Rivals Turned Teammates

What do Australia’s elite off-road racers get up to when they’re not competing at national or international events? Well, several of them have made a habit of rocking up at Transmoto’s events, where they know they’ll find a national-quality track without the pressure-cooker environment that usually comes with. Two such characters are Active8 Yamaha Yamalube teammates, Beau Ralston and Josh Green. Aside from each being reigning AORC champs (in the E2 and E1 class, respectively), Ralston and Green were also part of Australia’s history-making ISDE Trophy Team win in Slovakia last year. And thankfully, the boys haven’t let that international success go to their heads. No, they intend to defend their Transmoto 6-Hour crown when the event returns to Stroud in the Hunter Valley region of NSW in early November.

But what did the duo think of the Transmoto 12-Hour earlier this year (where they placed fourth Outright and won Mixed Team-of-Four class), and what’s it like to race with – rather than against – each other? Seeing as Green is usually the self-appointed lippy spokesman for the two, we asked Ralston to reflect on his 12-Hour experience.

“Josh Green and I have literally been racing against each other since we were seven years old. And that friendly rivalry has only intensified in the past couple of years when we’ve been on the same race team,” Ralston explains. “So it’s been interesting for us to enter these Transmoto events as teammates. I mean, the rivalry is still there. We still take the piss out of each other and we’re still trying to beat each other’s lap times, but we’re racing toward a common result. Greeny and I won the Transmoto 6-Hour last year, and that was the most fun I’d ever had at a dirt bike event. So with Yamaha sponsoring all Transmoto’s events in 2016, it was a no-brainer for us to get on board again. A well-run event with a good track, and I’m there. We knew that the KTM and Husky guys had stacked their teams with Pro guys this year, but we like to think that we rode in the spirit of the event by roping in a mate of ours from Cessnock, Darren Lamb, and our Active8 Yamaha teammate, Tayla Jones. There are so many weekends each year that we’re racing to win, so it was nice to be at an event where we could kick back, have some tunes playing in the pits and have a fun ride without worrying about the results.

“The whole event’s atmosphere is great and it was cool get the chance to meet a bunch of guys who were actually racing for the very first time. For the record, I had the fastest lap time until the very last lap of the day, when Greeny miraculously pulled out a really quick one and pipped me by a few seconds … the prick!,” a facetious Ralston went on to say.

Josh Green has been sidelined from racing for the past three months after a knee reconstruction, but the Stroud local is intent on riding the Transmoto 6-Hour (which sold out in less than 24 hours) in November. “Yeah, it would be my first race back since the operation, but everything’s on track with the recovery, so I’m really looking forward to it. In fact, to fast-track my bike fitness, I might even enter the 6-Hour’s Ironman class instead of the Pairs. But keep that on the down-low cos I haven’t mentioned to Beau that I might desert him yet (laughs).”

Will do, Greeny. You’ve got our word we’ll keep that on the down-low.