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Rider
Profiles

FORSAYTH
QUAD & 2 WHEELER RALLY

Mareeba Motorcycle Club Members took time out last year to compete in the 2009 Forsayth Quad & 2 Wheeler Rally.  It's on again this year 20th and 21st March 2010 and organiser Joe Pezzotti is expecting it to be bigger and better than last year with Motorcycling Queensland sanctioning the Rally on Sunday and MX clubs in the far north region keeping the weekend free of any interclub championship racing events.
 
The tiny township of Forsayth 415 km west of Cairns has a population of barely 100 and the local school Forsayth Primary has an attendance of 10 pupils. This makes it difficult to field a junior footy team yet alone a cricket team. Not every kid likes tennis but what kid doesn't like the thrill of riding an all terrain motorcycle.

In 1998 local John Smith came up with the idea to introduce motor sports to the Forsayth Sporting Club since most members were owners of quads which are used predominately for mustering on surrounding stations and a bit of fun on the side. John approached land owners bordering on the Forsayth Sporting Club grounds for permission to run a Quad Rally on their land. Darren Ped of Lornevale Station to this day provides the parcel of land which the rally is used for 12 years on. Darren also competed until an altercation with an anthill. 

The birth of the Forsayth Quad Rally in 1998 saw 8 entrants compete.  The Mini-Motocross event held Saturday see entrants compete individually around a motocross track for the best time.  The second event of the day test the rider's skill in the "cone race" - 3 heats of weaving around witches hats in the best possible time with points deducted when a witches hat is knocked over.

The highlight of the weekend is the Delaney Rally on the Sunday.  What initially started out as a 60km track in 1998 has been downsized to 23.7 kms with 4 check points.  At each check point 'darts', second check point 'bocce', third check point 'coits' and the final check point 'golf'.  It's not how fast you go around the track but how well you score at each game which will determine the winner at the finish.  The youngest contestant to compete in the rally was only 9 years old.

Last year in the Mini-Motocross event Daniel Restall pictured below got the second fastest time in the 10-15 year age group and finished in the overall top 10 beating even riders on the big 450's.

Story and Photos by Lisa Heaven

Organiser John Smith handed the reins over to Joe & Helen Pezzotti and Colin and Tania McFarlane in 2000 who in turn introduced the 2 wheelers to the Rally which saw the number of entrants rise dramatically.  Entrants dropped slightly in 2003 and 2004 due to flooding in the area. The 2009 Forsayth Quad and 2 Wheeler Rally saw a record 97 entrants participate bringing with them family and friends which saw the population of Forsayth boom to approximately 500.

Over the past few years several land owners have stopped the use of their land for the Rally due to the legalities if an injury occurs.  These legalities were becoming a problem until Forsayth Sporting Club committee member Colin McFarlane mentioned it to an Ergon work mate John  Restall.  John the President of the Ravenshoe Motorcycle Club approached Motorcycling Queensland the governing body for Motorcycle Clubs throughout Queensland and explained the situation.  No doubt many emails and phone calls bounced between John and Lindsay Granger of Motorcycling Queensland before finally agreeing that for the first time in 2009 the Delaney Rally held on the Sunday would be backed by Motorcycling Queensland hence providing the necessary insurance to land owners.

For the past 10 years Joe, Helen, Colin and Tania have been providing a fun filled family event for everyone within 'cooee' of  Forsayth and the word has now spread a far a field as Cairns and Townsville.  From motocross bikes, quads, street bike burnouts and a Toyoata Hilux thrown in for good measure, Borat pocket bike riders, trick riding, helicopters, mud rugby, huge outdoor cinema screen on Saturday night to display everyone's photos and videos taken throughout the day and much much more makes for a totally awesome weekend and an event not to be missed.

Joe & Helen  Pezzotti and Colin & Tania McFarlane of the Forsayth Sporting Club would like to thank everyone for participating in last years Forsayth Quad & 2 Wheeler Rally which they are very proud to say was another incident free weekend for 2009 and are confident that it will be no different in 2010.  Many thanks to all the Sponsors Atherton Bolts 'n' Nuts, T. Riley Helicopters, Central Tyre Service, C & T McFarlane, Extreme Motorcycles, Bits for Bikes, Tony Wilcox, Allied Bearings, Tableland Auto, Snap on Tools, R & J Zahner and James Trimble Backhoe Hire.  Special thanks to John Restall of the Ravenshoe Motorcycle Club, Motorcycling Queensland and Darren Ped of Lornevale Station and to all volunteers who do various jobs throughout the weekend from working in the canteen to supervising the check points.

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Visit the FORSAYTH SPORTING CLUB website for more info on their 2010 event.

To view more photos of the
2009 FORSAYTH RALLY
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