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Bathurst puts on another touching tribute to Dane

Heading to Bathurst for another busy year for the Dane Ballinger Memorial Truck Show, Warren Aitken saw a variety of shiny rigs and caught up with the back-to-back winner of the King Rig award

Heaping praise on a parking warden may be a weird way to begin a truck show wrap up and I appreciate that, but I am still going to do it though. I was witness to the stresses involved and I feel it is only fair that we begin this year’s Dane Ballinger Memorial Trophy wrap-up with a shout out to the man of the moment, the prodigy of parking, the maestro of manoeuvrability, the virtuoso valet himself, Jamie Woods.

Jamie is a lifelong friend of the Campbell family, who in turn are lifelong friends of the Ballingers and subsequently they are all important cogs in the truck show machine that is the annual Dane Ballinger Memorial Truck Show. I am singling Jamie out for he was the conductor of the silky symphony of shiny machines this year.

Yes, the responsibility traditionally lands at the Bondwoods Transport manager’s feet anyway, but this year the pressure was elevated. In an attempt to make the layout more user friendly, it was decided at the 11th hour to restructure the arena for this year’s event. The stage and stalls were moved to centre field and as such a new parking permutation was needed.  Before you start quipping about how it’s not that hard, keep in mind the majority of this was getting done between midnight Friday and 3am on show day.

It was being done with only partial indication of how many entrants were coming for pre-staging, and limited knowledge of what configurations would need to be accommodated. If you weren’t already aware, the Dane Ballinger Memorial Show is one of very few shows where you can turn up bobtail, B-double, even bring an oversize load in if that’s what floats your boat. It is an all-inclusive show, which is great for the appreciative truck enthusiasts like me, but it creates plenty of challenges for the pre-ordained prince of parking, Jamie Woods.

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Hence credit to Jamie – not only did his Tetris techniques manage to fit in all of this year’s entrants, but he did it with the flare and panache of an overpriced interior design expert. I will try and soften the salutations by pointing out this year’s show saw a small drop in numbers, but nonetheless it was still a great job. Somehow, he managed to squeeze everyone into the Bathurst Showgrounds without making it feel as claustrophobic as the Monash Freeway on a Monday morning.

Now let us get onto the show itself. As I just mentioned, there was a small drop in attendance this year, truck attendance at least. This, however, is a double-edged sword. It wasn’t for lack of desire – Jamie himself normally leads a flotilla of fancy rigs down from Brisbane for this tribute show, however a hectic workload saw just the one Bondwoods truck free to make the journey south to Bathurst. Several other Dane Ballinger regulars were restricted by the availability of trucks as well. We can never begrudge unavailability due to work though; times are tough in trucking and you have to make hay while the sun shines. From a purely selfish standpoint, however, we always want to see more and more quality gear on display – it’s like cold beer. Sure, one is good, but we will always appreciate more.

While the numbers were down from last year’s record 174 registrations, there was still over 160 meticulous machines on display this year and, as the old saying goes, it’s the quality, not the quantity, that counts. This year’s quality once again raised the bar.

Dean Campbell’s jaw-dropping display of luxurious loggers were a very confusing site. When you inspected them, as well as the amazing C&T Dwyer Loggers, you could be forgiven for thinking that NSW have been replacing their bush tracks with golden highways. The log trucks were cleaner than my tarseal only ute, and I wash it three times a week. Even the logs looked perfectly manicured.

The Lawrence team rocked up from Sydney with their always immaculate Large Car fleet and happily sat centrefield doing what their trucks always do – looking cool. As is the norm, Nathan Smith and his entourage from Winston Express made the journey through Friday’s rain to put on another stunning display of shine with some big bonnets, big cabs and big characters.

The local transport companies are always out in force – the likes of Cranstons put on a prize-winning display with their Kenworth fleet. I reckon it was their workaholic Mack they had in the corner that got them over the line for the best fleet award though.

It wasn’t all about the big rigs – the Dane Ballinger Memorial Show also includes a historic truck show segment as well. There were several epic looking old working girls, as you will see in the photos, but it was Les Bird’s 1967 1418 Mercedes that ticked all my boxes. This stunning restoration, named ‘The Power and the Glory’, was a classic looking piece of history.

As I have happily recalled during every Dane Ballinger Memorial wrap up, another great feature of this show is the fact it parallels the Bathurst Outdoor Expo and Christmas markets. This allows bad planners like me to stock up on either quaint Christmas gifts, obscure animal remedies, tantalising tasty treats or just buckets loads of biltong, all of which I managed to cover.

Image: Warren Aitken

Having the two events run simultaneously is a real benefit to both events. Aside from just lazy Christmas shopping, there is plenty to see and do with markets and stalls as well as the truck show. It is nice to take a wander to the outfields of the showgrounds and have a peak at the country markets. It also means the locals out and about for the markets end up lured in by the chrome and polish. This was especially evident this year with hordes of first timers walking through the show and appreciating the amazing rigs, as well as Jamie’s outstanding parking plan.

Winning a show like Bathurst is a tough feat – there is shine upon shine, staunch upon staunch and worthy winners upon worthy winners. Honestly, you could have crowned at least half a dozen King Rigs, that’s how tough the competition is at this event.

Winning the show twice in a row is a feat even Adrian Fenech never even dreamed of achieving. However, the young man behind the wheel of his own K200 did just that.

“I really can’t believe it,” he says when I catch up with him after the show. “I am blown away, I did not expect this.”

While the young father and one-truck owner may not have expected back-to-back wins, when you get up close to his stunning K200, you can understand why. For a truck that spends most of its time covered in dust and debris, it is absolutely immaculate. Even after a trip up from Sydney in the rain, Adrian had the K200 glistening and rightfully earned his back-to-back trophies. The question is, can he be the first to achieve a three-peat?

You will just have to add the Dane Ballinger Memorial Trophy in Bathurst to your truck show list for 2025 and come and find out. If that’s not enough of an incentive, you will learn some creative parking techniques from the guru of guiding, Jamie Woods, because he will definitely be back next year.

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