“Largely due to our Off-Road
Championship, Aussies are
now feared competitors at the ISDE”
sport
Where are they now? Off-road veteran Trent Lean is above all a dedicated Dungog clubmanTrent Lean shows his
form racing one of
his trusty SuzukisTRENT LEAN’S DIRTBIKE
career spans almost four
decades, from his first
motocross on a Suzuki
RM125 at Barleigh Ranch
(now MX Central) to his final
Ya ma ha Aust ra l ia n Of f-Road
Championship round at
Dungog in 2015, where he
wrapped up his fifth National
Masters Title aboard a Suzuki
RMX450Z.
You could be forgiven
for thinking that Trent was
born wearing a yellow jersey
and would be a lifelong
Suzuki stalwart, but when he
returned to the sport after a
decade spent raising a family
and establishing a career,
it was with VOR and TM,
supported by Cross Country
Action at Cessnock.
“It’s a great family sport,”
Trent said, “and I was in
my mid-thirties when I got
back into it w ith my boys,
Alexander and Nick. Then, in
2007, Toby Andrews (MX1)
and Vince Strang (VSM) got
together with Acerbis and for
a few years I was back with
Suzuki again.”
It was testament to both his
riding and management skills
that, when BMW established
a team to launch the
BMW450X at the Australian
Four Day Enduro, it was Trent
who got the job.
“The BMW was front-
heav y, which made you feel
you had to pull back on the
’bars,” Trent recalls. “And
the swingarm pivoted on the
countershaft, which made
it drive extremely well but it
was near impossible to rear-
wheel steer. Despite that,
Luke Tomlinson won his class
in 2009.”
At the end of 2010 Suzuki
hired Trent’s Dungog
property to launch its new
ADR-compliant enduro racer,
the RMX450Z – essentially a
motocrosser with lights and
an electric start. The launch
went so well that Trent was
soon back in harness with
Suzuki as manager of a new
MX1 team set up to develop
young talent.
W hile competing in the
Masters Class for the first
time, Trent led by example,
winning his first AORC title.
And in front of his home
crowd at Dungog.
“We had three young riders
that first year – Lachlan
Stanford, Nick Lean and Wil
Ruprecht, all of whom have
since won Australian titlesand represented Australia at
the ISDE. To have contributed
to their success, in some
small way, is an honour.”
Trent kept leading by
example, winning five
successive AORC Masters
titles, but it’s the 2013 A4DE he
remembers best.
“Geoff Ballard and I battled
for all four days, swapping
the lead many times each
day. Going into the final moto
I had a 37sec lead, got the
holeshot and led the final lap
before GB pushed me w ide
and took the lead. But I chased
all the way to the finish line
and won the title.
“The following year was
special too. I finished second
but it was memorable because
the Dungog MCC hosted the
event and it was fantastic
to participate in what was
probably our club’s greatest
accomplishment.”
Dungog MCC was
established in 1923, and
when it hosts Rounds 5 and
6 of the AORC in 2018 it will
be Trent’s 40th year w ith
the club and 14 years since
he was elected president – a
huge commitment to one of
Australia’s oldest and most
active clubs.Trent still attends every
AORC round as Course
Director, assessing the venues
and setting the courses for
all classes of racing from the
juniors to the three senior pro
classes. And he’s someone
who can stand up to the
bureaucrats and insurers in
the unlikely event the integrity
of the track is questioned.
Trent has also made time
to participate in three ISDE
campaigns, the first with son
Nick in 2012, Spain in 2016,
and France last year. This is
the culmination of the effort
he has put into cross-country
and enduro competition over
the past decade.
“In the last six years
Australia has come from 50
minutes behind the leaders
to being front-runners,
and thanks to Yamaha the
AORC has a lot to do with
our international success,
largely because our top riders
compete with each other once
a month.”
Trent still rides every
weekend, races motocross
when he can and, as well
as organising the AORC in
Dungog next year, “might do
some state enduros in 2018”.
PETER WHITAKER