Wonka owns Kamfari again
If there’s a title for Australia’s fastest Team Manager, Motorex Off Road Racing Team’s Brad Williscroft must surely be in the running having just won his eighth career and seventh consecutive Darwin Kamfari.
Considered by many to be the toughest 4-hour endurance race in Australia, the Kamfari is the Top End’s famous annual mud race utilising a 13-kilometre track littered with flood plains, bog holes and dry sections and staged in 35-degree heat and high humidity.
Begun in 1970, the event remained the sole property of the locals until six-time Australian enduro champion Williscroft became the first interstater to win the Kamfari in 2004.
When he broke through again in 2007, few realised he would continue to raise the trophy from that year until this one.
“I’ve got a bit of a streak going up there,” said Williscroft. “Although this time I had Daniel McInnes, the top local motocrosser putting pressure on me for a lot of the race.”
Williscroft responded in the back half of the race by picking up the pace to knock a minute off his lap times and open up a 12-minute lead at the finish, with McInnes the only other rider on the lead lap.
“The conditions were pretty good this year – a little drier than normal in places so they just put you in the deeper bogholes and water crossings where they normally don’t run you so it ended up just as muddy as any other year. Some years the Kamfari is easier than others but you always know you’ve ridden a tough 4-hour!
Now 44, Williscroft’s full-time racing years might be behind him, but he managed to sneak in some saddle time to prepare for his Kamfari title defence; “I had a little bit of bike time before but not heaps,” he said. “I’ve had a couple of rides plus been Finke testing with the boys recently which all helped.”
And asked whether he’d be back next year to shoot for eight in a row…
“It’s still a thrill to win it. I enjoy doing it and I’ve got friends who live there that I stay with so if the schedule allows I’ll definitely try to be back, but we’ll have to see what we’ve got on next year.
“I’d also like to thank NT Motorcycle Centre who supplied the 500EXC I rode. It’s a bit heavier if you do get bogged but there’s plenty of torque to get you out.”
Kamfari 2013 Outright Finishers:
1st #1 Brad Williscroft
2nd#124 Daniel McInnes
3rd #84 Coby Willis
4th #81 Chris Warwick
5th #209 Rodney Black 1st
6th #160 Phil Peterson
7th #873 David Bates
8th #524 Wayne Arthy
9th #607 Tanya Hearn
10th #13 Gregory O’Brien
