wcat poker run 06

Burren Junction, surrounded by outback towns and localities whose names echo from the poems of Banjo Patterson and Henry Lawson, was to be the final stop after leaving Tamworth for the Wildcats Poker Run, at around 250 kilometres from Tamworth, it was, by local standards, just down the road a bit, and for the nearly fifty riders, some of who rode up to twice that distance just to get to the start, it was just a typical ride in this huge sunburnt country they are proud to call home. Although Gunnedah and Narrabri, the first two Poker Run stops are now cities in their own right, the past is not far removed from them, as, you only have to look at the memorabilia on the walls of the pubs, and the weather beaten faces of the workers from the surrounding properties as they prop up the bar to wash the dust down, to see that the imprint of the people Banjo and Henry wrote about is still alive and well.

Wee Waa, the third stop, had a sign over the door that said it all, but in keeping with the real Aussie spirit, I would reckon that providing you were seen to be giving it a go, that probably most of the people in town would give you the shirt off their back if you were doing it tough, its a pity that this “No Bludging” rule is not applied by our government to the low-life’s that they are throwing millions of our taxpayers dollars at each year. Leaving Wee Waa for the final leg to Burren Junction saw a few of us who had stayed in the pub for a bit longer than the others, due to the publican putting a load of nibblies on the bar, winding the throttles on a bit extra to catch up, this dash for the finish only lasted a few kilometres, as we had to slow down to a crawl in a lot of places due to thousands of cattle strung out along the ‘long paddock”, a few big steaks on the barbie is not a problem for bikers, but a few hundred tons of it milling around the bikes is a bit daunting.

A small detour to the Burren Bore saw a couple of the ladies partake of the waters, being a Pommie I gave it a miss, even though I really should have gone in for a practice bath before my Australian citizenship became final a couple of days later, with all the riders having safely arrived at the Junction City Hotel, it was time to sort out, prior to the nights entertainment, who had what rooms and for those that were camping overnight to get their tents up.

“Rock City Rock” was the band for the night and after we had all had a damn good feed and about an hour of drawing raffle tickets for a huge amount of prizes that were laid out on a couple of tables, they fired up and played their way towards midnight, Sunday morning saw the majority of riders fronting up for a hearty breakfast of bacon and eggs cooked by the Burren Junction Bush Fire Brigade, who were the recipients of the $1250.00 raised from the run, and then in ones and twos finally depart for home.

All up a very good inaugural run and hopefully the first of many to come, the Wildcats would like to thank the following list of biker friendly people and companies for their support, and in turn to ask you to support them, also a big thanks, to all the behind the scenes members who put in a lot of effort getting this run off the ground.

Wildcats would like to sincerely thank all the sponsors of this event, their generosity was amazing.

Advance Motorcycle and Mower Repairs, Tuncurry	Mick’s Bike Gear, Tuncurry
ATS Screen Printing, Dubbo	R & A McLeod, Walgett
Brett Stevens Racing	Mitchell's Walgett
Burren Junction Service Station	National Motorcycle Museum, Nabiac.
Central Hotel, Tamworth	North Coast V-Twins, Coffs Harbour
Coona Top Shop, Coonabarrabran	Ozbike Magazine
Commercial Hotel, Narrabri	Pedro’s Liquor, Tuncurry
Foster Keys Liquer & Convenience Store	Railway Hotel, Gunnedah
Grant Douch Motorcycles, Narrabri	Ride Motorcycles, Tamworth
Great Western Motorcycles, Bathurst	Royal Hotel, Wee Waa
Gold Coast Bike Week
Jim Beam	Stay Upright
Junction City Hotel	Walgett Shire Council
Live to Ride	Walgett Tyre Service
and Wildcat members:	Boofy
Dave Callander	Gina
Rowdy & Slippery	Patrick Warren