2011 KTM Dealer Ride Tassie

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April 2011 - Victoria KTM Dealer Ride Hits TassIE

It was the 16th Victorian KTM dealer ride in 2011, what started as a trailride back in the day with Bruce and the crew from Bolton MC with their special customers, has turned into an annual ritual every year for all Vic KTM dealers. From the High Country, Tasmania, W.A, and the Otways, the KTM dealer ride is a ride not to be missed on the Vic KTM calendar. Its the 4thyear in a row that KTM Australia has asked Otway Off-Road to host the legendary annual event. The ride in Nth East Tassy was taking shape in late 2010. All the planets aligned with bike transport contacts, local track knowledge lined up with our mates at the new tour business, DirtTrax Tas, and the ability to make it all come together was too good an opportunity to miss out on. The KTM dealer ride had been to Tassy in 03, and the word was that it was one of the best ever, could we top it??? The adventure to Tass had to include flights to Launceston and return, transfers to Scottsdale and return, bike transport via sea all at the same time, and 3 days of riding with a minimum of time off work. This has to top 2003.... 4 days total, is it possible?? I know the boys have got the trails, will it all work?

Well what can i say... it went off!!! Hell, don`t just take my word for it !!

Wow, what an unbelievable tour. The mix of terrain was amazing, nice challenging climbs followed by sand dunes on the beach then to top it off lots of flowing single track which is my type of riding. Dirt Trax ran an exceptional tour with absolutely no hassles. My score 10 out of 10.

Jeff Leisk. KTM Australia

When I first pulled up in the bus to Dirt Trax facility I knew it was going to be well organised and a premium 3 days of riding as all 50 of the bikes were lined up gassed up and ready to go.

After meeting everyone and a quick debrief we were off and the body was ready for some adventure! What I did not expect was the amazing trails and different combinations of soils we went through!Being from New Zealand and travelled the world with racing I thought I had seen and done it all but the crew from Dirt Trax gave me a new lease of life and a want to come back and do it all again.

Shayne King NZ

What more can be said!! Here`s a brief rundown on an exceptional 3 day tour in Tassy.

We jetted off on Wednesday night after work heading for Launceston with the other 52 riders... Yes thats correct 52...of us!! Including legends Jeff Leisk, V8 supercar hero Marcu..... opps sorry Murph, Greg Murphy, and former world 500cc motorcross champ NZ hero Shayne King... The usual Legends were present, Bruce B, Freddo, Pistol, Sac, Freddo, Tank, Deano, Freddo, Collar bone Caser, did i mention freddo?? In Launy we picked up our Coach transfer to Scottsdale Tassy, All up around a 3 hr journey from Melbourne. Hell that sure beats 2 x all nighters on the spirit!!

Arrival time in good old bustling Scottsdale around 11pm. It was straight to bed for night night... yeah right it was straight to the bar for some ales to celebrate Dealer ride day 2011...

Day 1:

Its up early for breaky at Kendalls before a short bus trip and 15min to the start of our ride at the DirtTrax Tas HQ. Well what can i say 52 KTMs lined up in the Poddock..woohoo it looked like the 2011 A4DE was in Scottsdale!! Every model of KTM was present even the Green machine was there..

Anyhow it was a quick riders briefing and explanation of the crash account ( $1 for everytime your handlebars touch the ground) it was time to introduce the crew who were hosting the ride the boys from DirtTrax Tas, Corey and Stewie.. These boys were green as, and packing there dax!!But what can is say, when its time to step up, these boys stepped up!! They had sublime mountain trails, slippery single track, soggy sand dunes, and the best hand manicured loamy 4wheeler width track you`ve ever ridden just to finish us off, and that was just day 1!! The highlight for the day, Tanks 80km per hour aquaplane across a waist deep billabong in the sand dunes.. Its was unreal!! (You`ll have to check it out on the DVD coming with June 2011 issue of TBAM magazine). After some heroic sand dune erzberg moments from Bruco, Deano and the Vos, not to mention some NZ airline take offs from Kingy it was off to our overnight destination at the Bridport beach resort.. Great accommodation, incredible meals and very filling cream pastrys.. Hey Grechy!

Day2:

After the usual nightime shinanigans on the KTM dealer ride we left early on day 2 and hit the sandy woops and wicked single track and the hill for the day which at least 15 riders failed to make an attempt..well what can we say other than.....Softco......s!!! No seriously it is an intimidating sight to see 50 riders staring down at you as you attempt to have a crack at the hill..laughing, throwing stuff at you, and Freddo pushing Tank off near the top!! Haha!!I`m not sure Tank was quite as impressed...After lunch we had our first bike breakdown, yes the only 3 bikes that were not orange... a blue one , broke down.. was that an omen or what!! Day one was also the downfall of one of the support guys on a sawing machine, poor fella went down hard, this was weird, were Bruce and Freddo doing some sort of KTM which doctor stuff or what?? Anyhow we then entered some of the best single lane stuff you could imagine just like home with slippery corners, and slimy logs which stopped a few in their tracks..It was never ending and as fun as any single track i`ve ever ridden..

Night 2 at Gladstone was great, the old timber clad pub had heaps character and very friendly locals as we were about to find out, still in our riding gear we went to grab some shandies... HOW THE F...K ARE YOU FELLAS greeted us by a toothless local in front of the fire, followed by WHERE THE F..K AV YOUSE BEEN, it was an impressive greet by the old fella and we had a good laugh at our 2 headed cousins in Tassy.....(haha just joking corey!!)

Day 3:

Some more awesome sandy trails, with lots of water and erosion kickers about.. we were riding along Banga`s track when i swear Murph hit the same kicker old mate Banga hit 2 years before and did the biggest superman in history, (and still rode on.. Thats another story).. So Murph has a huge swapper in front of me and Kingy, and nearly saves it.. i swear the back nearly overtook the front of Murphs Berger sort of simular to Ambroses car over the rail up on Mt P back in the day.. Anyhow Murph had some words with the kicker and continued....We rode another magnificent day heading back for Scottsdale with a river crossing that claimed a few, won`t mention any names, like Deano....After stripping the bike to all 8 bits ( KTMs are pretty easy to take apart) the bike was going in around 15 hours........ sorry Deano.

The last track of the day was one of the best in history, imagine this...private track, hand build over 7 weeks, dark with fern cover the whole way, around 15 min long, (30 minutes for Kingy), flat as a pancake, wet and slippery, 4wheeler width, 3rd and 4th gear 2 wheel drifting around corners...you get the scene, amazing stuff on a dirt bike..this is the sort of thing the DirtTrax boys have put together for their customers..the whole 3 days was just amazing trails, and top it off with some hand crafted love was a privilege! Thanks fellas! Can`t wait to come back in November! (Oh and how much did was collected on the crash account, around 500 bucks!!)

Check out the info on the Tasmaniac 3 day tour, along with the ultimate tour of a lifetime, the 7 day Trans Tassie Odyssey both in November 2011. If your keen, you better bust a move as both these tours will sell out quickly.

Woohoo! Can`t wait!!