With a lealthy 4 minute lead, Chris Power won the 2011 Australian 24 Hr Enduro in style. He showed exceptional night skills cleaning up the event even though he suffered a major crash at about 6:30 in the morning cartwheeling down the track in spectacular style.  Impressive to be sure and something to be proud of.

Chris rode the 2010 24 Hr Enduro an WON.  Yes Chris headed over there with winning in mind and did the business.  He managed to win the first three laps ()each lap is 6 Hrs long with 12 special stanges each lap) which means he was easily the fastest night rider.  considering that we don't have night races here, that is quite amazing.   Chris ended up with a very healthy 2 minute 40 second lead which is a long way considering he only missed out winning by 21 seconds last year.

This year I went again along with Jack and Tom Brian.  There are a heap of people who want to come over next year.  If you are one, book yourself in and I will try to arrange things.

CHRIS RODE THE 2009 24 HRS ENDURO RECENTLY AND SCORED SECOND OUTRIGHT

He was so close to winning  -  less that half a second per special stage - He missed out by 21 seconds over 300 km of special stages and 1000 km overall of riding.  So close yet so far.  Chris is keen to go back and win next  year.

I went over this time and I can tell you that the event is not as easy as I thought.  The terrain is quite difficult wth rocky rivers, gum trees, hills, valleys, bogs, roacks and more rocks plus the really fast red desert trails.  A real mixture and one that is very tiring and needs heaps of concentration.

The Year Before:

Christopher Power rode in the 2008 Annual 24 Hour Enduro in Australia over the weekend.  Riding a borrowed WR450 Yamaha set up with big spot lights etc, Christopher rode to 3rd outright in his first attempt.  He missed second place overall by 40 seconds which gutted him.  He said his failure to win outright was because he was too slow in the dark.  Really great riding, heaps of fun and a must do is what christopher describes the event.  He will be going back next year by all accounts.  Missing the Tarawera 100 (or is that the Tarawera 75 by all accounts) hardly seemed a concern as he reckons the Australian organisation was fantastic and it wasn't going to be cut by a quarter just because some riders were not up to the level required.

The WR540 Yamaha had special spot lights fitted which shone up the trails really well.  Fuel dumps were around the 6 hour loop (yep a full six hour loop ridden four times) so your crew had to drop the gas off for you.  Some refuelling was done at gas stations (servos in aussie) as you see, the bikes were all road registered so some transport stages to gas stations were included.  You can imagine the organisation needed to run this event.

The winner is used to riding at night and has won the 24 Hour 10 times already so a real specialist.  "Yamaha South Australia have invited Chris back to ride the 24 Hour next year. He reckons he as already booked his airfairs.

Read all aboout his ride in upcoming Dirt Rider Downunder issues.

Well done Chris