POM Motorcycle racing off with a bang

THE Port Moresby Motorcycle Club’s racing season starts on Sunday with the Big Gun 3-Hour Enduro to be held just outside Port Moresby.
Riders will have to complete as many laps as possible within a three-hour period over a gruelling natural terrain course which will be made more difficult with the recent rain.
The Big Gun signals the beginning of the racing season for the club, with attention focused on the growing Yamaha and Honda rivalry.
A surprise welcome return by local fastman Hans Pedersen, who has traded flying aircraft in Dubai to partnering the low flying 2009 Six-Hour Enduro winner, Max Beagrie, in the Pony Express Class.
This class allows a team of two riders two motorcycles or two riders one motorcycle tackling the course a lap at a time and will also feature the perennial favourite father and son team of Sean and Jack Paton.
Racing is expected to be close with last year’s Big Gun winner Jason James, who is not expected to let the Big Gun title go easily.
Honda riders Chris Pevey and Mal Woods will no doubt keep the heat on James throughout the event.
Like PNG itself, this style of racing offers the unexpected.
A leading rider with years of experience can come unstuck and withdraw from the race through physical injury or mechanical failure and hand the race lead over.
High speed is not an ultimate requirement, swift navigation through rocks, dense scrub, steep uphills and past other riders is the name of the game.