Preview: 2014 Australian Four Day Enduro

The 2014 Yamaha Australian Four Day Enduro (A4DE) will be staged at Riverwood Downs, near Dungog (NSW) starting on Monday, August 11, and finishing up on the following Thursday with the traditional final motocross test.  In between, competitors will tackle a range of trails and be subjected to numerous special tests to help determine class and outright winners.

The prestigious and high-profile off-road event is on track to be a massive success with the motorcycle industry and local community rallying around the showpiece, which has attracted 300 competitors and the best local line-up of local talent in some years – the only notable absentee is reigning world enduro champion Matt Phillips (who was injured last weekend and would have been a scratching anyway).

Phillips finished third outright last year, but the riders who finished ahead of him, Daniel Milner (pictured) and Chris Hollis, will return in 2014 on their Yamahas, and other contenders for outright honours include expat Josh Strang (Yamaha), Toby Price (KTM), Josh Green (Yamaha), Glenn Kearney (Husqvarna), Jarod Bewley (Husaberg), Tom McCormack (Yamaha) and Lachlan Stanford (Husqvarna).

Strang has been in fine form in the 2014 GNCC off-road title in America, and is currently lying third after nine of 13 rounds, while Price has been the dominant player in local competition, leading the Australian Off-Road Championship as well as nailing both the Finke and Hattah desert races in sublime fashion.

Meanwhile, the international contingent is wafer thin but exceptional: New Zealander extreme enduro star Chris Birch (KTM) and former American motocross and EnduroCross champion Mike Brown (Husqvarna). Birch was sixth in the 2014 Romaniacs extreme enduro, while Brown took out Australia’s inaugural Enduro-X Nationals earlier this year.

There are also classes for women, veterans and masters competitors, as well as teams-based classifications and the Oceania Challenge.

All the riders and teams will be based at the Riverwood Downs Resort with the entire course branching out from the location. The trails in the area are a great mix of dirt and terrain with plenty of challenges to keep the riders on their toes and determine the best of the best.

The first A4DE was run back in 1978 and this year marks the 36th consecutive running of the event. Competitors will race over four days with a range of trail sections as well as numerous special tests throughout each day before the final motocross moto to determine class and outright winners.

For more information on the 2014 Yamaha A4DE, www.a4de.com.au.