Racing News |
Daniel Fraser: SART Championship Round 3, Lew Job 2-Day Trial
Location: Robertstown
Date: 7-8th June 2025
Class:G
Result: 1st in class, 9th outright
SA Motorcycles Team Green Rider, Daniel Fraser, has completed Rd 2 of the South Australian Reliability Trail. This is Daniel's take on the event:
Well, we did complain about the dust…..
After round 2 of the SART series was postponed due to dry conditions, I wasn’t too sure what to expect at Robertstown. Up until a few weeks ago, South Australia was still very much in a drought. But as you’ll read, the rain finally came and the conditions on the weekend were about as far from a drought as they could be!
The Lew Job Trial, also known as the Robbie 2-day is held annually on the King’s Birthday Long weekend around the township and surrounding areas of Robertstown. It is run as a 12hr reliability trial with 6hrs of racing on Saturday as a day/night format and the remaining 6hrs run as a daytime trial on Sunday. I drew a starting position of 58th, which I was pretty happy with. Far enough back in the field to have a track to follow but not too far where the track is blown out.
With rain on the forecast, I knew we might be in for a wet event, it was blowing a gale when we arrived at the event and dark clouds were on the horizon. I left main control at 1:58pm and got about half-way through the first section, the infamous “springhut creek” before the rain set in. It was only a light shower at first, which didn’t affect me much in the section but when I got to the end control and pulled out onto the road it absolutely bucketed down. The rain was coming in sideways and the wind was pushing my bike all-over the road, making riding even at the speed limit hairy! It was raining so hard that my lips were stinging with the speed that the rain was coming into my helmet! I don’t think I’ve ever ridden in anything like it. Thankfully it was a relatively short transport between section 1 and 2, and I was able to get out of the wind at the control point. On the road I could feel my boots filling up with water and when I took my hands off the bars at the control a few hundred mL of water came out of each sleeve! Section 2 was on the same property I had raced in 2023, so had a rough idea of what to expect. However, the rain had made everything super slick, and traction was hard to find. Section 3 was even worse; it was in the rocky hills to the north-west of Robertstown and was a challenge in the wet. Compared to other riders, I actually really enjoyed section 3, It was very “enduro GP esque” rocky sections, steep stuff and a snotty creek climb for good measure. Don’t get me wrong, it was tough, but it was refreshing to see some different terrain at a road trial. Section 4 and 5 were almost like a different climate, they were absolutely soaked when I got there, loads of standing water on the ground and the clay soil was very slick. I got through both sections without drama and made my way down to section 6.
At the Robby 2-day, the organizing club love putting in a creek crossing or bog hole. Each year this attracts a large crowd of spectators, hoping to see some carnage at someone else’s expense. I had heard section 6 was on a flood plain and might not handle water all that well. Turns out what I heard was correct, the section went straight up a big slippery hill before coming down the other side and zig-zagging its way across the flood plain between the reeds. When I got down to the reeds there was about 200mm of standing water on the ground. I had to just hold the bike wide and look for the clear lines. Then right near the end, the track crossed a deep part of the creek, and several bikes had already got stuck. I tried to aim for a patch of reeds and drop the clutch on the downside of the creek bank to get me through. I got hung up more than expected but kept the bike moving and got out the other side. After that I headed back to main control to try and dry out for a few minutes before heading out on the night lap.
The track was in really poor shape on the second lap, mud everywhere and clean lines were hard to find. I do a lot of practice riding in the Adelaide hills which can get very wet, so I consider myself an ok mud rider. But it felt hard to get into a groove on the second lap. I had to remind myself that everyone is probably in the same boat and I just had to keep trucking! Thankfully, I had an uneventful night lap. Some of the downhills were so slick and sketchy I was worried I wasn’t going to make the turn at the bottom! Other than an off-track excursion into a small gumtree, I kept it on two wheels. When I got to the end of section 5, the control keepers told me that section 6 had been cut. I’m guessing a few sidecars would’ve had a tough time through there and they figured pulling the section was the safest option. I ended the first day 5th in outright clubman and 1st in class. I think I was somewhere in the early teens outright but knew I had the pace to make up some positions on Sunday.
Thankfully the wind and heavy rain had eased by Sunday morning, there were still passing showers but nowhere near as bad as the first day. Saturday was tough, with 60 odd bikes pulling out or not finishing the first day. The first few sections were unreal on Sunday, despite all the rain they were loamy, and I felt like I could carry so much speed through them. Unfortunately, the awesome conditions didn’t last and was a real mud fest once we got back into the hills. Section 3 had lines going in every direction as people were trying to avoid the bog holes. The rest of my laps went well, some of the hills were like streams with the amount of water running down the track but once again kept it upright and just went about ticking off sections.
I had been checking my lights and horn regularly to make sure everything was in working order to avoid getting penalized at the end. During the last lap, my taillight had started to flicker when it was turned on. Once it was on, it worked as expected so I figured I’d just have to check it at the end and hope for the best. Unfortunately, when I checked it at the start of the last section it was out. I made it through that section and stopped at the work point before going into main. Given the conditions I assumed water ingress was my issue. I sprayed a heap of inox and jiggled the wiring into the taillight to try and get to function again with no luck. I decided I’d have to just cop the penalty rather than loose time pulling it apart. I rode into main and to my surprise, got through the bike inspection without issue. Thankfully on the ride from the work point to main it had started working again and I avoided a penalty! Stoked to finally have some luck at a road trial.
I ended up winning my class, finished 3rd in outright clubman and 9th outright. I’m happy to know I’ve got the pace to run up front and climb up the leader board when needed! It’s a quick turn-around before the next road trial on the 21st of June, mud races are generally hard on equipment, and I’ve got quite the list to sort out or replace before the next event! It’s going to be a busy lead up but keen to keep the momentum going at Clare!
