Jeffries and co bag Enduro race

By HENRY MORABANG
TEAM Australia led by visiting motorcyclist Andrew Jeffries from Moranbah in Queensland won the Ela Motors Yamaha Tri-Nations Motorcycle Enduro in Lae over the weekend.
Jeffries teamed up with local Aussies in Chris Pevy and Brad Leyden to win the race on count back on time over Team PNG.
Team PNG with Dan Hargraves, Chris Baker and Ben Frame put in 16 laps while Team New Zealand with Peter “Tossa” Boyd, Rahui Reeves and Simon Faddes put in a credible 14 laps in the muddy conditions.
The weekend started with a meet-and-greet for the competitors at the Ela Motors show room on Friday night.
The competitors had their “race” faces on and shared an evening talking shop and discussing the new range of 2012 Yamaha WR450 Motor bikes, jet skis and portable equipment.
There were a few jokes and jibes about the outcome as the teams sized each other up.
Saturday showed a very wet day ahead, not to be daunted some hardy souls took to the tracks at Erap farms and got a bit of practice in before the big event on Sunday.
With wet conditions Baker from Lae led the way and showed the out-of-town riders the fantastic scenery and riding that was available in the Morobe province.
Sunday saw more wet conditions, but with a good field of riders keen to get racing, the convoy headed out to the track to assess the track.
“Decidedly wet” was the call and after clearing the track of some fallen debris on the sighting lap the racers lined up in their groups and started.
The first lap was the fastest for the day as riders broke away from the pack and made great time in the treacherous conditions.
Hargraves and Jeffries fought for the lead the entire race but a crash on the last lap saw Hargraves drop a lot of time and eventually finish second.
It was a great race with plenty of technical challenges that kept the riders concentrating for the whole race.
The end of two-hour race saw many trail-weary riders and the sweep rider Mark Hobden was there to pick up the pieces when it all went wrong.
A big thanks to Ela Motors and the boys from the Morobe Motorcycle Club, Peter Boyd & Riback Stevedores a very memorable race and a great weekend.