Pumice Blast
DESCRIPTION
Suzuki Pumice Blast was introduced in 2008 with much success attracting over 600 riders per day. The ride takes place just 15 minutes from Taupo on the Napier/Taupo rroad.
The forest is called Waimihia and it has many of the great attributes of Suzuki Trail Blazer and Suzuki Berm Buster. We’ve called it Suzuki Pumice Blast for good reasons.
1. Pumice because the soil type is 90% white pumice that provides predictable traction, makes good berms and can be ridden hard in wet conditions.
2. Blast because we keep the ride flowing to allow for good cornering speed so you can blast out of the turns.
Pumice blast also includes some more technical single track and our well known Expert Only sections.
POSTER
GENERAL INFORMATION 2010
Tracks: Over 100 km of premium trail including 45km, 40km, 15km family trail, Novice and Kids forest trails. There are no kids grass tracks at the venue. The medium trail will only be open on Sunday along with all of the other trails.
Suitable for all abilities 2 and 4 wheelers.
Sign on from 9am. Tracks open 9:30am to 3pm
Fire extinguishers are compulsory and can be bought on the day for $30.
Food: Food caravan on site selling hamburgers, hot chips etc. Cold drinks and espresso coffee also available to purchase.
Entry: Enter on the day. Pay by cash or cheque.
Daily rates: Adults $45. Kids/Students 15 years or under $25. Families with kids 15 years or under $100.
Weekend Passes: Adult $80, Kids/Students $40 and Families $180. Weekend passes must be purchased on Saturday.
Note the Family fee applies to immediate family units and can include up to 2 adults and 3 children. All riders must attend registration including children.
Accommodation: There is no camping on site. Taupo has great camping grounds and motels. See http://www.laketauponz.com/ De Bretts thermal springs and accommodation is very close, about 8 minutes from the event base.
Directions: The event is located on State Highway 5 (The Napier/Taupo Road), around 15 minutes drive from Taupo. Look for large orange arrows and Epic Event signs on SH.5.
Vee Rubber Tyres
VEE RUBBER VRM300 TT MC TYRE
http://www.epicevents.co.nz/file/veerubber
NEWS
EVENT REPORT: SUZUKI PUMICE BLAST 11-12 SEPTEMBER 2010
I was looking around the base for Noah’s Ark thinking that after rain for 40 days and 40 nights, there must be a boat somewhere, but all I saw were hundreds of keen motorcyclists. I have to say I was super impressed with everyone’s attitudes at the event. Parking was marginal and the tracks were very challenging, but everyone just seemed to get on with it.
Saturday was a fine day with no rain and almost 800 riders cranked around the very long 50km track or the very short 3km or 6km Family trail. Most riders enjoyed the trails, but after about 100 million litres of rainfall on Saturday night, only 400 brave riders showed up to take on the new 37km Medium trail.
The highlight for me was riding the Medium trail on Sunday in torrential rain and arriving in the 2.5km long Expert section to find about 10 bikes ‘chains awing’ their way up a boggy gully. I yelled out to the guys ‘are you enjoying this’ and they all just grinned. I offered them a short cut out of the tough bit, but they refused and carried on helping each other up the hill – on ya boys!
I do apologise for the small base and the fact that the long and medium tracks did not have half way short cuts. This event was extremely challenging to organize with the grass base not being available and hundreds of snow fallen tress to clear off the tracks. We will work on a better base for this event in 2011.
News 3 August 2010: Suzuki Pumice Blast. I am happy to tell you that this event is 100% confirmed for 11-12 September. I applied for the land access permits in December 2009 and now 9 months later, I can confirm access to the Waimihia forest. The base will be different to that used in 2008 and 2009 and will be 5 minutes further up the Napier Road.
Pumice Blast is a really fun 2 day ride. The forest extends from the Napier Taupo road almost down to Lake Taupo and includes some fun twisty trails, open road section and of course some challenging Expert sections. We always get around 700 riders per day for some great socializing and atmosphere, come and join us.
Suzuki Pumice Blast REPORT 12-13 September 2009
Suzuki Pumice Blast proved popular in 2008 when it was first introduced and the 2009 event followed suite. The weather was not on our side, but we had great numbers taking on the 110km of trail anyway. The rain definitely increased the level of challenge, but also the level of satisfaction. The venue used was the same as the Suzuki 4 hour and the novices sure had fun cranking around the 4 hour grass track of 2.5km. I really enjoyed the event because I got to ride the trails and give the Epic Events recovery crew a hand.
We were lucky enough to have an event Photographer at Pumice Blast for both days busy snapping shots. See www.picasaweb.google.com/kezzafish Or contact Kerry Fisher at kezzafish "at" gmail.com This is a rare chance to get a professional photo of yourself looking good attacking the trails. The picture attached is by Kerry.
Riders hit the first 100m of trail
There are heaps of these flowing dozer tracks made in 30 year old Pine trees. These are sure to berm up.
We have made one 'Expert only' section in a dark and tight Douglas Fir block.
