Riders announced for BYR's 2009 Australian International Pedal Prix campaign

We have a team!

A while ago, we asked you how you picked a team. In the past few days, we’ve gone through the process ourselves with a team vote. 

We are proud to present to you our 2009 Rider Line-up:

Riders: (pictured top row then bottom row, left to right)

Cal Ridge
Daryl King
Dave Maud
Deven Pearce
Jarrod Henderson
Mark Anson
Nigel Preston
Troy Hutchins

Emergencies / Pit Crew:
Adam King
Matt Anson

Pit Crew:
Chris Crowe
Tristan Tippet
Jake Cathcart
Marcus Sloane
Joe Frawley

Each team member was asked to number each of the possible riders 1-9 strongest to weakest, excluding themselves, based on fitness and ability to handle a vehicle on the track.

Here's what some of the guys had to say about our line-up:

“I think this is the strongest team we’ve ever had.” – Daz
“It all sorted itself out in the end.” – Chooka
“I’m just glad I made the team, I haven’t had much time to train with the guys and they are all super fit, so they haven't had much chance to see where I'm at at the moment.” – Nige
“Good on it.” - Troy

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Troy Hutchins

And finally, we meet Troy. At 16 years young, he’s the ‘grasshopper’ of our team who led Flora Hill SC’s victorious Old Bearded Mate team across the line first at last year’s RACV Energy Breakthrough. There’s a 9 year gap between the oldest team member (Nige) and Troy.

Name: Troy ‘Chomper’ Hutchins
Age: 16, the grass hopper of the team
Where do you live: Spring Gully. Home of Callan Ridge. (mothers lock your young daughters up!)

What is your job and where do you work?
Apprentice welder, East End Engineering, East Bendigo.

How does your job connect to BYR?
Well, Daryl might need a horse float or a dog trailer one day.

What’s the best about being in BYR? Having a laugh and the friendship.

What’s part of BYR do you find most challenging?
Getting everywhere without my P’s

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Matt Anson

We usually have a few Ansons at our races – Big Anson, Little Anson and Norma too. Here we meet Matt...
Name: Matt Anson (aka ‘Little Anson’)
Age: 18

Where do you live:
Kennington birth place of Kenny kevs brother “Calvin”

What is your job and where do you work?
Apprentice Fabricator at Australian High Performance Catamarans, Bendigo

How do you use your skills from building catamarans in BYR?
We’re able to get free mylar and cheap resin.

What’s the best about being in BYR?
Everyone has said it but it’s a good one: the mateship and good times we have at the dream Factory.

What’s part of BYR do you find most challenging?
Being fully commited to training and building the vehicle for a couple of months

Best HPV Moment or memory?
For me the best moment was winning my first 24 hour race, the 2007 Wonthaggi HPGP. We won by 39 laps.




What’s the best crash you’ve ever seen / been involved in ?
Well I haven’t been in too many big crashes myself but the best that I have witnessed was when Trisled’s ‘Chic-a-chow’ hit the pit lane pole at about 45 km/h.  
(They destroyed the cross member and there were pieces flying off the canopy. Chic-a-Chow is pictured below prior to that crash)

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Mark Anson

As we quickly approach this year’s big race, we thought it was high time we introduce you to the rest of our team. We kick off this series of three profiles with one of our tallest & strongest team members, Mark ‘Chaz’ Anson.

Name: Mark ‘Chaz’ Anson (aka ‘Big Anson’)

Age: 21

Where do you live? Kennington, birthplace of Kenny Kev… Not much happens in Kennington.

What is your job and where do you work? Apprentice Electrician, at Industrial Conveying Australia in Bendigo

How does your skills as an electrician connect to BYR? Well, Daryl might need some more power points in the shed...

What’s the best about being in BYR? Being with a bunch of mates, who have the same interests to build the best vehicle possible.

What part of BYR do you find most challenging? The amount of time it takes to build the vehicle and train. My girlfriend is very patient and tolerant of the commitment I’ve made to the team. The freezing winter night rides aren’t that much fun. Fitting in this new vehicle is a bit challenging too – it’s a lot smaller than our previous spec canopy.

Best HPV Moment in memory? Breaking the distance record at the 2005 Energy Breakthrough in Bendigo Senior’s Bukkamalazir (below). It was a perfect race and my first win.



What’s the best crash damage you’ve ever seen? BYR at last year’s AIPP. I went to bed at 6pm with a trike in good condition with only a few race scuffs and scratches.


Then I awoke at 1am to see a bike held together by race tape, zip ties and being able to see the wheels in what should be an enclosed wheel canopy (see above). Also reading the nights pit report which included Rowan “hitting a triceratops at full noise”.

We've almost completed the team line-up...

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Nigel Preston

Here we interview BYR's very own Nigel Preston about his extensive HPV racing career and his involvement in our sport all around Australia. Nige is just one of BYR's original members that we have welcomed back into the team for 2008 as he gives us an insight about what he enjoys about BYR.

1)Age? 25

2)Where do you live? Hawthorn

3) What is your job and where do you work?
I'm a Youth Marketer at World Vision Australia. I coordinate our youth activist website STIR, as well as our offerings on YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, Bebo & MySpace.

4) Number of Races? 10, since 1998!

5) As a Key member of the RACV Energy Breakthrough (EB) Committee what is it that drives you to volunteer your time to organise and run what is arguably the most exciting race on the HPV racing calendar?
The EB is such a unique and - as you put it - exciting event that I am driven to give other young people the best experience there too. I was hooked by the EB back in 1996. I stayed awake all night inspired by my brother Luke's riding. As my wife says: 'it's in my blood'.


6) After having leaving BYR after Murray Bridge in 2006 vowing never to return. What is it that enticed you back to the team. What did you miss about it?
I missed the combination of the engineering & physical challenge. I missed doing things with my mates. Men don't tend to just hang out, we need to DO something (unless there's beer involved). I also find that BYR brings out my best. I was very upset when I left BYR in '06.


7)You have been at just about every HPV race for the last 10 years what sticks in your mind as your best memory/moment from HPV Racing?There are quite a few, but I think Winning 2003 by 10 seconds when I passed Team Ballistic on the last lap. People still mention that to me. That was special.
Other highlight's include:

• Racing with my bro Luke & Tim Ralton in '06
• Arriving at the EB for the first time as a competitor in '98
• Seeing Daryl King lead the next generation to victory in last years EB.
  
  8) What is the best thing about being involved in BYR? The laughs. Rallying together around a common goal and going for it. There's No holding back. We're all emotionally invested in making the best vehicle go as fast as it can.
  
  9) What is the Hardest part about BYR? For me, travel back to Benders & trying to feel connected to a team that's 150km away. Training is sometimes easy and sometimes hard.
  
  

10) And Finally BYR don't promote crashes but they are an unavoidable part of our sport. What is the most spectacular crash you have been involved in or seen? Qualifying, Molten Chicken, 2001.I'd spent the whole session telling everyone to keep it on 3 wheels before I hit crash corner at full speed and put it into the barrier.
The most spectacular I've seen is probably Brad Doyle at the EB in about '99. He came into crash corner, barrel rolled about 4 times, emerged from the wreckage to salute a cheering crowd.

Meet others in our team here

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Callan Ridge

Here we get a bit of an insight into assistant Technical Director and Race Starter Callan Ridge's personal life and he's experiences as a HPV Racer.

(Above) Callan slipstreams the VW on a training ride to Mt Alexander in the lead up to the 2008 AIPP.

1) Age?
Turning 20 this year.

2) Where do you live?
Spring Gully in Bendigo, they have a really good footy team called the Spring Gully Springs. (Get Round em).

3) What is your job and where do you work?
I'm in my second year of a Fitting & Turning apprenticeship, I work at McCullochs Hydraulic Engineers which is in Epsom on the outskirts of Bendigo. It's a good place we do some fairly interesting things out there.

4) Number of Races?
Ridden in eight 24 hour races and two 6 hour races and also been in the pits for 5 or 6.

5) As a Fitter and Turner how do the skills you use at work benefit BYR?
Well they're skills that are required to make the majority of the steering and driveline parts so it comes in quite handy. Being able to use the machines at work is also quite beneficial as it allows parts to be made during the week ready for the usual Friday night work sessions. I don't think many of the parts could be made as easily, cheaply or to as high of a standard otherwise.

6) As a HPV student at both Flora Hill and Bendigo Senior Secondary you have been a part of some successful teams. What is your best memory/moment from HPV Racing?
By a long way my favorite race was back in 2005 with Flora Hill in a bike called Beefcake Productions, it was the first time I'd actually ridden in a HPV event and I still wasn't quite sure what to expect. We ending up coming 2nd in b class by 2 laps but it was very close exciting racing for most of the event. The whole year was quite exciting actually, the bike we built was completely different to any previous Flora Hill bikes and was the start of Flora Hills rise to the top of secondary HPV racing. It had a few similarity's to BY-03. But it was probably also the hardest race though, I think Rowan Nankervis and Myself ended up riding more than half the race between us.

7) What is the best thing about being involved in BYR?
The sense of achievement from both the building and training point of view and all the friendships made.

8) What is the Hardest part about BYR?
I'd say the commitment required, you can't really have anything else going on in your life if you take the training and building seriously.
Slipstreaming a Volkswagon in the dark up Mt Alexander on the road bikes in sub zero temperatures isn't much fun either.

9) And Finally BYR don't promote crashes but they are an unavoidable part of our sport. What is the most spectacular crash you have been involved in or seen?
For me it is probably quantity over quality whilst riding in the wet for the first time at Wonthaggi I managed to have 5 rollovers in just one stint.
And although I didn't actually witness it, I imagine Rowans crash last year at Murray Bridge must have been quite spectacular. Judging from the damaged sustained anyway, cross members aren't exactly easy things to break!

Callan second from right at the 2006 RACV Energy Breakthrough with fellow BYR teamates Jarrod, Deven, Mark, Adam and Tristan

Stay tuned for more interviews as we work our way through the 2009 BYR team.

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Daryl King

1) Age?
24 (I think)


2) Where do you live?
Axedale (winner of tidy town 1972)


3) What is your job and where do you work?
Technology Teacher at Bendigo South East College (Flora Hill)


4) Number of 24hr Races?
7 raced, 13 as manager or pit crew

5) As a HPV teacher at Bendigo South East Secondary (Formerly Flora Hill) your job is partially based around teaching Students how to design and construct a HPV and race it at all the major races. What is it that you enjoy most about your job?
It's great to work with young people who are incredibly enthusiastic about designing and constructing HPV’s. I get a real buzz out of seeing there ideas come into reality and knowing that they have achieved them of there own accord. It is also fantastic to see that they can be so successful in vehicles that they have produced against some opponents who rely heavily on teachers and parents to design and construct there vehicles.

6) As Technical director of BYR since the team was formed in 2003 you have designed and built some very quick vehicles. What is your best memory/moment from a HPV race?
Would have to be the finish of the 03 AIPP. To win on debut by only 10 seconds was remarkable and I don’t think that we will see that again.

7) As a member of the team since 2003 what is it that motivates you to come back to BYR year after year?
It’s just a fantastic engineering challenge. To work with like minded people who have common aims is a real motivator.

8) What is the Hardest part about BYR?
I think the hard yards, the long nights building the vehicles, the hard days out training and also coordinating people from across the state.

9) And Finally BYR don't promote crashes but they are an unavoidable part of our sport. What is the most spectacular crash you have been involved in or seen?
Would probably have to say that the most interesting crash that I have been involved in was at Wonthaggi in 06. The vehicle was BY-04 and I got in during the heaviest rain I have ever seen at a race. I got through the first hour without any dramas but into my second I came down the hill through the twisty section and round the corner I was greeted by around half a dozen vehicles that were mostly upside down and I joined them. By the time I was put up the right way I was facing up the track and noticed that at least a dozen other vehicles had also joined me on my ceiling.
Top Stuff!!

Stay tuned for more team profiles as we continue our long journey to Murray Bridge.

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