Even though it is now only 8 years (since 2010) since the yearly trek to Team Hogan's Mungeree Homestead first happened, it has very quickly become a trials venue to be talked about with the same reverence as a Glenmaggie or a Pacific Park, and a 'must ride. venue for any trials rider in Australia! The 3rd weekend in May, and round 3 of TROY, has very quickly become 'the' weekend on the SA calendar!
A huge day on Saturday preceded the main event on Sunday, with a great coaching day, which included many trying to conquer 'The Wiidowmaker' hill climb, with a few tyre tracks being added to the top during the day and a brilliant Mini Trial session with 'guest coaches', SA's Team Australia Trials des Nations reps, Connor Hogan & Sofie Kraft, putting some very talented grommets through their paces in the Saturday arvo sunshine! After a couple of hours with Sofie & Connor, not only were there huge smiles on faces, but there was a heap more confidence and more than a bit of talent shining through - well done Mitchell, Thomas, Harry, Oliver & Flynn!
With the great weather it was after 5.00pm before all the crew headed back into the almost full campground to get ready for another Mungeree highlight - the Saturday night Woolshed Dinner, prepared by Tyler Hogan and a team of her friends and members (Mums) of the SA trials crew, with dinner served from 6.30pm. A record was set this year with around 120 meals served - a good ole Aussie roast (beef, lamb, pork, turkey, roast veg, gravy, home made hot rolls & fruit crumbles, custard & ice cream for dessert. After all that it was tough to roll out of the woolshed and back to the camp fires to tell the odd yarn!
Sunday dawned chilly but with blue skies, and with the lead up rains, it also meant for water in the creek as the 55 starters (60 entries in total, but a few DNS) looked forward to 4 laps of 10 of the best sections that Brenton & Connor Hogan could find - and in a new paddock this year, with a few more rocks and a few less logs! The other new idea for this year was the lads getting the tractor out and preparing a stadium style section at the homestead, and the Global Racing Oils (GRO) Section 10 was more than a hit with all of the spectators, especially with the deep water creek section 9 only a few metres away - it made for brilliant viewing!
Most of the classes went to script on the day, with a couple noticeable exceptions - Junior A & Junior B! 2 first up wins were recorded at Mungeree, with Hayden Eardley (A) and Lucy Cowan (B) both riding to their first ever wins in the classes, with this also being Lucy's first ever win in any trial after finishing 2nd to Ashley Barwick at the previous round. After coming up from Junior B Hayden had started with 2 2nd's, but he finally got the better of Coan Linke to get that break through as well! A huge congrats and well done to both for a trial well ridden!
Speaking of juniors - huge rides on the day were also made by Haydon Barwick & Alex Cowan (on his new Trialsport Beta) in B Grade and Liam Warnest & Josh Rees in C Grade, who were all right in the mix all day!
Another great thing to see was C Grade hit the magic 20 starters for the first time in many years, made possible by the return to trials (or solo action) after many years of Steve & MacKenzie Norton and a couple of former SA Junior Champions in David Baker & Christopher (Clark) Paunola, as well as Nick Fethers in B Grade!
A huge thanks must go to Team Hogan for another brilliant Mungeree Woolshed Trial, Brenton & Connor for setting the course in between WTC Trial125 duties, Tyler & crew for the great food all weekend, as well as all of their helpers over the weekend, the AJS MTC for helping to run the event, and, a huge thanks to all of Connor's friends who came out and observed - now rightly dubbed 'Australia's best observing team'!
TROY now takes a breather until the end of July and the Max Graetz Trial at Tungkillo, but before then the AJS MTC will be running a couple Come & Try & practise days, head to their website for all the details - www.ajs.asn.au - and the Keyneton MCC will be running the 44th Mountain Man Trial, the 'Rockhopping SA' SA Women's Cup & The Diener/Holmes Sidecar Trophy on June 18 at Eden Valley, with entries now open and online at www.trialsport.com.au/entries.
Full results from the Mungeree Woolshed Trial can be found here; http://www.ajs.asn.au/results/2017/2017-05-21.htm
TROY Series SA 2017 points table - after round 3 - are attached below.
MAGIC MUNGEREE 2017 - the photo round up is here - https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.1334001996676508.1073741919.204372842972768&type=3
MAGIC MUNGEREE 2017 - THE MINI TRIALERS ALBUM here - https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.1334464506630257.1073741921.204372842972768&type=3