HQVA press release:

Husqvarna factory support racer and SD3 Team rider Luke Arbon featured prominently in the weekend’s 40th anniversary Mountain Man Motocross event at Echo Valley Raceway in Toowoomba, and came away $3000 richer for the experience.

Riding a dead stock Husqvarna TC 125 supplied by local Husqvarna dealer Toowoomba Motorcycles, Arbon dominated the Husqvarna-sponsored 125cc Gold Cup championship to win ahead of Kerrod Morrissy and Isaac Ferguson.

Arbon ‘fluffed’ his first racing start on a 125 in almost 10 years, but he recovered quickly to be second in the first Gold Cup moto, and learned from the experience, going on to comfortably win the next two motos off the back of much better launches.

Husqvarna’s Queensland and New South Wales Brand Manager Nathan Crawford finished sixth in the Gold Cup, one place ahead of junior AORC champion Fraser Higlett.

Without an open bike to ride in the unlimited capacity title event, Luke Arbon rode his regular Husqvarna FC250 race bike in the day’s Mountain Man title event, and was again in sparkling form, rounding up the podium behind Kade Mosig and Caleb Ward – both mounted on open class machinery.

Celebrations for the 40 year anniversary of Mountain Man drew some of the greatest legends of Australian motocross back to the famous Echo Valley circuit.

Among them were the two men responsible for Husqvarna’s three-year domination of the event from 1978 to 1980, Pelle Granquist and Robert “Beatle” Bailey.

Jeff Leisk – Husqvarna Australia General Manager – “The weekend was really, really good. It’s always been a favourite track of mine, and to be here with so many of the guys that we raced with and even a few that we didn’t because they are a bit older than us, it was a great experience and I really loved it. Pelle and Beatle both made a big effort to be here, so it shows that it was significant to them. Unfortunately today we didn’t get another Mountain Man win, but we had good success with Luke Arbon in the 125s and with a podium in Mountain Man on his 250, so it was a great day.”

Luke Arbon – FC 250, TC125: “It was definitely a solid day, I haven’t ridden motocross for a long time. The 125 was brand new so that was a bit of fun to get out on. I got second in the first one, I got a horrible start, but in the last two I worked it out and just pinned it off the gate, I really enjoyed that. I didn’t even run it in, so, it says a lot for the Husky, I don’t think the thing dropped under about 10,000 revs all day – so it’s definitely a good bike. A big thank you to Steve from Toowoomba Motorcycles for hooking that up, and Hafey and the Husky guys for making it all happen. The Mountain Man event was pretty difficult on the 250F, I got decent starts, it was just hard to make passes, the 450s would pull a lot on the big hills and the roost was killing me, but I went decent in the back-to-back races, and in the half hour moto I felt strong, and overall I’m pretty happy with third.”

For more information on Husqvarna motorcycles visit www.husqvarna-motorcycles.com.