Motorcycling: Romanian wilderness beckons

IN FOR LONG HAUL: Hawke's Bay riders Warren Laugesen (left), Les Walch and Mackenzie Wiig are heading off to the Red Bull Romaniacs Hard Enduro Rallye in a fortnight. PHOTO/Paul Taylor

LIFE, as we know it, may well begin at any given age but ask endurance motorcyclists and they'll tell you it doesn't become interesting until you start living it at speeds of up to 120km/h through tricky tracks.

Put another way, they belong to a breed who believe four wheels were created to sedately move people from one place to another but two wheels were made to transport the soul to an unfathomable realm.

It's the devotion to that sort of scripture that is fuelling three Hawke's Bay riders to compete at the Red Bull Romaniacs Hard Enduro Rallye from July 13 to 17 (NZ time) in Sibiu, Romania, for the first time.

For four days Warren Laugesen, Les Walch and Mackenzie Wiig will engage in extreme endurance riding from the main boulevards to the Romanian wilderness through enchanting valleys and mountains as well as seductive sections with names like Alcatraz, Jarvis's Masterpiece and Mad Max.

The gruelling event offers gold, silver, bronze and iron classes and age is no barrier with 69-year-old John Trevor, of the UK, who has been labelled the "wisest rider" this year.

The Bay trio, who will be among a contingent of 29 Kiwi riders, will compete in the silver and bronze classes.

That will entail from 130km to 166km of riding daily for four days after the prologue in the silver class for Laugesen and Wiig while Walch will take in 128km to 137km over that duration in the bronze class.

For Laugesen, it's his first foray into the offroad maze of the Romaniacs and part of his bucket list.

The 43-year-old apple packhouse manager doesn't blink when asked if it pays to be a little crazy to be involved in the sport.

"Oh, definitely. In my competitive nature I want to do well, not just finish," says the former Taradale Intermediate and High School pupil who is better known for his awe-inspiring feats at trial bike circuits.

Laugesen is new to endurance motorsport, having only got in the saddle about two years ago.

Having heard a lot of stories from Kiwis who have been to the Romaniacs he likes to think he knows what he's putting himself up for on a two-stroke Beta 300cc machine that they'll buy for up to $15,000 there plus bolt-on after-market and strengthening parts.

The riders have the option to hire but most tend to buy new bikes and, through the dealership there, have it shipped after the race to New Zealand.

"The terrain will be different and so will be the temperatures to what we have here in winter," Laugesen says, feeling relatively comfortable with what the track will technically demand.

"It's lasting the four days and the length of time on the bike to make my body hold out that will be my main focus," he says, revealing he's never done that sort of duration before.

Ironically it's the amount of time he takes to rest and recuperate between the days that'll be the key.

"I'll have to take it easy and not be riding at a 100 per cent all the time."

Laugesen finished eighth in the gold class of the New Zealand Enduro Series this year when it ended in May.

Before that he tamed the trail bike tracks in Britain, Europe and Australia.

He went on to become a seven-time New Zealand and two-time Australian champion in the trial-bike domain.

The former Greenmeadows Primary School pupil was 13 when he competed as a BMX rider in the 1980s.

"I wanted to get a motor to go a little faster with my other mates but my father said no and wouldn't let me get a motocross bike," he says of semi-retired Frank Laugesen, of Napier, who instead herded him into trial bikes.

The younger Laugesen soon realised the trial bikes demanded more skills and technique than motocross.

Safety and the cost were the other deterrents for the earlier diversion from the senior Laugesen.

"After 25 years of riding around the world with some success I needed a new challenge so I took up extreme endurance racing.

"It's a combination of the skills I learned in trials and adding speed to it," says Warren Laugesen.

That means he'll still be riding over pesky terrain but now with a time handicap slapped on it.

"Most people go the other way - they start fast when they are young and then go slower as they get older.

"My body's feeling it. It's not easy but I'm enjoying it and it's a good challenge."

His goal in a fortnight is to finish in the top 20 of the silver class, which he thinks he's very capable of pulling off.

Laugesen may have felt aggrieved at the time with his father's non-compliance but, in hindsight, realises that's what has helped shape his envious motorsport career.

"I've loved every minute of it. It's been a big part of my life for so many years, competing in motor sport. I have a very supportive wife and family who allow me to do it," he says of wife Carron and their three daughters, Kimberley, 13, Amber, 11, and Rebecca, 9.

It pays to note most of the Kiwis are up against paid professionals at the Romaniacs.

"They are riding every weekend against other top riders so their skills are about five levels above where we're at so it's very difficult to compete at the top end."

For the retired semi-professional trail bike rider it's a hobby and something to do for the thrill of it.

The trio of Jake Whitaker, Dougy Herbert and Phillip Cheater are the only Kiwis entered in the gold class this year.