HQVA press release:

A formidable, four-pronged assault of Husqvarna men will take on one of Australia’s most technically difficult enduro racing events this weekend, when the 2015 Wildwood Rock Extreme Enduro takes place at Wildwood, 30 kilometres north-west of Melbourne.

A three hour, moto torture test on a circuit comprising natural and man-made challenges, Wildwood is arguably Australia’s most famous hard enduro.

The Husqvarna brand is steeped in tradition, much of it involving enduro competition in the most difficult of conditions, so Wildwood is an appropriate target for the quartet, which comprises Husqvarna Enduro Racing Team rider Lachy Stanford, AORC junior champion Fraser Higlett, extreme enduro specialist and former Wildwood winner Mitch Harper, as well as rising star Brock Grabham.

The ‘team’ has been assembled with the enthusiastic backing of local dealer Glen Cantwell of Moto GC – Australia’s number one Husqvarna enduro dealer and the biggest seller of Husqvarna 300cc 2-strokes in Australia – following the withdrawal of last year’s winner Graham Jarvis.

Appropriately, given the Husqvarna TE 300’s popularity in hard enduro racing, Stanford, Higlett and Harper will all race aboard Husqvarna’s two-stroke weapon, while Grabham prefers the smooth power of the Husqvarna FC 350 four-stroke.

Husqvarna Enduro Racing rider Lachy Stanford (TE300): “Driving home from the four-day I got a phone call to say that Jarvis wasn’t coming and there was a bike available, and was I interested in doing the race? I said ‘I’m in’. I’ve been You-Tubing it and it looks fun – I’m planning on doing Erzberg one-day, so this will give me a little taste of hard enduro. I’ve only done a few hours on the 300 they sent me – but my thoughts in it were; Fun! Awesome! The front end really doesn’t spend much time on the ground! The power they produce is just insane, and I really like it a lot so it’ll be good to just to see how we go in the race. We haven’t got that much harder stuff around Byron, so I’ve just been practising doing a few longer motos on my enduro-cross track, so hopefully that will help. The 300 is a little bit easier to ride because of the lightness of it and the usability of the power, particularly the bottom end torque. A few people have told me Wildwood is insanely hard – so it should be interesting!”

Fraser Higlett (TE300): “I’ve heard it’s going to be pretty tough, so I’ve been expecting the worst, training on lots of hard stuff so I don’t get completely shocked down there. I’ve always seen it in the magazines and stuff and always wanted to do it so, it’s pretty cool. You’re going to have to be pretty good just get around the track I guess. I’ve heard that this is going to be the hardest one yet because they’re trying to attract some more international guys for the future so I think it’ll be a good challenge. The 300 I think is definitely the way to go for this; you can short shift it a bit and it hooks up real good up the hills, it’s going to be pretty good. You want to have the lightest bike you can down there, but you also want to have some power. And the 300 is a great combination.”

Mitch Harper (TE300): “I haven’t had a bike since the start of the year, but Husky called me up a few weeks ago and asked if I could do Wildwood. I got the bike two weeks ago, rode it for a weekend up at Eildon on all the trails up there, then did a couple of days back at home, but I’ve been out to Sumatra since then. I wish I could have got a bit more training in, but it is what it is, I’ll see how I go. It’s been a couple of years now since I broke my back so that’s all come along all good. I’m looking forward to getting back to the race scene and catching up with everyone, it’s been a while. The Husky is a real good bike, especially for the rocky, technical stuff at Wildwood anyway. It seems perfect for that kind of terrain. It’s light and real nimble, seems to turn nice and the new forks are a really good thing compared to the older one. The gear ratios are perfect for doing the technical stuff too.”

Broc Grabham (FE350): “I’m very excited, after coming fourth in my first year last year I’m keen to go down and try and make it first this year. Wildwood is… it’s what everyone hates, but it’s really not that bad, it’s hard as you make it. If you want to go flat out of course it’s going to be hard on you, but if you trailride you can make it around easy – you’ve just got to focus on getting up the hills easy. I’m riding a Husky FE 350 from Moto GC and hopefully I can win it. I went for the 350 over the 300. I know all the other guys pick the 300 2-strokes, but I’m just not a fan of them, I raced a KTM 350 over at the international enduro-X two weekends ago in WA. At was awesome for the job and I know the Husqvarna will be similar so I’m looking forward to it.”

Glen Cantwell: “We ran Graham Jarvis last year but in his absence, we’ve got a really good Husqvarna team, and I’m very excited about having the boys on board. Jon suggested Lachy and Fraser, but the other two boys, they were hanging in the breeze a little bit so I thought, why not? If they’re on a Husky they are going to give it a red hot crack. Broc finished fourth last year on a bike that was… nothing special, and a two-stroke, which he doesn’t even like. I love opportunities like this. We’ve got a really good chance of having multiple podiums and possibly winning it this year I reckon. So bring on Sunday!”

For more information on Husqvarna motorcycles visit www.husqvarna-motorcycles.com.