CHRIS HOLLIS - LOCAL BOY FINDING SUCCESS as seen in The Hastings Gazette March 2006

Hastings residents who attended the recent monster truck show at the Wauchope Showground were universally delighted to see a display of car jumping by some courageous bike riders. Who was that young bloke riding around on front and back wheel, out jumping everyone and making a wobbly, self destructing ramp look like just another trick? It was local rider Chris Hollis.

 Chris is the Hastings Valley Motorcycle Clubs’ most successful rider to date. Chris has been racing for 12 years with HVMCC in Motocross, Sprint and Pony Express events and is now on the verge of major national success in off road racing.

 Chris has been Club Champion (most points in all events for the year) in previous years but is now focusing on state and national titles.

 2006 has seen Chris join the Ballard’s Motorex Yamaha Racing Team, one of leading teams in Australia. The team is run by Geoff Ballard – long a legend in Australian Enduro circles and has full support from Yamaha Australia.

 Picking up a ride in this team an amazing achievement for our local boy, given that Chris is not the stereotypical, brash self promoting motocross hero, but rather a quite achiever who has shown that his results and ability have been all the promotion he needs to gain the attention of industry heavyweights.

With the season just warming up Chris has already had top 5 finishes in both NSW Stadium Motocross and the NSW Off Road or “Sprint” series.

Still ahead this year is the Australian Off Road series, the Australian 4 Day Enduro and hopefully the International Six Day Enduro in New Zealand. If Chris maintains the form he has shown this year he should be a strong chance to gain selection in the Australian Junior Trophy team (under 23 years old) for the ISDE - the worlds most prestigious and hard fought off road dirt bike event.

 Even though Chris would like to take his riding to Europe and the USA he will still be attending as many local club meetings as possible to “ride with mates” and keep honing his skills on the great tracks and competitions run here. The standard of riding in the Hastings is always improving and it is a sure bet that Chris won’t be the last from area to achieve similar results.

 Some generous local businesses have offered support to Chris this year as even with Ballards’ sponsorship the costs involved with traveling, fuel, accommodation and training are considerable.

 Chris would like to acknowledge the support of Jim Pearson (Pearson’s Transport), Mick Young (Young and Sons Excavations), Kevin Hollis (Kevin Hollis Grader Hire) and Bill Armitage (Armitage Civil Contracting) and thank them for their assistance. It is the local supporters of athletes like Chris that really should be recognized as those who got the ball rolling and laid the foundation for future success.