2024 Australian Off-Road Championship (AORC)
Rounds 7 & 8 – QLD Moto Park
The last weekend in July saw competitors tackle the bush and tracks around QMP in the enduro format. The previous rounds had been sprints only due to the dry conditions and changed from enduro for the safety of the riders due to the lack of vision in the dust. But it was back to enduro at QMP for a test of man and machine across both days.
Kyron Bacon returned to Australian soil after a successful month in Europe contesting the World Enduro Championships and took E1 honours Sunday, but the Tasmanian was beaten to the E1 victory on Saturday by Korey McMahon. New Zealand’s Tom Buxton was the third E1 rider home on both days.
Kyron Bacon
“It was a good weekend without being great, as I was a little off the pace in some areas and looking back, I think I know what I need to work on. The dirt on the weekend was dry, hard and slippery and I tried to be too aggressive on it in my riding when I should have tried to keep momentum and carry speed. Instead, I was charging corners, being hard on the throttle and clutch and I was just lighting up the rear tyre. I needed to open the corners up, ride with some flow and not try and force it so that’s something I can learn for next time we are faced with conditions like this.”
Kyron Bacon
Korey McMahon
“It was a big weekend of riding and we spent more than nine hours on the bike over the two days. Yesterday was an awesome day, and it was great to take my second round class win for the year. I was really consistent and fast all day, and it felt like everything clicked. Today got off to a rough start, but I was able to get back to within a couple of seconds of the leader. And then I had a couple of crashes late in the day, so it was a bit frustrating, but it’s good to know the speed’s there.”
Tom Buxton
“Finishing the weekend with another two thirds was pretty good. The conditions are a lot different to home, so it was just about trying to stay safe out there. I didn’t have any problems with the bike and was content to get through the weekend safely and add a couple more podium results to my first AORC season. I’d still like to be closer to the two riders up front, but we’ve got four more rounds and we’re seeing improvements. Kingston should be a lot of fun.”
The fastest man outright on both days was, yet again, Daniel Milner. Thus, of course, Milner was also E2 division winner, trailed by Jonte Reynders and Andy Wilksch on both days.
Daniel Milner
“On a whole, it was a good weekend and I was able to keep my perfect season going. The bike didn’t miss a beat and I was able to win both days. The conditions were brutal! Saturday wasn’t quite so bad, but we spent six hours on the bike and as a result I was a bit fatigued on Sunday. I went down in the first test and after that I just had to concentrate on minimising the mistakes as the tracks got rougher. The times were a lot tighter today as the boys behind me sent it, but I was able to still get it done.”
Daniel Milner
Jonte Reynders ran Milner pretty close at QMP, finishing 30-seconds behind Milner on Saturday before closing that gap to less than six-seconds on Sunday.
Billy Hargy and Jye Dickson shared the wins and second places in E3. Fraser Higlett rounded out the E3 podium on Saturday but on Sunday it was Riley McGillivray taking that third step.
Billy Hargy
“The tracks were absolutely brutal this weekend and by Sunday afternoon it felt like we were ploughing through deep talcum-powder dust ruts, into big braking bumps, into technical rock sections. I’ve got tracks at home that are similar, but not to the extent we faced at QMP. I went into the weekend really wanting to win, but I just fell short on Saturday. Getting my first E3 win on Sunday was massive, though. It’s good to prove it can be done and I knew it would happen eventually, but didn’t exactly know when.”
Danielle McDonald dominated the EW category ahead of Jessica Gardiner, the JGR Yamaha team-mates 1-2 on both days and well ahead of the rest of the field. Round Seven Senior Top 20
Danielle McDonald
Jett Yarnold, Eli Tripcony and Jackson Versteegen filled the Enduro Junior podium on both days, in that order.
The AORC moves to Kingston in South Australia next time out for rounds nine and ten at Kingston SE on the August 24-25 weekend. The final rounds will be staged at Nowra on the weekend of September 14-15.
