Ballard's Offroad Race Team & History

Geoff Ballard’s (GB's) riding career started back in 1972, riding the trails around the Blue Mountains in NSW. Within a year, he had caught the competition bug, and in his own words, became “obsessed” with racing. He started out on the Short Circuit (Flat Tracks), before soon going to MX, and in 1977 discovered Enduro’s and the International 6 day Enduro (ISDE).

By 1979 Geoff was based in Europe, and through a combination of Enduro and MX events plus some stunt shows, he scraped together a living before eventually crossing the Atlantic in 1984 to take on the Yanks. After 3 years and 3 championships in the USA it was time to come back to Australia, this time with a lot more knowledge plus a greater passion for tinkering and improving things. With a clear vision in his sights, GB set out to share his knowledge and passion for the sport, and with this, Ballards XR’s Only was born. In the beginning, the Ballard’s XR’s Only business was based around a very popular bike at that time called the Honda XR.

Since its inception, Ballard’s has printed a catalogue every year, showcasing the ever-expanding range of performance parts and innovative tools and accessories for the bike and rider. GB continued tinkering and racing the XR’s, and then, along with two of his mates, started a race series called ‘The Thumper Nats’, that would soon become the biggest MX series in Australia, even over the Australian MX nationals. By 1996 there was no stopping the team (or the business) and they took out the prestigious title with Glen Bell aboard their flagship super modified XR654cc.

After 10 years of running a Honda race team they moved to Yamaha (14 years) and also expanded the business into making and providing parts for a much larger section of bikes and called it Ballard’s Enduro-X, which soon became Ballard’s Offroad as you know it today. Ballard’s Offroad certainly gained its greatest ever expansion in 2016 with the MXstore partnership which fostered more growth and added many more parts and products into the mix. This can be seen in the largest ever MXstore/Ballard’s catalogue #36 for 2018!

To help understand a little of the history of GB and Ballard’s, plus the many championship winning riders he helped mould, check out some of the videos below.

MXTV catches up with GB in 2009 to chat about his life and career.

 

After 24-years at the top of Australian Enduro, 2012 marked the end of GB's hugely successful Offroad team.See Australian Champions talk about their time with Ballard's Offroad.

 

AEG Tradesman Series put together this awesome production showcasing GB's life, business, and talks about receiving an Order of Australia. 

 

The 2012 WR450F is put to the test in Australia with Stefan Merriman, Matthew Phillips, Daniel Milner, Stephen Granquist and Adam Riemann.

 

Yamaha Australia and Ballard's Offroad present - Matthew Phillips, one of Australia's Elite Offroad Racers, and part of the Yamaha Ballards Offroad Team. Watch as he pilots a 2012 WRF450 and showcases the strong points of the WRF in all kinds of offroad terrain.