Broc Grabham continues a family tradition

IT must be hard living up to the reputation of older brothers Ben and Damien, but Bathurst rider Broc Grabham did something worthy of both last weekend when he took out the Yellow Mountain Ride.

The annual race is staged between Condobolin and Tottenham, covering a distance of 220 kilometres and plenty of rough terrain.

But it wasn’t just the landscape that Broc Grabham had to overcome and prolific siblings Todd and Jacob Smith who between them have won a plethora of Yellow Mountain titles.

An encounter with a kangaroo and a length of discarded fencing wire both threatened to cruel his campaign, adding to what was a sensational debut in the event riding his 2014 KTM 450 EXB.

“I had been third in the prologue so started behind Jacob and Todd and after the start of the first stage, I was going along behind both of them. Todd had some bike dramas, so that put me into second,” Grabham explained.

“As I started to get used to the track and how they mark it out, I was making a bit of ground and then Jacob had some dramas of his own. He said he had run out of fuel but I was told that he rode into the second fuel stop, so I’m not sure what happened.

“Whatever happened, I went past him but with no markers to follow at times, and being the first rider, it was pretty hard to see where I was supposed to go, and there were pigs, sheep, ’roos and stuff everywhere.

“About 40 kilometres from the stage finish I was riding through a tunnel of trees, couldn’t see much, and all of a sudden a ’roo came out from nowhere, clipped the left side of the bike and sent me into the trees.”

Fortunate not to have done more damage to himself or his bike, he took the best part of a minute to recover and get back on the track, with Jacob Smith closing in fast.

The two were neck-and-neck on the track for some time as Grabham made a few minor mistakes in a bid to make up for the time he lost in his fall.

With surprising straight line speed though he managed to avoid being overtaken. After a slip up from Smith trying to negotiate a gate, Grabham was able to pull out to a significant lead.

He finished day one, from Tottenham to Condobolin, with a 39-second lead.

On day two Grabham and Jacob Smith began the return journey simultaneously and literally from the instant the leg started, Grabham took front spot.

“The starter counted us down and dropped his hand to signal that we could go, and as soon as I saw that hand move I got away and got in front of Todd,” the Bathurst rider said.

“We were together through most of the early kilometres but I held him off and I knew that I would be able to go a bit quicker through the scrub and the tighter bits.

“I had pulled a minute over him when suddenly something started whipping me in the back. It was a piece of wire that had wrapped around the back wheel, the brake pedal, the kick starter and rear hub.

“I couldn’t cut it off so I went on and just hoped that it would break off at some point. If either of the Smiths got in front I wouldn’t have been able to go back past them, so I took the risk and kept going.”

Thankfully for Grabham, his gamble paid off and within a few kilometres the wire snapped without doing any serious damage.

Even after riding conservatively to the line he managed to keep his lead, finishing 10 seconds ahead of Jacob Smith and more than a minute and a half in front of Todd.

That he pulled off such an achievement at his first attempt was a huge effort for Grabham and one which understandably gave him a lot of satisfaction.

“I’d never been out there at all. It was especially great to win on the return leg because there were no bike dramas for either of the Smiths, and it was nice to hear Jacob say at the presentation that I’d been the better rider.

“Also looking at that trophy and seeing that Ben’s name was on there, Damien’s a couple of times, that was a great feeling.

“I’ll definitely be going back next year to defend it.”