2018 A4DE: What’s New? What’s News?

It’s all happening in the off-road scene right now. This weekend sees the eighth annual running of the Transmoto 12-Hour. Next weekend, the opening round of the Yamaha Australian Off-Road Championship (AORC) gets under way in Queensland. And on April 3, the 40^th instalment of the Yamaha Australian 4-Day Enduro (A4DE) will kick off at the event’s 1978 birthplace of Cessnock in NSW’s Hunter Valley.
So, for an update on this special, anniversary-edition A4DE, we caught up with Cessnock Motorcycle Club’s Malcolm Hall…

How are ticket sales for the Yamaha WR450F bike raffle going, Mal?
Very well indeed! Aside from the fact that we’ve already sold about 200 of the limited 350 tickets on offer, both Yamaha and the event have received really good exposure from it. I’d actually like to have some raffle tickets left to sell at the event itself, but with the way we’re going, they might all be sold beforehand. Just like we’ve done with event entries, the money raised via the raffle will be tipped back into making this year’s special event bigger and better. Tickets purchased online will be delivered via email, and the Yamaha WR450F raffle will be drawn at the A4DE’s presentation night on Saturday, April 7, at Pedens Hotel.

Tell us any about what riders and spectators can expect from the Day 4 Final Moto at Cessnock Racecourse.
Using a horse racecourse was done very successfully back in 2005 when the 4-Day’s Final Moto was staged at the Wyong Racecourse, so we’re catering to an expected crowd of several thousand people on April 7. There will be lots of food vendors and amusements for kids, and being a racecourse means there’s already a licenced bar on site. It promises to be the perfect way to showcase the sport to a large audience, and with the venue just 2km from the town centre and 3km from the Parc Ferme, it’ll make life easier on the competitors, their support crews and spectators. The local council has been very supportive and helpful with the event. And the other exciting news is that we’ve had Cessnock Mitsubishi come on board to sponsor the Final Moto. With events like this, it’s always good to have local businesses involved. We’ve made a big investment into signage to ensure the entire show looks good, too. It’s an iconic event and it needs to be a spectacle.

The team aspect of the 4-Day seemed to get lost in recent years, but the State Team Trophy has been reinvigorated for 2018, right?
It has. Remember that the 4-Day was conceived primarily as a way to help prepare Australian riders for the ISDE, which was and always will be a teams-based event. The 4-Day was all about teaching our guys to compete in tough international events as a team, and I’m sure it’s got a lot to do with Australia’s historic Trophy Team win at the ISDE a couple of years ago. So it’s great to see that there’s been more emphasis on the teams again this year. The Victorian team has won it for the past couple of events, so I’m sure a few of the other state teams reckon it’s time they claimed the Team Trophy back. Every state, except Tasmania, has entered a team.

Will there be a 2018 A4DE DVD?
Yes. Jarryd English from Life of Loam has come on board to produce a special DVD of the 2018 A4DE, and this will be available to purchase after the event. Jarryd has put out some fantastic content in recent years, and seeing as this is the 4-Day’s 40^th anniversary, we plan to splice in some heritage footage from the event’s early years. With international entrants and riders from that original event in 1978 involved, we think there’ll be plenty of demand for a DVD memento of this 40^th anniversary event. From the point of view of sponsors, entrants and spectators alike, I think the DVD of the event will be seen as an important piece of memorabilia. Also, we’ve commissioned John Pearson Media to shoot professional-quality photographs, and we’ll be supplying these to selected media outlets during the event to ensure it’s showcased to as big an audience as possible.