THE Hamilton Motorcycle Club is gearing up for its biggest weekend of the year with the 2023 Pony Express bringing hundreds of riders together for the event tomorrow.

Many months of preparation have gone into planning and setting out the track with the course very similar to last year’s, giving riders plenty of variation.

Club president, Shane Fry said

“Last year was super successful considering weather conditions, this year we have brought it forward hoping for better conditions,” he said.

“If it can be a bit drier and have a bit more fun, it will be better for everyone.”

The 2023 edition will include more of the permanent motocross track, adding more excitement to the event for the riders.

Fry said the club always received feedback after each year’s event and so was excited to see how the changes shaped up on the day.

“We have incorporated more of the motocross track which is exciting, and we have also altered a few jumps just to make them a bit more gnarlier, so we are hoping for that to be a point of difference,” he said.

“I think it has variety everywhere, it has the open, it has the tight and then we incorporate the motocross track and the jumps are a bit different to other events, and we also incorporate some of the four-wheel drive track which is nearby as well.”

Joining the many local riders will be others from all around the south-west and South Australia.

“We get people from everywhere – Ballarat, Bacchus Marsh, Warrnambool, Portland, Mount Gambier and up to Horsham as well,” Fry said.

“Registrations are looking not too bad, everyone jumps on last minute … we haven’t hit our caps yet, so still looking for more riders.

“We come under the Motorcycle Victoria (MV) banner, so we have great coverage, and it offers great professionalism and all riders including juniors are fully back by MV.”

As for Fry, he has a busy day ahead with involvement in both the junior and senior events.

“I love it, we all got to be super switched on during the day and I have a great committee behind me,” he said.

“I will be out on track looking after the juniors, then for seniors, I am looking to do the four-hour ironman again.

“I probably haven’t prepared as much as I would have liked, but we will see how we go.”

Registrations closed yesterday with the two-hour junior event getting underway at 9.30am, while the four-hour senior event will roll off the start line at 12.30pm.