Brad Gale felt like a road trip before returning to Mount Heslington for dirt bike racing at Labour Weekend.
So, he loaded his very long modified bike, ‘the beast’, on a trailer and headed for Te Awamutu for a warm up at the annual MD Dirt Drags.
“I left home about 3.45am, made the early ferry and reached Te Awamutu about 7pm,” says the Māpua engineering apprentice.
That is some roadie, and King of the Hill organiser Dan Shallcrass went along for the ride with a vintage bike on the trailer as well.
“Brad’s very long dirt bike turned heads up there and even though he was racing on the flat, he had one of the quickest times and just missed out on winning his section,” says Dan.
It was a bogan paradise with offroad vehicle racing there as well.
Brad confirms ‘the beast’ hit speeds of up to 150kms per hour on the Waikato circuit.
“I just felt like doing something different,” quips the 22-year-old, who works for Infield Engineers in Motueka.
He and Dan enjoyed it so much that they intend to return to the dirt drags next year.
Brad has made a few tweaks to his bike which blew the opposition away in the last King of the Hill in 2024 in Brightwater.
While he doesn’t think it is any faster, doubling the size of the bearings should ensure he doesn’t have to worry about axle failure.
“I expect the competition to be tougher this year as more people are now modifying their bikes, too.”
The Labour Weekend King of the Hill racing starts at 10am on Sunday with Dan confirming that entries are looking good across the classes.
