BYRON HINTERLAND
When head mechanic Jeremy Tagand and Faidon Christodoulou from the Deus workshop decided to swing past Byron Bay on their way through to the notorious amateur flat track event ‘Dust Hustle’, it felt rude to not hook up with local legend Robbie Warden and Deus Byron Bay with the intention to go exploring the rich rolling hills of the Byron Hinterland.
With three vintage dirt bikes packed in the back of the van, the boys from Sydney were asked to meet for a morning brew and de brief at Suffolk Bakery. Once they knew what was in-store for the day, the hot choccy and double shot brew in which was once firmly gripped in their hand, were quickly traded in for a fist full of throttle and the first look at the Byron Hinterlands.
With torrential rain and flooding in recent weeks, the boys were treated to a cloudy sunrise before disappearing deep into the rich, green depths of Minyon falls. This gave an eye-opening look at the unfortunate devastation caused from the recent flooding of Cyclone Debbie.
The Vintage HL500, DT400 & SR400, took off to the beaten tracks trying to best avoid the recent debris, landslides and bursted riverbanks that was vastly evident.
With the morning ride aside, it was time to catch up with Mark Labrooy from the infamous ‘Three Blue Ducks’ who threw his leg over the latest Yamaha YZ250FX and another local legend Trent Paola, who owns an acreage in the region. Just so happens that his acreage two weeks back was reflective of a brown swimming pool in some areas due to the constant rain and flooding. Lucky for Trent, the worst of it was the bottom corner of his property. Being an avid motorbike fan he had invited us to create our own personal flat track and BBQ lunch on his property. Australian enduro superstar Lachly Stanford even swung past for a few laps and showed the crew how to stay upright.
After cutting tight circles on the spot and having a string of intense battles throughout the afternoon, Mark threw the fresh snapper he’d caught the evening before on the BBQ with a bunch of sausages. This was in great timing to see Deus Byron go over the handle bar’s for the ‘one last lap stack’.
Big thank you to Robbie Warden, Trent Paola and Mark from the Three Blue Ducks.
Deus Byron.
