Hoka Hey or Hoax?

I arrived in Sturgis, South Dakota, on August 10. I picked up my scooter at Blackhills H-D and rode south to Hot Springs, SD. This is where I stayed during the rally. I stayed with Jim Durham / Red Cloud and Beth Durham during the rally. As you might know, they are the brains behind the Hoka Hey Challenge. While there, all the organizers of the Hoka Hey Motorcycle Challenge had a cookout for any challenger that wanted to come by. During that time, several of the challengers came by Beth and Jim’s house. To see some of the other challengers and swap stories was truly a good experience. While there, I saw Mark (Australia), Ranger (Delaware), Caretaker (Delaware), Mark, (Ohio) and countless others. It was good to see everyone having fun and reliving their experiences during the challenge.

The Hoka Hey Motorcycle Challenge winner’s name is Will Barclay from Florida. He stated that “when I passed the polygraph test, Jim was on the phone with me wanting to transfer the money to my account.” Will said, “I finished the test, the results were back by 8:00, and by 9:05 the money had been transferred to my account.” All I can say is that Will had just bought three new Harleys, one for himself and two for his friends that he told if he won this thing they would have new bikes as well. They were happy he had won.

The award ceremony was held at The Broken Spoke campground outside of Sturgis. There were close to 80 challengers at the ceremony. We all had a great time and were excited to see Will present a big check for $500,000. We all have heard so many negative comments about the Challenge and Jim Durham / Red Cloud, how they would never pay the winner and how they had run off with all the money. I personally don’t believe that to be the case. All challengers I spoke with said that they would do it again tomorrow. I have to agree.

All the challengers at the ceremony were excited when we heard Jim say that there would be another challenge next year. I believe it will be called Hoka Hey Motorcycle Challenge 2011. This time it is to be run from San Diego, California, to Nova Scotia, Canada. It is to go into three different countries, be more than 10,000 total miles, and last for up to 15 days. It takes place in August of 2011. The total purse for the event is to be $1,000,000 total pay-out. From what I understand, the first place winner gets $500,000 and then the next 49 finishers split the remaining $500,000 according to how they finish. Second place gets more than one-third, and so on, until all 50 places are paid. The web site for the Hoka Hey Motorcycle Challenge is “under construction” and should be up before long. Again, I don’t like things under construction - especially oily roads in Wyoming!!! Ride safe, and I will keep Cycle Connections up to date of any new developments I hear of the challenge.

By Dale Galbraith