RACE AROUND THE WORLD
EURO INFORMER
JEMMA WILSON
I WANT TO SAY A
SPECIAL THANK
YOU TO GYMPIE!
WITHOUT THE
SUPPORT OF SO
MANY
WONDERFUL
LOCAL
BUSINESS’S
SUPPORTING ME
My enduro calendar is jam packed again. I am
racing the Australian Off-Road Championships,
Australian Four-Day Enduro, hopefully the
International Six-Day Enduro (if MA can fi nd
some funding), and the World Enduro GPs.
Last year was my best yet, and I have worked
hard over the off-season. I have my fi ngers
crossed (because a little bit of luck goes a long
way) for this year to be even better.
I recently raced the opening round of the
Queensland Yamaha Two-Day Enduro series at
Queensland Moto Park. It had been a solid few
months with no racing so I was itching to see
where I was at.
A few NSW racers had the same idea and
travelled up, including Tayla Jones. She is not
racing with us ladies this year, but we were on
the same Tests so I was still able to gauge my
pace against hers. Although she beat me on
times, I was pleased to see that she had not
pulled away; we had both improved over the
time off.
It was also great to see that the Women’s
class had eight entries. Unfortunately, the tracks
got really rough and it was super hot and dusty.A few bikes went down and confi dence went
south but I hope that all the girls remember
that it was a two-day, which is the hardest type
of enduro in Queensland. They should certainly
sign up for the opening rounds of the AORC
(combined with our state champs) at Kilkivan.
I am feeling more prepared than ever for the
World Enduro GPs. This time round, the ladies
don’t have a race until mid-year, which has given
me more time to organise all the logistics for Jon
and I getting ourselves around Europe. However
more importantly it has given us more time to
get the fi nances together.
I want to say a special thank you to Gympie!
Without the support of so many wonderful local
businesses supporting me in whatever way they
can, it just wouldn’t be possible to raise the
$40,000 needed.
It was looking like I was in a good place
fi nancially at the end of last year. I had struck a
deal with Yamaha France which would save me
a lot on a new WR250F, and when the calendar
was released it showed that we could race the
season on only two fl ights to Europe, instead of
the usual three.Finland and Sweden on consecutive
weekends and then Spain only two weekends
later, which was a possible saving of $5000 on
fl ights. But then it was announced that there
was no Australian government funding for the
ISDE and FIM pulled the pin on some of their
money. Two steps forward, two steps back... at
least it’s not three steps backwards I guess!
I am still really hopeful for the ISDE team.
It would be such a shame for all three teams to
win in Slovakia last year and then not have the
support to defend their world titles in Spain.
Crowd funding and individual sponsorship
ideas have been thrown around, but when I am
already looking at the virtually impossible task of
funding my World Enduro GP endeavour, pulling
another $10,000 from thin air becomes pretty
dang out of the question.
Serious, tedious and stressful sponsorship
needs aside, I’m loving riding and racing at
the moment. I spent my off-season riding with
friends, new and old because, at the end of the
day, that is how we all started and the main
reason I’m still doing it.
Thanks, everyone!32 | APRIL 2016 http://www.adbmag.com.au