EDENHOPE has been put on the Australian motocross map, with a new national-standard track recently installed by Protraxx.
If not for the COVID-19 pandemic, the track would have been open for use at the start of the month, but for now it will remain closed to the public.
Edenhope Motorcycle Club president Matt Oliver is pleased with the result and said everyone is itching to test out the facility.
“It will be good – we are all looking forward to it,” he said.
The club was re-established in the modern era at the end of 2018, with this year to be its second full season of operation.
The idea to start up the club in the small western Victorian community was a result of a few like-minded people putting their heads together.
“We just organised a meeting at the local and got a few guys who were into bikes to see what their thoughts were and it all just went on from there,” Oliver said.
After the club was formed it did not take long for it to start looking to future plans and laying foundations for years to come.
“Me and the secretary of the club were sitting around one night and thought ‘we should build a motocross track’,” Oliver said.
“That was about 18 months ago.”
From there Oliver said it was about a 12-month process to obtain permits and raise the money for the facility.
However, the club had a good financial backing, with $20,000 raised during its first year.
A series of enduro events were held in 2019, but now with a permanent facility and a first-class track, the club has broadened its horizons.
Oliver said the goal is to host larger events at the venue looking forward, but for now it will just be a matter of getting it up and running.
The track has been built to Motorcycling Australia specifications and down the track could potentially host a national-level event.
“We have a bit of work to do before we can do that, but we will definitely be aiming for that,” he said.
“We will start off with maybe a regional round and then see where we go from there.”
It may be over an hour’s drive from Mount Gambier, but there will certainly be some Blue Lake city riders keen to head across the border once government restrictions allow it.
“We already have a few guys who ride with us from the Mount on our enduro tracks,” Oliver said.
To say Oliver is rapt with the outcome is an understatement and with initial thoughts of the club doing the work itself, he said the decision to go through Protraxx was the right one.
“At the start we were going to do it ourselves because we have a few blokes in the club with machinery and that,” he said.
“But when we sort of saw what Protraxx does – and especially after we have seen what he’s done here – we are glad we went that way.
“It is good – the photographs hardly do it justice.”
Oliver also thanked those who lent their time and services to help out the project.
“I’d like to thank the guys who helped us out with the machinery,” he said.
“Warrick and Ann from Warner Earthmoving, Heath at McClure Earthmoving and Sam Whitehead donated a scraper for a few days.
“We could not have done it without those guys.”
With the track ready to race, now only one thing remains, but due to the current situation it is unclear when riders will be able to test it out.
