Sherco riders had a successful weekend at the recent 2017 Vine Inn Barossa Australian Trials Championships held in the beautiful Barossa Valley in South Australia’s wine region.
Sherco riders took out Australian Championship Titles at both ends of the spectrum with Canberra’s Luke Anderson taking out the Mens Masters Title and proving its in the genes his Aunt, Bev Anderson taking the win in the Womens Masters class. Luke on his FACTORY Sherco ST250 was the dark horse coming in to the event but held on to win by 1 point from Brendan Johnson of Victoria followed closely by Sydney’s Martin O’Connor in 3rd place on his Sherco ST300.
Bev Anderson (Sherco ST250) took the win in Womens Masters class from Julie Collins also from Canberra on her Sherco 200. In 3rd place & matching her husband’s effort was Sydney’s Deena O’Connor on her Sherco ST125.
At the other end of the Championship classes was the hard fought Junior under 13 class with Sherco riders Rhys Dundon & Haydon Barwick on their Sherco ST125’s fighting it out all weekend. Rhys had the lead after Day 1 but Haydon fought back with a brilliant ride only dropping 1 point on day 2 to take the Title for a second year in a row. With 15 entrants this was the second biggest class at the nationals showing that the junior classes are on the rise and a healthy sign for the sport.
In the other classes Tasmania’s Jordan Perkins on his Sherco ST300 took 3rd spot on the podium in the Youth (under 21) title. Nicole Casey (Sherco ST250) recently returned from representing Australia at the Trial des Nations the weekend prior to the nationals & narrowly missed a podium spot to take 4th place in open womens. Veteran campaigner John Rees took his Sherco ST300 to the runner up spot in Vet’s 60+ against 3 times Aussie Champ Steve Johnson of Victoria with only 6 points separating 1st & 2nd. In the crazy world of Sidecar Trials South Australia’s Chris Schultz & Stuart Gerhardy took their Sherco 320 to the runner up position with Andrew Earl & Daniel Petersen bagging 5th spot.
Overall an excellent event run by the Keyneton MCC in a beautiful location with record entries boding well for the future of the sport. Next year the Australian Trials Championships will return to Victoria’s Gold Field region around Bendigo.
