Rider Blogs

The Team - 18th November 2007

Today was a rest and relaxation day for the Wellard Yamaha Team.
The awesome results of yesterday’s tests were just the icing on the cake for our first International Six Day Enduro!
Matt, Ben and Sean got to sleep in for the first time in a couple of weeks and we all just did our own thing to unwind a little from the hectic pace this event moves at.
We did a bit of shopping and some sight seeing around La Serena. Here are a few closing words from the riders.

Sean Blakeley – November 18

Tonight is our last night in La Serena. I have had a great 2 weeks and have enjoyed the racing. I was really happy with my Wellard Yamaha and the team’s results. Representing my country will be something I will remember for ever. I can´t thank Mauro and the Wellard Group enough for what he has done for me and the rest of the team.

Ben Lawton – November 18

Hey Friends and family,
 
Trip of a life time is nearly over, I had an absolute ball! This has been a massive eye opener for me, enjoying the different culture and ordering food I don´t know what it is.

Being involved in racing at an International level has been sooooo awesome along with being able to meet lots of great people. I have done my best to promote the Wellard Team and I had a great time on the track!

The Wellard Yamaha´s are absolutely awesome and I enjoyed the scenery of Chile and all the crazy hills and the way the whole of La Serena pulled together for this event. I would like to thank Mauro for the experience of a life time plus everyone who helped. I will never forget this!! For the last time,
Adios Amigo´s

P.S. John and Carol. You might want to pick Ben up from the airport on Wednesday not Thursday like he told you!

Matt Gangell – November 18

We have been here in La Serena for 2 weeks now and I have had so much fun and such a great time hanging out with the Wellard Team! I also had a great time racing as it was my first ever Enduro. My Wellard Yamaha WRF 250 was great to ride.

I would just like to thank Mauro for everything he has done for me and the Team. I can´t thank him enough for his generosity. I´ll never forget this trip!!

Pete and Dale – November 18

Wow, this has been one of the greatest experiences we have been involved with.

The logistics and management of this project have been enormous, sometimes trying but very fulfilling.

It has been a pleasure to have been involved with Sean, Ben and Matt. They represented their country in the best possible manner and are great young men on and off the track.

Considering this was our first event, their 24th outright in the clubmen class was an outstanding result for the Wellard Yamaha Team and we are very proud of their acheivement!

• This whole project would not have been possible without the support of many people and we would like to take this opportunity to thank:
• Cheryl Muldoon and Dave Hendry from Yamaha for our WRF 250´s.
• Bill Zwick and Aurelio Tacconi from Five Star Yamaha for all their help and the use of their shop.
• Sean Phillips from Belray for the supply of all lubricants.
• Geoff Ballard for sharing with us his wealth of six day experience.
• Ramon Horton for his valuable knowledge and advice.
• Families and friends who sent messages of support along the way.

Without all of you it would not have been possible to complete this project.
 
A huge thanks must go to Lisa Maclean from the Wellard Group for everything she has done to make this trip a success!
To Guglielmo the best Team Mechanic we will ever meet.
To Marco for his awesome graphics and his great sense of humour!
 
Last but not least we would like to thank Mauro Balzarini and his Wellard Group for giving these three young West Aussies and us the opportunity of a life time. Mauro your passion and energy are inspiring and we are proud to be associated with you and your vision for the future!
 
We will now go back to Australia to evaluate where the Wellard Yamaha Team will go from here. This has been a valuable learning experience all round and we will look forward to again representing our country in Greece for 2008 at the 83rd International Six Day Enduro!
 
Adios for the last time from The Wellard Yamaha Team in Chile.
 
Make sure you keep an eye out for all the action photo´s and video blogs that we will post upon our return!
 
Hasta Luego
(See you later)

Race Day 6 - Saturday November 16

Well what a day we´ve had! Today the Wellard Yamaha Team woke early with some anticipation of the day ahead of us.

 We were excited but also a little sad that we were already at the end of this fantastic experience, the time has flown by so fast.

Matt was our first rider for the day in the 9 lap Moto X feature event. After his highs and lows of the week he was really looking forward to this day.

For those of you who are unaware, this was Matt´s first ever Enduro ride. He came here to La Serena with no experience as an enduro rider,( nothing like starting at the top!) and will now go home a lot wiser and broadminded.

The race started with a sight lap to check the sandy track and warm the bikes then it was into the starting gates ready to race. When the gates dropped Matt holeshot the field on his Wellard Yamaha WRF 250 and began increasing his lead with every jump. He was first across the finish line lapping every rider except 2nd place.

 It was an awesome sight to watch and will be one of our best highlights of the trip! Matt had the third fastest time out of a field of more than 100! What an effort!
 
Our next Team rider was Ben. He had an awesome start and battled hard with a Spanish rider to maintain his good position through out the 9 laps, finishing strong in third place helping the team retain good times! Ben is an Enduro rider so this event was a challenge for him as he does not get much time on a Moto X track especially one as sandy as this. Great result!!
 
Sean was the last Wellard Yamaha rider for the day. He has been riding fantastic all week keeping great times on the trail sections and the special tests! With a full gate of the top 40 riders, Sean was unfortunately involved in a first corner pile up when a rider came down in front of him. He remounted his machine and was now in second last position.

With nothing to lose he wound the wick up on his Yamaha machine. His luck was again to run out when he crashed on the top of a sandy jump! This time he was unable to keep his bike running and once again went to the back of the field before he was able to restart. It wasn´t Sean´s strongest result for the week but it was a huge effort to finish! Sean also is an enduro rider and like Ben spends more time on a trail than on a track!
 
Team director, Mauro Balzarini was there to congratulate each and every rider as they came in from their race. He was very happy with their day’s results and commented that they had exceeded his expectations and was very proud of his team.
 
A quick note to indicate how well the Wellard Yamaha riders have been going. On day 5 they finished in 16th place which elevated them to 24th outright in a field of 92 teams, this included a DNF on day one. The team can only imagine where they would have been had it not been for this unfortunate incident.
 
Keep an eye out for our 6 day wrap up for the team!!
 
Adios
 
The Wellard Yamaha Team

Race Day 5 - Friday November 16

After yesterday’s fantastic result where the Wellard Yamaha Team performed brilliantly arriving on time at all check points and posting good times in the special tests, today had all the highs and lows that racing can sometimes bring! 

Matt, Sean and Ben were looking forward to their last full day’s racing and with good weather conditions and a new trail loop that hadn´t been ridden before all were keen.
Pete and Dale were on time control 1 and 7 for the day meaning we would see the riders first thing in the morning and last thing in the day as they completed the 250km loop. We also had a special test after our time control that was extremely rutted and rocky that tested their skills especially on their return later that afternoon.

All the riders were going well and things were looking good when we received a phone call that one of our riders had not checked in on time at the second last check point and had gone missing.

After a few more phone calls it was established that some of the sign posting before the previous time control was very vague causing Matt and many other riders to miss check point 6. About 40 mins later Matt arrived on his WRF to our time control.

This was a major concern for the Wellard Yamaha Team as by missing the previous time control it meant he would be excluded from the race.
Quick thinking by Marco ensured that when he arrived at our check point he was sent straight back to complete the special test and check in.

Though distressed and fatigued, Matt dug deep and managed to return back to us at time control 7 only losing 52 mins.
Sean and Ben had also seen the discrepancy in the directional arrows but through experience managed to choose the right path.

This issue caught many riders out and was to be discussed at the jury meeting that is held every night to resolve any problems that have arisen from that day’s racing.

We won´t find out the results until tomorrow. As the Wellard Yamaha Team now sits in 29th place outright it will be great if we are not penalised.

We are very proud of our Teams performance today, in these trying conditions and are all looking forward to tomorrow’s final  Motocross stage.
 
Adios
 
The Wellard Yamaha Team

Thursday November 15

Day 4 saw the Wellard Yamaha Team smoking there way through the field. Once again they were up in the mountains to the East of La Serena.

Today´s windy conditions helped a lot to blow the dust off the trails and keep the riders cooler.
Having ridden the same stage the day before all three of the boys were familiar with what they had to do!

By day's end they had pushed their WRF250´s hard, and all had made it home safely. To this point we do not have the results but the boys are extremely happy with their 18th overall finish on Day 3 which moved them up to 37th outright from the 91 club teams! Go W.A.
 
Adios
 
The Wellard Yamaha Team

Wednesday November 14

Another great day for the Wellard Yamaha Team! We wanted one of the riders to do this story but after riding 7 hours per day for the last few days they have been having dinner then heading off to bed leaving us to post this update from their comments from today.
 
Day 3 saw the riders heading East into the mountains to the wine region on a new trail!

We woke up to sunshine this morning which was quite unusual as most mornings have started cloudy. There was a lot of road section in today´s trail that was not as challenging for the boys.

"We did an awesome special test that was all just river stones and while climbing through the mountains saw villages pop out of nowhere," said Matt.

One of the time controls was situated by a local school and all the children were allowed to come out and see the bikes as we stopped to refuel and get a drink.

Ben was pumped all day long and considered this to be the best day so far. Matt also managed to crash into a cactus so was removing spikes out of his hand after dinner. (Nothing too serious).

Sean was comfortable all day and loved the scenery in the mountain ranges.

Mauro got in some riding on the spare WRF 250 as he made his way from check point to check point encouraging the boys along the way.
 
Back into the mountains tomorrow for day 4.
 
Adios
 
The Wellard Yamaha Team

Tuesday November 13

After yesterday’s bad luck, race Day two was far better for the Wellard Yamaha Team.

Matt finally got to race in his first ever Enduro and was smoking the course all day. While Ben and Sean race Enduro´s at home this was totally new to Matt, having to contend with control check points and timed special test stages.

It was very dusty and visibillity was not good at all today but the three WRF 250 mounted riders all managed to complete the course in the designated time without penalties.

Sean commented on how well his Four stroke Yamaha handled the conditions and was especially impressed at their ability to climb the steep rocky sections while maintaining traction.
Ben has become an expert at changing mousse tubes and loves the easy access of the WRF to get to the air filters for changing in the tight work periods.

We are grateful for all your e-mail comments to the boys via the website and hope you are enjoying the updates of how we are going. If you have any questions on the riders or about the team just go to the contact the team sections and we promise to answer you queries as best we can.
 
Tomorrow the riders head up into the Andes mountains for the next stage of the event, so until then bye for now!!
 
The Wellard Yamaha Team.    

Monday November 12

Race day has finally arrived!

Sean, Ben and Matt were all pumped and raring to go.
The beginning of the day had a special test as soon as the bikes left the Parc Ferme!

Matt and Sean were the first to leave for the Wellard Team with Ben starting about 15 minutes later. Pete and Dale were at the first time control whilst Mauro, Guglielmo and Marco would move from control to control.

As with all good race plans they can unexpectedly change! Sean arrived at the first check point with the worst possible news. Matt´s bike had stopped during the first special test stage.

As with the rules with Enduro, you are given one hour to rectify the problem to enable you to continue in the race, unlike motocross where help is at hand. Unfortunately Matt was far from assistance and with the tests being on beach sand he took more than his allocated time to get his bike back to the Parc Ferme thus timing out and eliminating him from continuing for the day!

In the mean time, Sean and Ben were pushing their WRF 250ss through the sand, rock and very dusty conditions. The temperature increased through the day meaning rehydration was very important!

Both Wellard Yamaha riders managed to come in on time at every control! They also performed extremely well in all the special test stages!
After 7 hours on the trail both riders completed the fifteen minute service window, changing a rear tyre and air filter with ease so the bikes were ready for the next days racing.

With Matt´s bike ready to go again all three are ready for a great ride tomorrow!

Sunday 11th November

Sunday was our last day for preparation. The boys completed walking the special tests while the rest of the Team ensured things were ready to go, back at the Parc Ferme.

Click here  to view November 11 video blog from each rider

Saturday November 10 – The Team

Sorry for the lack of updates! Life in Chile is really crazy at the moment!
On Saturday night the Wellard Yamaha Team proudly marched with all the other countries of the world in the opening ceremony of the International Six Day Enduro here in La Serena, Chile. It was telecast live on T.V. with the finale being a massive fire works display! This is something we will all remember for some time!

Sean's Blog - November 9

Today we walked another test for days 3 and 4. The ground is really rocky and has some small hills. It was one of the best tests we´ve seen so far but we still have four to walk before Monday ( Plenty of time.)

We also practised our mousse and tyre changing on our spare bike. Matt and Ben have got this down pat already, one more thing we don´t have to worry about come race time.

Guglielmo has fitted the full graphics kits to the spare and Mauro´s transport bike so they look just like our Wellard Yamaha race bikes.

We will try and find the other special tests tomorrow and then we will be ready to race. We got lost trying to find the test today and though I was driving Matt and Ben tried to blame me even though they were both navigating!  We ended up driving for 30km´s on the actual race track without knowing which was really rocky and hilly. Wish we had of hired a 4 wheel drive and not a Corolla! 

What an adventure we are having!
 
Adios
 
Sean

 

The team - November 8

Today we were very relieved to make it through scrutineering as this was our first introduction to Six Day Enduro. From now on the Wellard Yamaha WRF250´s are locked away in the Parc Ferme only to be removed for a ten minute work period in the morning and 15mins at the end of the 250km loop each day! For the next couple of days while we prep things in the work area Sean, Ben and Matt will practice changing the special mousse tubes we will use for the event and walk the test stages to familiarise themselves with the course as this is where time will be important.! We had light misty rain on and off but not enough to keep the dust down!

 

 

 

Ben's Blog - November 8

Hey friends and Family,
 
Another foggy morning today but probably the calmest day so far! The pits are getting bigger and bigger every day with 560 bikes entered.
The Wellard Yamaha set up is looking insanely professional.

My WRF250 is looking very pro with all the Wellard graphics on! Can´t wait until we can post a picture!
All our Yamaha´s are looking like GP bikes and we all managed to pass scrutineering first shot. We are in the high 200´s – which will make us about mid field so hopefully the trails will hold together.

We walked a couple of test stages yesterday , the terrain looked like it was out of a western but it is going to be sweet fun!! I´m having a ball and enjoying the diverse culture.
Will keep in touch
 
Ben

The team - November 7

Thanks everyone for all the great emails and words of encouragement, they really mean a lot!
We will be able to send video blogs and photos in a few days…hopefully!
Well, today with all our testing finished, the bikes were washed, graphics applied and prepped for racing by Guglielmo our team technician.
The boys took the advantage of having some free time and were able to walk some of the special test stages.
"It looked like a scene from an old western movie complete with cactuses," commented Sean.
Matt said: "The first couple of tests should be awesome, wide and fast similar to a motocross track.
Ben said: "The dust will be a big issue with the land being really dry and not much vegetation in some places." 
Today was overcast and cooler than it has been, which will great for racing if it stays that way.
Tomorrow is technical inspection and sign in so until then…..Adios
The Wellard Yamaha Team

The team - November 6

Today we spent unpacking the container and setting up the bikes to suit the individual riders. This was mainly fine tuning the suspension and fitting preferred handle bars, grips etc.

 

The boys took their WRF250´s for their first ride on Chilean soil to run them in before hitting the test track.

 

The test circuit is very dry with deep beach sand which they all loved as it is very similar to W.A. sand tracks!

 

Most of the teams have arrived now, and the paddock is getting very full. The weather was perfect, reaching a beautiful 19 degrees.

We have all been eating well, with special mentions to Matt who has hollow legs that you can never fill!

 

Tonight Geoff Ballard gave the boys valuable tips over dinner along with some great stories of when he and Guglielmo were factory Maico riders.
Life is good!
 
Until next update
 
The Wellard Yamaha Team

 

The Team - November 5

Well we are finally here after a massive 29 hour haul!
The trip from Perth to Sydney was smooth and the 5 hour stop over went pretty quick.

We met up with most of the Australian Team for the first time and everyone was quite friendly.

Unfortunately the 3 hour flight to Auckland N.Z. was not as smooth! The turbulence started from the time we left till the time we touched down.
Most of us missed out on any food or water as the flight attendants were unable to make it down the aisle, so when we landed at the airport we all rushed into Burger King for a Whopper (not very healthy but it filled the spot)

The 10 hour flight from Auckland to Santiago was long but smooth. Most of us managed to get some sleep which made the time go quicker.

After we collected our luggage from the International airport we checked it back into the domestic for the last flight up to La Serena, our final destination!
Lucky for us one of the wives from the Australian Team had cousins living in Santiago so they had organised to take us out for lunch and do a bit of sight seeing to fill in our 8 hour stopover!
25 of us piled into a mini bus and a few cars with a few getting a ride in the back of the ute! (No strict road rules over here).
Lunch was awesome! Our first delight of Chilean cuisine!
Next was a touch of culture , a visit to the statue on top of the mountain. The view from there was fantastic 360 degrees of the city.

Before we knew it, it was time to head back to the airport for our final flight which thankfully was short and sweet, only 45 mins.
We picked up our hire cars and headed straight for the hotel! Boy,were we glad to get to bed.
Today we found our way to the Parc Ferme! Our container has made it safe and sound with everything still in order.

As it is still a week away to the beginning of racing, containers and riders are still arriving and work on the tracks are still in progress. We had an easy day familiarising ourselves with our new surroundings!
 The boys are all trying to get over their jet lag so tomorrow we should be all back on board and ready to roll!
 
Until next update
Adios
 
The Wellard Yamaha Team
 
P.S. We are exactly 12 hours behind Perth time

Sean Blakeley (August 28)

I can honesty say that I thought that someone was "pulling my leg" when I was offered the spot on the Wellard Yamaha ISDE 2007 team..  I remember thinking this must be a practical joke, and afterwards when I knew it was a real offer, I just couldn't believe my luck!
 I was very proud I couldn't wait to tell my family and friends. 

I have never been outside of Australia before and I am very excited about competing at international level.
I have watched many of the ISDE dvd's and I can't believe I will be competing in one in a few months.

Riding a six day enduro no doubt will be tough. I competed in this year’s Australian 4 Day Enduro and I learned a lot from the experience.  Obviously the terrain will be harder and the competition stronger, however, with the guidance of our experienced team and by staying focussed I believe I will finish the event with no penalties. 

To prepare for this physically gruelling race  I attend gym four nights a week where I have circuit work to do.
On the weekends when we have no events, I organise a 100-120km squirt with some fast riders on Sunday mornings.
On Saturday's I have a special test set up locally where I can practise. We also compete in Natural Terrain moto's and pony express events which keeps the bike fitness where it should be.

So far this year my results have been pretty good. I finished first in Class (250 two stroke) and second outright at the recent Smoke Free- State Enduro Championship (round four). 
At the A4DE I was the fastest WA-based rider and finished 20th in my class. I was very pleased with my performance in the last day's motox of the A4DE  I had the opportunity to mix it with big boys and loved it!

So bring on Chile!!!