Five Minutes With Toby Price

The 2015 Yamaha Australian 4-Day Enduro (A4DE) is about to get underway in Wynyard, Tasmania. Motorcycling Australia’s Ben Rowles took the opportunity to speak with two-time 4-Day champion, Toby Price, who will be taking part in his last Australian off-road event for the foreseeable future. 

Ben: The achievements added to your resume have been pretty impressive over the last two years, but looking back to your A4DE wins in 2010 and 2011, what are some of your recollections of those particular wins?
Toby: The first one was in Portland, and the second one was up in Mackay. The first one was very special and cool to win; my first attempt that I had was in 2009 and I finished second, so to come away with a win on the second attempt in 2010 was great. The second one was pretty special as well, with it being two-in-a-row up in Mackay, which was a good event at a pretty awesome location. It’s been a while since I’ve won a 4-Day so it would be nice to try for one more before I finish up my enduro style of riding and racing.

Last year the A4DE was probably the only thing in the Australian Off-Road scene that you didn’t take out – with this year possibly being your last A4DE for some time, how determined are you to sign off on what has also been a remarkable 2015 with a third 4-Day Outright win?
That would be the dream come true. The year has been really good with Dakar, the Australian Off-Road Championship, and the Finke and Hattah Desert Races, so we’re trying to chase this last one to top it off to be a great year. We’ll be pushing hard for it, but there are a lot of guys coming back for it like Daniel Milner, who is a three-time winner.

It’s shaping up as a strong field again this year with a number of stars coming back from overseas and then obviously the home grown talent back home. Other than Milner who you mentioned, who else do you see will be your biggest challengers?
Other guys here in Australia like Chris Hollis are on fire at the moment, as well as Josh Green and Daniel Sanders with his good result at the Six Days. There’s also the American Russell Bobbitt who will be there, so it will be good and we’re looking forward to battling with all them guys and seeing how it goes.

What makes the A4DE such a special and unique event?
There’s no other event like it in Australia, that’s one of the good points about it. One of the things about the 4-Day is that I don’t think there is any event run like it in the country that can prepare all our young guys coming through to go overseas and do an ISDE, so that’s the best part about it. It’s good practice and even though it’s been on this year already, it’s a good, fun event that’s good to be around everyone.

The A4DE is heading to Tasmania for the first time – what are you expecting from the event down there?
It’s the very first time for me down there all together, so I’m not really sure what to expect. I’m thinking it will be a little bit dry, but you never know with the weather forecast down there because it can blow something in pretty quick. I reckon it is going to be a tight and technical track, but until I get there and start walking some tests and get on top of things to see what we’re up against, it’s kind of hard to know.

You have been jetting all around the world with numerous racing commitments this year. After this year’s 4-Day in Tassie, what will be next on the agenda for you?
I just landed back from Morocco this week. It’s been a busy schedule, but I get home for three days after the 4-Day and then I’m back over to Spain for the final test with the Red Bull KTM Rally Team for a week and a half. I’ll come back after that and do a couple of jobs here in Australia and then I’ll have another trip for a week to Dubai for some testing, then back to Spain again for more testing and then back home to get ready for the Dakar in January. It’s definitely a busy back-end of the year for me and the jet lag is kicking in, but we’ll try our best.

Thanks for your time, Toby!
No worries!