It may have been HART Somerton's birthday celebration, but two lucky students were the ones who got the biggest present of all.
HART gave away brand new Honda VTR250s to Ryan Dalton of Brisbane and Stephen Standley of Eltham, Victoria who both completed courses during April, May or June 2010.
Ryan - a 21 year old Air-Conditioning Mechanic from Brisbane - participated in both the 1 and 2 day Training and Assessment Courses.
"My first day at HART was the first time I had ridden a motorbike. I wanted to learn because it seemed like a fun, efficient way of travelling," Ryan said.
"The course was practical and catered for my needs and the instructors where pleasant, helpful and explained everything clearly."
"To be honest, when I first got the phone call to say I'd won the VTR, I thought someone was playing a joke on me! I would like to thank HART for the bike and for the training. It was a pleasure to be able to get my licence through them, and the trainers and facilities were fantastic."
Stephen Standley, a 51 year-old Project Engineer, completed a Learner Permit and Licence course at Somerton in Melbourne's north after having competed on enduro bikes in the UK military.
"I didn't have a full motorbike licence back in the UK so when I arrived in Australia 18 months ago, I wanted to take full advantage of the number of good weather days."
"I couldn't believe I had won a brand new bike. I haven't won anything like this in my life. It was a real surprise! I hope to upgrade to a Honda VFR1200F once I finish my restrictions, and will be completing HART's Intermediate and Advanced I and II courses once that happens."
HART has long been considered the preeminent provider of rider training and licensing in Australia. Highly qualified instructors deliver state-of-the-art teaching methods to over 19,000 riders each year from the Victorian, Queensland and New South Wales locations.
They are the only rider training company in Australia to use rider simulators to improve Hazard Perception. HART is fully owned and run by Honda Australia who, apart from being a subsidiary of the world's largest motorcycle manufacturer, is also one of the world's largest trainers of motorcyclists.
Main Photo: HART Victorian Manager Grant Carr with winner Stephen Standley
