WHES Final Round 5: What's your excuse now?

What else can ya say?

The greatest challenge of the racing season?

Trying to find particular words that perfectly place it all into perspective.

Lucky for me, Jarrod Manuel saved me the pain. From the second step of the Silver podium, at the end of the final round, the Toodyay Terror, he captured the entire kaleidoscope of emotions we all were feeling in the WHES paddock post-race.

"Firstly, I would like to thank dirt bikes for being soooo much fun!"

The silver bullets that put Toodyay down: P1 Cam Heggarty, P2 Jarrod Manuel and P3 Boston King.

I wasn't sure how the newest smoking gun on the grid, young Cam Heggarty was going to top that victory speech from the top step?

But he really didn't need to. Throughout the season he has let his riding speak for him. His victory in the final Round 5 sealed the deal on his championship lead in Silver. And it is his first year racing as a Senior.

Always An Adventure Photography captured exactly that: Cam......nice send!

His mum said, and I quote: "I didn't know he was that good a rider!". I'm not kidding, she actually said that; bless her cotton socks.

I'm not sure what is happening over in the east, but here in the west these young riders just seem to crawl straight out of nappies and first past the checkered flag. It's giving the old guard a bit of an inferiority complex.

Already a veteran of WHES, Grant Forword was feeling a little backward after Toodyay's torture.

True to Twist, though, this is not going to be a recital of race results. If you want to see 'who blew who' you can FB the results anytime.

Here on channel Twist, the dial is always set to 'Back Stories' and there are always so many to cover off on. The final round of the WHES 2025 season was no exception.

In the first instance we had the most poetic juxtaposition ever of dirt bikes on the starting grid; the outcome made for extraordinary story fodder.

WHES would not be WHES without the Wickert and West show.

The perpetual clowns of WHES, Kel West and Halen Wickert entered Kawasaki Ke175s under the pseudonyms Harry Dunne and Loydd Christmas. This was a near futile attempt to keep their dirty little secret smoldering in the shadows right up until the green flag dropped.

Nobody knew this was coming and the sole purpose of running these ancient bikes was to crush the souls of any sandbagging Bronze riders whose egos are writing cheques their flash new 3002Ts can't cash.

Usually racing Gold, it was a slight flex of the rules that let Kel and Halen loose on the Bronze grid to decimate the field on their paddock ploughs. They both completed 3 hard laps in good time before their bikes succumbed to the Toodyay terrain.

Auto chain tensioners (on a '88 bike) caused tension mid race.

I saw Kel trying to mount a 1m step on the last lap, as the stop clock was ticking; it looked like the little 175 didn't have enough grunt left in it to pull the skin off a rice pudding.

Plenty to laugh about, with Laughing Bulldog capturing the metaphorical and literal finish of the 175s.

Rolling on the theme of expecting the unexpected at Toodyay, you will never guess what turned up to light up the last race of the year: A STARK VARG!

Dunno 'bout you but my dad told me never to put the toaster in the bath: howz this gunna work?

Not gunna lie....I was like "Errrrr, this is a four-hour race on tech terrain...you have no clutch. Do please put your generator and charge pack in Park Ferme". Quietly, I was thinking Kyle Paleske had bought an electric bread knife to the nastiest gun fight this side of the Darling Scarp. But, with a slathering of joy and some rapture as garnish I gluttonously ate my own words.

He rolled in smiling after the first lap with 85% charge left, then 70% then 40% and whispered to the flag with 4% left in the tank. He was all smiles, and I was stupefied. I'd been told the kid could ride, but how do you mount logs with no clutch?

Kyle, who is only 19, explains it to me like grade-school physics "Yeah, essentially I can turn my engine braking up and down to simulate different bikes and to accommodate the terrain. It also charges up the battery by turning the motor into an alternator when the throttle is closed off".

I interpret it that the Brake Retard is holding the bike back whilst the turbine winds up for launch. That is the only way I can comprehend it and even then my eyes cross over and some dribble escapes the corner of my mouth. Physics was never my thing. Whatever it takes to make the launch as easy as the flick of a Clipsal switch, I suppose.

Kyle Paleske went off like a cheap lithium battery on the Stark Varg! What a legend!

With the largest contingent of riders ever to race Toodyay, some spectacular weather and a huge crowd the WHES season did go off its chops at the final round.

And it is hard to believe the first full un-(MWA)-affiliated race year has been completed with both spectacular attendance and no major hiccups. A true credit to the driving forces behind WHES: Emma Petrig, Grant McCarthy, Jakob Petrig and all of the dedicated committee and sub-committe members and volunteers.

Cheers to you all and we can only imagine what is in store for next year!

And, if you are thinking about the 2026 season, here is something to think about:

• Sienna Petrig is 16 and she did four laps.

• Nine riders were over 50.

• Two bikes were basically farm equipment and 37 years old

• One bike was electric and had no clutch.

Ask yourself the question: What's your excuse now?

There is no excuse!

And if I may, a huge thanks to Laughing Bulldog Images and Always An Adventure Photography for helping to bring the Twist stories to life.