IT’S LOUD, it’s dirty and next weekend it’s the place to be as Casterton hosts the big double-header of rounds seven and eight of the Vic OffRoad Championship and Australian Enduro Championship – this year branded ‘Casterton Sandstorm’.
Voted round of the series in the Vic OffRoads for the past two seasons, Casterton Sporting Motorcycle Club’s Dunrobin track event is inarguably the crowd favourite, organisers taking to Facebook last week, spruiking this year’s series as potentially “the biggest VORC/AEC in history!”.
“Just 2 weeks before Hattah, there’s no better way to get your preparations in before the big dance!” is the message from VORC social media.
Club president Lachlan Tindall said when organisers approached the club to host the national round alongside the state title, the opportunity was too good to say ‘no’.
“It’s no mean feat for a small club in a small town to host an event as part of the national series, but the riders like what we do, so here we are,” Tindall said.
“I think everything from providing the live footage online, the big screens, the facilities we have got out here, we’re just giving the riders what they want.
“And we have got a really good track out here, challenging and in the lead up to Hattah, it complements it really well.”
He said with the addition of the national round to this year’s event, the field of just under 400 riders in 2024, was expected to swell to as many as 500.
“We had 370 riders at our event last year and the prediction, with the attraction of the Australian series event, is 450 to 500 riders,” Tindall said.
“And it means our locals will get to compete on the same track and spectators will get to see some of the best riders in the world compete, right here at Dunrobin.
“It does not get much better than that.”
Among names tipped to take to the McCalmans Road track are honorary local, Andy Wilksch, who enters the Casterton round with a Pro/Expert Outright win for round six and Daniel Milner who, after breaking his collarbone in an early round of the state title, returned to the track just three weeks later to take line honours in the premier E2 class of the Australian enduro.
And there’ll be plenty of local names on the big screen as well, with the Tindal brothers, Angus and Oscar, as well as Sid and Axl O’Brien and Brody Davis, among the nominees for next weekend’s events.
The local lads had a great start to the series when they headed to round one at Rawson, with Syd taking fifth place in his junior cross country class and ninth in the springs, Oscar finishing seventh in the cross country and ninth in the sprints and Angus finishing seventh overall in the cross country and fifth in the prints, in his class.
Riding his first year in seniors, Axl O’Brien also had a big start to the season, finishing 14th and 17th overall in the cross country and sprints, respectively.
At the end of May, Angus finished rounds five and six with a ninth out of a field of 58 in the J2 at Mildura, while Oscar took out seventh in the J1.
And in the seniors, Axl O’Brien again held his own finishing 13th in the C1 class.
Action for the Casterton rounds takes off at 8am on both Saturday and Sunday, 28 and 29 June, with spectator vantage points around the track and there will be full catering on site with The Catching Pen, Casterton RSL Sub-Branch and Dergholm Pub Pizzas ready to feed the masses.
There is plenty of easy-access parking on-site and getting there is easy – just head out the Penola or Apsley Roads from Casterton and follow the signs.
