The 2011 running of the Thumb Pump 300 ATV Festival has now all wrapped up. All events turned out to be very successful, with good fields in both the Junior classes and the UTV category (which were both new for this year) and record numbers in the main Thumb Pump300 event and Highbeam 100 too. Once again the Australian ATV community showed how family friendly they can be really adding to the festival atmosphere.

Thumb Pump 300

In the premier Pro 450 Class it was tight going between 16 year old Suzuki rider Adam Larson ( who led from the first corner) and Tassie young gun Troy Sherridan on day one of the main event with only 2 and a half minutes between them at the end of the session with 2010 winner Cam Wade not more than 10 minutes behind. Not much changed for the second session in the 450 class, Larson continued to dominate, consistantly setting fast lap times in the worsening track conditions, winning the class with a total time of 6:25:04 over Cam Wade's 6:37:27 and Troy Sherridan, after suffering with a faulty throttle cable on the second lap of the session, total time of 6:51:26 equaling his best finish of 3rd place last year. Noteably the top 4 places in this class were Suzuki LTR450's.

The Open Mens division saw factory Polaris rider Luke Beechey take the honours for the 2nd year running with a total time of 6:39:45 on his Outlaw 525 IRS, although not without his own drama's loose sprocket bolts and split CV boots plagued the lead Polaris rider through out the whole first session but never looked to hold him back significantly, team mate to Luke, Mick Roycroft rode his Outlaw 525 IRS to a solid 2nd place in the class with a total time of 6:53:59 and Patrick Geraghty (also Outlaw 525 IRS mounted) brought home 3rd with a time of 7:11:08.

The Open Womens class had several contenders for the top three spots but it was Jeanette Lindsay home in first a whole lap up on the rest of the Womens class field on a borrowed Can Am DS450XMX, Yamaha rider Donna Newman brought home 2nd place with a comfortable gap of 18 minutes back to 3rd place, Can Am Xteam rider Chelsea DeBoo who recovered well after a massive crash on day one.

In the teams Division, Can Am Xteam riders Jake Van Vliet and Adam Siemensma took out the win with a total time 6:39:11, 12 minutes in front of Suzuki mounted riders Jono Wade and Raymond Cole's time of 6:52:51 with the slightly older team of Paul Hendy and Dean McMillan's time of 7:03:56 giving them 3rd place.

The outright places went to Adam Larson followed by Cam Wade and Luke Beechey.

High Beam 100

The night racing event is becoming more popular with a few new entries for this year but it was night riding veteran and bacon enthusiast Dave Newman who took out this 4 Lap, 100 Km event on his Polaris 525 IRS in 2:35:44 over Craig Jenzen on a Polaris Sportsman 850 XP with 2:39:40 and Xteam rider Colin Lawson on his Outlander 800 XXC bringing up 3rd with a total time of 2:41:08. Interestingly enough the top 4 places in this class were separated by less than 10 minutes.

UTV

A new category for 2011 being run as a trial for Motorcycling Australia with the hope of future events to come. The UTV's were a great sucess but it was a Polaris only affair with the whole range of sport vehicles entered, 50 Inch RZR800's, RZR800 S models and the new RZR 900 XP. Rally champion Cody Crocker along with Co-Driver Greg Foletta took the new RZR 900 XP to its maiden victory in Australia with a combined time over the 2 sessions of 2:24:36 closely followed by Tamworth Polaris dealer Phil Swindale and his Co-Driver in their 900XP with 2:27:05. Factory Polaris ATV rider turned UTV driver for the weekend Mick Roycroft with co-driver Thomas Andruschak's time of 2:34:20 in thier RZR800 S rounding out the podium.

Junior

The Junior 90/125 class was hotly contested in lap times but machine reliability played a huge role in deciding this category but Callum Hendy won through on his FYM Typhoon with a total time of 1:27:29 over Matthew Holtham with 1:31:00. Callum's older brother Roarke Hendy made it home in third a lap down on what was a tough track for quads this size.

In the Junior 300 Class it looked like the only competiton the Class winner, Yamaha Raptor rider Ben Wade, was going to get was Harrison Van Vliet on his Raptor 250 on day one but it was not to be for young Van Vliet, a dusted engine halting his race at the end of the first session. Ben Wade won the class with a total time of 2:35:46 over Blaster rider Taylor Goldfinch with 2:43:48 and Michael Beer (also on a Blaster) with 2:44:08