Racing News |
Daniel Fraser - SART Championship Rd 4 - River Murray Trial
Location: Palmer
Date: 30/8/25
Class: G
Result: 2rd in class, 5th Outright
Supporting Dealership: SA Motorcycles
Over the weekend we headed out to Palmer in the Mid Murray region for the fourth and final round of the SART championship. South Aus finally experienced consecutive days of substantial rain in the lead up to the event, so conditions were expected to be perfect. Thankfully the rain eased on race-day with a top of 14 and cloudy forecast. The River Murray Trial is usually expected to be sandy with areas of bulldust, so the prospect of wet and loamy sand was shaping up to be an epic race! As has been the story this year, class G was starting from the back of the field. I was given a starting position of 107th and was due to leave main control at 10:47am.
It was a relatively short transport down the road to a paddock known as “froggies”, this property has been used at the River Murray Trial for a very long time and is usually expected to be dry and sandy with hardpack whooped out sections from previous events. To my surprise the conditions in froggies were unreal! Thanks to the rain in the lead up, the loamy conditions provided plenty of traction. It gave me tons of confidence to hit turns at pace, knowing the dirt would hold my wheels!
Sections 2 and 3 were further east of Palmer and the terrain had certainly started to dry out. Both sections were in mallee scrub and had uncovered tons of rocks and roots by the time I arrived as the 107th bike. I got through both sections unscathed and was able to keep it on two wheels. Section 4 was back into the good stuff, a 3km grasstrack section that weaved itself in and out of light scrub. I felt very good through this section. I was able to lean on the dirt track and trials practice I’d done this year and let the bike slide coming into the flat turns and hold controlled drifts coming out. I felt I was linking turns together really well and the bike handled everything I threw at it! Section 5 was the longest of the day, 12kms through deep, whooped out sand. Racing the SAORC in Callington a few weeks ago came in handy as I felt comfortable pushing the pace in the deep sand. Towards the end, there was a flat-out blast across a crop. Coming into next season I plan to do a bit of gearing testing. Most road trials tend to have some sort of flat out straight and I would like to see if I can make the bike more suited to this without sacrificing in other areas.
Section 6 was stuff of grass-track dreams, we raced on it last year and it was very dry and skatey. However, the rain we received in the lead up to the event made it absolutely prime. I found I could hold the bike wide open and come into turns carrying a ton of pace. It was almost point and shoot type stuff, it didn’t matter if you blew through the rut, the back wheel would just hook up on the outside without breaking traction and stepping out! The following section was a new paddock for 2025, a tight section weaving its way around pepper trees along a dry creek. Tight sections suit me down to a tee, I set my bikes up on the softer side to favor cornering and although the section was short, I was able to record some quick times through it.
All in all, I was able to execute everything during the race according to plan. Both laps were smooth and consistent, with minimal mistakes and the bike felt great. I feel like everything is finally starting to click for me racing reliability trials. Conditions as good as we had Saturday don’t come around often, so I’m glad I was able to make the most of it and finish the year off in a strong position!
