takes full advantage of the beautiful paddocks and elevation changes on site.
Willie Thomson of Dirt High Promotions is the driving force behind Tumbulgum. He scoured every farm property along South-West Highway to find the location and arrives on site each year with a fresh vision for the 2km long track. Thomson sculpts his masterpiece from the hills and valleys using D6’s, excavators, graders, skid steers, water trucks, loaders and dump trucks. “Every year I spend around about a week prior to commencing the track build, I have multiple ideas, many gleaned from the previous year and I spend around six or so hours just working it out in my head before I draw a sketch. Then basically once you hit it with the machinery it all falls into place. Sometimes I have to change a few things which don’t quite marry up but generally it is as planned.” Says Thomson, a former 12x WA Enduro Champion and 1x Australian Enduro Champion.
This year the Tumbulgum MX event was run over two intense days on October 29-30 with the Juniors racing and Saturday and the Seniors taking over on Sunday.
Regan Duffy, who competed in both the 100-125cc class, was the best of the Juniors winning from Mitchell Outram and Tahlia O’Hare. Duffy went on to backup his win in the 250cc class with Outram again playing runner-up, and Nathan Rodgers third.
On Sunday the Senior’s hit the track with Luke Few winning the 30 to 39-year class. The 40
to 100-year class was taken out by Ex – West Coast Eagles player Troy Wilson. Mitchell Outram took the win in the Lites 1 and Lily Kent took out the women’s division in Lites 2 with Jonathan Squires taking out the men’s division. Riki Day won the Open class.
In the Quads Chris Bosnakis took the win from Luke Gaisford and in the Pro/Int/Exp it was Mitchell Mahon who was the overall winner on 129 points after four races.
Although the Tumbulgum event took place in October this year, plans are underway for the event to return to the normal time of March-April in 2017. John Innes
Stoked to win
Australian enduro rider Daymon Stokie got his birthday wish at the 49th Baja 1000 off-road desert race held in Ensenada, Baja California, Mexico when he stormed to victory with his OX Motorsports/American Honda team.
The Alice Springs local celebrated his 26th Birthday on the very same day as the team crossed the finish line in first position at the 1287 kilometer dessert race which ran from November 16-20. Stokie was promoted from the ‘B’ team to the ‘A’ team when four-time Baja 1000 champion Colton Udall suffered a broken collar bone just days before the event.
This saw Stokie shoulder the responsibility of contesting the treacherous night section of the race which involved racing a 402km long stretch of desert that took 5-hours to complete.
With little night riding experience, and the added pressure of defending the #1 plate, Stokie soldiered on to become the first Australian to have ridden in the winning team at this event.
Words and pics by John Innes
