Australasian Dirt Bike — September 2017

28 | SEPTEMBER 2017 http://www.adbmag.com.au

SOIL SAMPLE LEGENDS OF THE FALL

Fear

IT DOESN’T MATTER IF YOU’RE DAKAR

CHAMPION TOBY PRICE OR THE

HUMBLE ADB OFFICE JUNIOR, THE

FEAR OF FAILURE IS REAL

RACING DIRTBIKES IS

dangerous, we all know that,

but who would have thought

that retirement would also be

fraught with danger. ADB

columnist, desert racing

legend and Beta Motorcycles

Australia brand and

promotions manager Ben

Grabham just found this out.

Having hung up his racing

boots, Grabbo still found a way

to extend his list of injuries on

a leisurely ride not far from his

house in Bathurst. The details

are dodgy because Grabbo was

riding solo but, according to

themanhimself,arutliterally

jumped out from the long

grass and fl ipped him on

his arse.

The bike landed on his back,

broke fi ve ribs and snapped a

collarbone next to the plate

from a previous injury. Being

busted up and alone, Ben had

to leave his bike and had plenty

of time to think of new hobbies

on the 2km walk back to his

house – we hear knitting and/

or Japanese pebble garden

raking are on the cards.

GRABBO DOWN

WORKING ALONGSIDE

SISTERmagAustralian

Motorcycle Newshas its

challenges.Theyturnupin

one-piecesuitslookinglike

Power Rangers (but HR

doesn’tallowustoripin),they

thinkadjustingmirrorsmakes

them mechanics and they

aren’tgreatatsharingcamera

equipment.

MitchandOllyfoundthis

outthehardwayafterdriving

twohoursforaphotoshoot

POWERLESS RANGERS

only to discover the camera

batteries MIA. We take some

responsibility for this, we

should have checked, but most

of the blame we’ll happily dump

on AMCN.

It’s simple, return things as

you found them. It applies to

many things in life; tools,

cameras, cars, everything

except your mate’s beer fridge.

JEFFREY HERLINGS IS

not happy playing second

fi ddle to his brilliant

teammate Antonio Cairoli.

Since stepping up to MX1,

Herlings has been

slapped in the face

with the cold

hard fact that

wins won’t

come as easy

as they did.

His results

have improved

signifi cantly but

the 22-year-old

isn’t doing himself

any favours by getting

carried away with off-track

activities. In the lead-up to

the Italian MXGP, the

Dutchman hit the Med

aboard a PWC to soak up

some sun and ended up with

heat stroke.

Vomiting, fever, stomach

cramps, diarrhoea,

fatigue – Herlings had it all.

He couldn’t keep food down

so when it was time to race

he was running on empty.

He still went 2-2 behind

Cairoli but apparently

doesn’t remember. “I had

been feeling sick all day and

I just got dizzy half way

through the motos. It is not

normal that I black out like

that and don’t remember

too much of the

second race;

apparently I got

second!”

Over in the

U.S., severe

dehydration put

FMX star Blake

“Bilko” Williams in

hospital the night

before qualifying for

the Nitro World Games in

Salt Lake City. Bilko must

have been close to pulling

the pin after apparently

fi ring from both ends for

fi ve hours.

One night and a whole lot

of IV drips later, Bilko

emerged from hospital to

turn up and complete his

run. He got through the day

without spewing in his

helmet and claims he didn’t

soil his pants but we have it

on good authority he wore

an adult nappy.

WAKE UP, JEFF