3 4
There’s no way most of these
machines are going to stretch your
arms, but there’s always a way to get
hurt. Especially wearing gumboots or
sneakers. I even saw flip-flops
(Brazilian thongs). Missing spare
cash and the instinct for self-
preservation, most of the competitors
ride without gloves and just the
protection of a disguise.
One uses an inflatable doll as an
airbag, another one crosses the banana
plantation at full throttle, with two
baby dolls strapped on his back.
Are they shooting a remake of The
Great Escape? I mean, there’s this crazy
guy wearing a striped prison uniform
trying to escape on a trailbike and he’s
filming the action with a compact
digital camera taped on the chin of his
helmet. He’s clever but, with one foot
hampered by a ball and chain, he loses
his rear brake in a delicate and slippery
curve before falling in the mud.
Wearing the unlucky number 13, he
was asking for it!
Fancy dress seems to be a big part of
the show; although some want to be
serious competitors. Those who don’t
want to go the whole hog settle for
decorating their helmets. There is a
plucked chicken stuck to one helmet
for its last trip before the saucepan, a
bowler hat here, antennas over there or
huge horns that crack jokes: “Did your
wife stay at home? If I were you, I
would call her!” We laugh so hard, I
pee my pants.HUGE PARTY
The Bananalama (literally, Banana in
the Mud) takes place in a fruit region
of southern Brazil. It’s hard to
categorize this folksy event. It’s
neither a race nor a walk, but rather a
huge dirtbike party organized as an
enduro. There is a finishing order, but
nobody gives a coconut.
Once this wacky race has been run,
the organisers likes to think thateveryone has won. The night before,
waiting for the latecomers, the crowd
get to know each other, setting up a
barbecue to grill a cebu (local cow). It
is a night as hot as the glowing
embers. A concert makes it hotter,
after a freestyle show featuring Jorge
Negretti, a national star touring the
country with a ramp simply mounted
on a truck.
At dawn, the event reveals its
magnitude from the lookout point of
the local seminary in Corupá, as
participants come to pay the entry fee
of 50 real ($18). There are so many
riders, it’s crazy. The technical control
area is managed by two guys dressed as
women. Obviously, safety is a joke here.
Some have brought their retro gear
like an MDS “Dave Thorpe replica”
helmet or Victory boots from last
century. Expert or novice, there will
be entertainment for everyone. Before
the course opens, the flag marshal
constantly looks back, as if he is
threatened by a huge swarm: big
hornets (40 quads/ATV), wasps (nearly
3000 bikes), Chinese larvae (30
pitbikes) and some bees (the local
Honda Biz scooter).FILL ’ER UP
Common in this tropical region,
violent showers quickly destroy the
tracks. The show gains in intensity as
riders cross water holes blind, at full
gas, and negotiate tricky climbs in the
wet plantation. A KTM jumps a huge
step and lands in the crystal clear
water of a stream. A Honda Biz that is
following tries the same thing but it
bounces like a spring.
The pilot has time to eject before
copping the little scooter on his
helmet, just in front of me. I can’t
believe it. “Man, are you okay?”
Breno dusts himself off and restarts
the 110cc engine. He refuses to be
defeated. With good skills and the
help of a rock, the height difference isMAIN. These guys rode two-up for no
apparent reason, but had a ball
1.There’s plenty of water to go around- The local roll-on, roll-off ferry was a
popular alternative to the swing bridge - Pinning it for the many spectators
- Old-skool Husqvarna, we’re thinking
WR250, and that’s not Stefan Merriman
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