Our first look at Alice and the Finke Track, Robbo is pumped
Some of us were woken (at 1:00am) to the shrilling scream of Tony saying, “HELP BOYS, HELP BOYS, HELPPPPPPPPPP”
Shaymo was the first and only one who got up and tried to calm the big west coast eagles supporter down. He was sobbing at this time and tried to explain to a drowsy Shaymo that he was dreaming that Matty had put a big black snake in his swag with him………..At this point he was standing in the middle of the Erldunda camp ground in his spiderman undies and there were a few camps turning on lights to see what all the fuss was? Nothing to see here was the reply from Shaymo, the big fella was having a bad dream. Still not convinced, Tony searched the camp site holding the shovel looking for anything that looked like a serpent.
This was an entertaining breakfast conversation as we sat at the dining seats besides the fuel pumps at the roadhouse. Robbo had the standard, sausage roll and a chocolate milk, $12.50. Luckily he doesn’t eat that much, might need to second mortgage the house for lunch?
We asked Stat to leave 3 things before they took off that morning, 1) a splash of fuel ($2.30/ litre at Erldunda) , 2) tools for Robbos sprocket change and 3) Chainlube. Sure as the sun rises in the East and the 400 EXC is on the rack of shame, Statt left us nothing of the above!
Stat and Matt left at the plumbers crack of dawn to get a head start which left us to take an easy ride into Alice and hopefully will be able meet Statt and the newly repaired bike at the Finke turn off.
We arrived into Alice midmorning, caught up with Statt and Matt only to say they cant find what the problem is yet. As it was getting near lunch time we headed a servo and refueled in preparation for an early getaway.
We also tracked down the Yamaha shop and they were so happy to see the mighty Tenere make it this far, and while we there we fitted a smaller front sprocket in preparation for the Simpson. The big girls gearing was a little tall and hoped that this would keep her in the sweet spot of the torque curve. The mechanic could only stand in amazement how puished the Tenere’s crash bars were, and how much blood and DNA of Shaymos’s must still be out there on the Gin Barrel.
Lunch was a mixed affair, Robbo opted a Chiko Roll and vitamin water. Not sure why the left and right field choice? Maybe there is method in the madness? He said that its been more than 30 years since he was here in Alice, and it looked like the poor Chiko had been sitting in the bain marie for that amount of time too and he felt sorry for it. He also asked Raja behind the counter to give him his mobile number so if he got sick Robbo could track him down.
The mighty 400 EXC roared into life somewhere around the 1:13pm and we were off again bound for Finke.
The Finke track is one of those iconic pieces of Australia that every petrol head/ bogan should experience. Its fast, ridiculously rutted/ whooped and at times must be scary to race on. We did sections of the track as the bikes were not really set up for race mode. Robbo was in his element, the 530 was at home but the 25 litres of fuel on board was making it look tough. After 20kms at a time he was spent and looked very second hand. We took some more great footage and it was then Robbo laid the 530 down trying to chase Troy down. Only that his GoPro was on we feel we may never have been told the 530 touched the ground. We do have video footage the engine didn’t stop running and was righted within 2.1 seconds of the Fastway barkbuster touching the sacred Finke track.
On the road which follows the old Ghan railway has an old railway spike for what seems like every 300mm along the whole 238km. We couldn’t help but wonder how many flats or broken windscreen these would have caused over all these years.
We set up camp on the epic Finke race course and sent Shaymo off to find some sand dunes to practice on. The first one we found was decent and Shaymo was chomping at the bit to get over it. The accent was remarkable, but the turnaround at the top was Shaymo we know only too well. Work came over the UHF that Shaymo was down again and anyone within a 3 nautical mile radius was invited to come over for the recovery.
The boys in the cars were playing around in the dunes too and it was a day we all enjoyed. While camp was being set up there were more beverages falling out of the fridges and by the time dinner was prepared, the sun was setting and the steaks were hot off the grill. Statt made one of his favorites, tomato and onion Rattatui and what a crowd pleaser it was. Stat thought that making Shaymo mushroom risotto in the camp billy was a great idea at the time and it wont be until coffee time in the morning all the guys will be cursing the 109kg Tassie Devil master chef.
This is KTM in Alice Springs and gratefully they replaced the Stator in Statts 400 EXC, thanks guys for the prompt service
Rather than discover his inner self in the middle of one of our deserts Shaymo finds himself inside a newspaper in Alice Springs
The day the legend hit the deck - KTM 530 EXC Robbo - Image 1 of 4
The day the legend hit the deck - KTM 530 EXC Robbo - Image 2 of 4 - in trouble now
The day the legend hit the deck - KTM 530 EXC Robbo - Image 3 of 4 - oh dear hope no one is looking
The day the legend hit the deck - KTM 530 EXC Robbo - Image 4 of 4 - crap even Morrison got over this one :-(
Robbo hitting the Finke Track Woops at Speed
Shay has a crack at his first real sand dune , awesome job until he turns around - Tenere Down!
Abandoned water tank from the Ghan Railway
Oh no, Troy's mighty 690 Enduro R radiator decides to express itself
No problem
