Jarryd McNeil grew up on a farm in Kerang, Victoria and has been riding dirt bikes since he was 2 and a half years old. Today Jarryd lives in the US, has collected 15 X Games medals and tours the world with Nitro Circus.

Jarryd used a Hidromek HMK140LC excavator from Onetrak. Courtesy of Hidromek
This year Jarryd and filmer Jacob Johnson entered the X Games Real Moto contest and filmed their video in Australia.
Jarryd used a Hidromek HMK140LC excavator from Onetrak.

“I grew up on a dairy farm in regional Victoria. When I was 8 dad handed me the keys to our 16-ton excavator and I learnt how to operate it cleaning the irrigation channel and dams and used it to pick things up on the property. In my spare time, I used the excavator to build tracks and jumps”.

“I now live on a 10-acre property in southern California and have an 8-ton excavator and a tracked skid steer loader for property yard maintenance and to build motorcycle jumps. I’ve had some experience operating other machines like front end loaders, bulldozers, articulated loaders, backhoe loaders, telehandlers and dump trucks”.

“When I found out I was doing the Real Moto contest I was on the lookout for a machine to help me build the tracks and Onetrak and Hidromek were really helpful and came up with the goods. It’s funny because I had seen Hidromek feature a lot on social media. For me personally it is a brand I haven’t seen a lot of previously but what I saw on social spiked my interest and I was really keen to have a go in one of these machines. I was stoked when Onetrak came onboard as it was the perfect opportunity for me to get to test a Hidromek”.

“It’s not often you see a new brand enter the construction equipment market – you see the same brands all year every year. The presentation and design of the Hidromek are really interesting because it’s different, modern and sort of sporty looking”.  

“I had the Hidromek HMK140LC for a week and I can’t fault it. The machines are European quality and built for quarries so they’re really tough and definitely stack up to other major brands quality-wise. It’s both powerful and tracks fast”.

“Having not operated one before it’s super easy to jump in and operate – all toggles and functions are easy to find, controls are standard and the quick-hitch is straight forward”.

“One of the highlights in the interior of the cab. It’s super comfy to sit in.  The control panel and everything in the cab are laid out nice and neat and it’s got really handy features like a built-in USB charger”.

“It’s no secret I’m a big fan of some of the other brands but the Hidromek definitely lives up to those expectations. There are a lot of things I really like about it – actually – I’ll go as far as saying it is hands down the best machine I’ve jumped in terms of the controls being really to smooth to work with. Some bigger machines are sort of slow on the controls and smaller ones quick and it takes time to adjust – but the Hidromek is just straight off the bat super smooth”.

Source: onetrak

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Nicole Portilla
Nicolle Portilla is RTS’s Social Media Manager, and has been a valued member of the team since July 2018. She is responsible for content creation on all platforms, leveraging creative software, industry trends and research, and social media strategy to build upon the company’s online presence. Additionally, Nicolle contributes to the RTS blog, which serves to educate clients and industry players about our technology and sustainability efforts, and is responsible for the creation and dissemination of our internal and external newsletters. Prior to taking on the role of Social Media Manager, Nicolle served on the Sustainability team for nearly three years, assisting clients in achieving their sustainability goals through external communications and event organizing. Preceding Nicolle’s time on the RTS team is her work with Clean Water Action, where she promoted clean water initiatives. Nicolle graduated from Stony Brook University in 2018 with a B.A. in Sustainability.