‰ÛÏIt‰Ûªs basically a full time job for the team in terms of preparation for AORC rounds," Kearney stated. "We‰Ûªve just come off two major events in the Finke Dessert Race and Hattah as well. There are race bikes that are dedicated solely for AORC events and those are prepped as soon as the previous racing weekend is finished. After a racing weekend all the bikes are brought back to our headquarters in Sydney to be cleaned up and prepped for the next racing weekend. Over the course of the weeks leading up to a race, we change several of the parts and conduct race preparation. There is always time for testing as well. We are forever sending parts to the boys back home so they can try out new parts on their machines. It‰Ûªs all about constant improvement and evolving the package. We've had four or five tests this year already so far, so it‰Ûªs a fairly important aspect of the racing year.
"KTM Enduro Team has two full-time mechanics and I manage the team full-time as well," according to Kearney. "We also have plenty of personel that come just for the race weekend. The team operates out of the new head office in Sydney which we moved into four months ago. The full time mechanics are constantly tinkering away in the race shop, which is also located there. KTM are absolutely behind the AORC racing program.
‰ÛÏThe Kyogle rounds take place on private property, so we are not required to follow ADR regulations that include headlights, mirrors," Kearney explained. "Changes to the bikes are more towards personal setup for the riders as we move towards more hard packed terrain, away from the sand of Renmark. We are able to tune the bikes as the conditions and terrain changes.
‰ÛÏWe use Dunlop tyres and they have a huge range of compounds available. In Renmark we used a tyre built specifically for sandy conditions, with a soft at the front. At Kyogle we‰Ûªll take a wide selection of tyres to choose from, and we‰Ûªll have compounds built to deal with the grass track terrain. The boys can walk the track and they will have a fair idea of which tyre compound will work best," Kearney concluded.
Main Photo: Daniel Milner at Renmark
Credit: John Pearson Media:
