Fast and furious Polaris RZR Championship opener

Bikesales was a part of history at the Mt Kembla (NSW) motocross track on Anzac Day when we saddled up in the first ever round of the Polaris RZR Australian Championship.

It was a brilliant day as the RZR 1000s were let loose in snarling packs of six across 20 races, with Australia's newest form of motorsport not only proving to be ridiculously enjoyable for the drivers, but spectators also got their money's worth as well — and the biggest eye-catching moment was nearly saved to last as actor Shane Jacobson end-for-ended his RZR over the gnarliest, fastest and most technical jump on the expansive Mt Kembla track.

But in true show business fashion, he alighted from his very second-hand but fixable car and bowed to the crowd — a bit shaken but otherwise okay, which was a real fillip for the CAMS-approved roll cage and six-point harnesses fitted to all the vehicles.
Jacobson was part of the Polaris Dealer Team alongside Bikesales and renowned stuntman Matt Mingay and, as fate would have it, we were drawn against each other in our opening races. But the rot had already stated to set in for us when we were only left with two-wheel drive after breaking a prop shaft in practice. There wasn't a spare, so while all the other 23 drivers had four-wheel drive we had to make do with the full 110hp just pushing through the rear wheels — so any holeshot aspirations were quickly quashed.

Still, Bikesales got away in third in race one and we were right on the bumper of the leaders — Mingay was second — when the right-hand side drive shaft gave up the ghost.

I then missed race two while the RZR was being repaired, but the narrative was now set in stone: broken axles in races three and four while in third position. We failed to complete one full lap in either. With spares exhausted, that was Bikesales' day over. A big thanks to the four-seater RZR 1000 for towing me back to the pits three times!

Polaris' tech guru told me afterwards that because our car was doubling its efforts in two-wheel drive, it was just too much for the drive shafts to bear on some of the brutal and steep Mt Kembla jumps.

Mind you, many teams also paid visits to the hard-working Polaris techs, with drive shaft failure the most common theme. And it wasn't just the  rookies feeling the heat: even stars like Molly Taylor were forced out of proceedings with mechanical gremlins, which sullied an otherwise fantastic day.

There's no doubt the opener was always going to be a massive learning curve for the promoter, Polaris Australia, teams and drivers, and the aggressive nature of the Mt Kembla track definitely exacerbated the number of DNFs.  But the level of commitment from Polaris Australia to the championship is unquestioned — all its top brass made it to Mt Kembla as a show of support — and the kinks will certainly be ironed out, starting with round two in Albury-Wodonga on May 23. If you live in or near the NSW-Vic border towns, get along to catch all the action!

Bikesales will be running a full event wrap from Mt Kembla  later this week, but in the meantime check out the following highlights package, which includes the Jacobson pyrotechnics.