Milner takes A4DE victory | Three in a row
Daniel Milner has won his third Australian Four Day Enduro Championship in a row for CDR Yamaha.
After a solid three days riding, Milner just needed to stay on his bike and finish strong to clinch a hat-trick of championships at one of the most prestigious Enduro events Australia has to offer.
The fourth and final day saw riders set out for a quick 30km trail ride before being split in to heats for the spectator friendly Final Moto’s.
The Final Moto track was described by Geoff Ballard, competing in the Masters Class, as one of the best he’s ever seen, certainly high praise for the event organisers from one of the greatest riders this country has produced.
Starting in reverse order, the Masters Class A4DE took on a track that looked more golf course than MX terrain.
Peter Schaper took out the first heat and to no ones great surprise, Geoff Ballard and Trent Lean went 1 and 2 in the second heat but the Masters Class was ultimately taken out by Victorian David Fleming with Lean second and Enduro stalwart Ballard third.
As the first of three heats of the Veterans Class took to the track, the skies threatened to open, but the crowd stayed dry and saw Scott Campbell, John Fry and Kirk Hutton take out their respective heats convincingly.
Hutton’s win wasn’t enough for the Queenslander to take out the Veterans Class, that honour went to Damian Smith by around 30 seconds to Hutton and Smidt in third.
The Women’s A4DE Moto was full of thrills and spills, a restart was needed after Kellie Catanese took a fall and suffered an injury to her arm, hopefully a speedy recovery for her and she gets back on the bike!
At the restart, Tayla Jones took the holeshot and led the entire way, Jess Gardiner was right on her tail but crashed early and went to sixth, she recovered remarkably well to steal second from Queenslander Jemma Wilson in third.
Second place sealed the Women’s Championship for Gardiner who firmed her reputation as one of the fastest female Enduro racers in the world.
Just over 25 seconds behind was Jones with Sweden’s Karlsson rounding out the top three.
The E1 Class first heat saw Brodie Waugh take the win by 7 seconds, heat 2 was another thriller, American Mike Brown was dominant but it would be second place in the Moto Tom McCormack take out the E1 Championship for Active8 Yamaha.
KTM Motorex Off-Road’s Peter Boyle took second in the class with Husqvarna import Brown taking the final step on the podium.
E3 solitary heat was taken comfortably by Tom Mason with experienced Husqvarna rider Glenn Kearney seven seconds behind, the real battle was for third position with New South Welshman Mitch Bowen edging out Victorian Daniel “Chucky” Sanders by just two tenths of a second!
Ultimately the experience of Kearney was too much to overcome for Sanders as they went 1 and 2 in the Championship, Stefan Granquist was around 10 seconds behind in third.
The opening heat of the premier E2 Class was won by a country mile for Jesse Kistler and Myles Bowen raced home first in heat two, but it was the third and final moto of the day that had a good crowd salivating at the talent on display!
Milner, his CDR Yamaha team mate Chris Hollis, KTM Motorex Off-Road’s and experienced MX racer Toby Price and the surprise packet of the Championship Beau Ralston for Active8 Yamaha were set for five laps of frantic racing in the main event of the 2014 A4DE.
Ralston and Price spoiled the party for eventual Four Day overall winner Milner, they excited the crowd with some spectacular racing, Ralston would edge out Price by just 1.311 seconds in the race of the day.
Despite finishing third in the final moto, nothing could wipe the smile from the face of Milner.
“I’m so stoked right now.” Milner said after clinching his third A4DE Championship in a row.
“With my recent ankle injury, getting back to anywhere near 100% was going to be difficult so to be able to recover from that and then win the Four Day is really special to me.
“I can’t thank CDR Yamaha and our sponsors enough for providing me with the support and help I need to race at this level.
“This is an awesome team to be a member of and I’m proud to race on their behalf.”
Toby Price takes second overall and Chris Hollis rounds out the top three riders of the 2014 A4DE.
The 2015 A4DE is set to take place in scenic Tasmanian country in what is sure to be another fantastic week of racing!
E2/Overall Top 5
1. Daniel Milner
2. Toby Price
3. Chris Hollis
4. Josh Strang
5. Beau Ralston
E1 Top 5
1. Tom McCormack
2. Peter Boyle
3. Mike Brown
4. Scott Keegan
5. Kane Hall
E3 Top 5
1. Glenn Kearney
2. Daniel Sanders
3. Stefan Granquist
4. Jarrod Bewley
5. Mitchell Bowen
Womens Top 5
1. Jess Gardiner
2. Tayla Jones
3. Emelie Karlsson
4. Jemma Wilson
5. Sophie Coldicutt
Veterans Top 5
1. Damian Smith
2. Kirk Hutton
3. Anthony Smidt
4. Con Privitera
5. Mark Blake
Masters Top 5
1. David Fleming
2. Trent Lean
3. Geoff Ballard
4. Mark Cockerill
5. Mark Peacock
CBR Yamaha Report
The CDR Yamaha off road team capped off a sensational 2014 Australian Four Day Enduro (A4DE) with a 1-3 outright finish in the gruelling off road event, after the final test was wrapped up on Saturday.
Daniel Milner and Chris Hollis were in top form all week and between the two of them, led the entire event from start to finish. Hollis led the charge from the Prologue stage and day one, before Milner took over and went on to win the prestigious event.
For Milner, the 2014 A4DE win makes it three in a row for the likeable Victorian and an impressive return from injury after sustaining a broken ankle earlier in the season. Mounted on a YZ450F, Milner hit the lead on day two of the event and never looked back despite spirited challenges from Toby Price and his team mate Chris Hollis.
“Apart from a bit of dust, which couldn’t be helped, it was a really enjoyable four day. Riding with Toby and Chris was awesome and we talked and joked at a lot of the check points over the four days so it was a lot of fun.
“Winning this one meant a lot, not only because it was three in a row for me, but because the level of competition that was here and for my CDR Yamaha team that do so much for me. Beating riders like Toby, Chris and Josh Strang is amazing and having them here adds to the prestige of the event.
“A big thank you to the organisers and sponsors of the event and all the volunteers that go into making a race like this happen. It’s a huge job and all the riders appreciate the effort they put in,” Milner ends.
Eight years ago, Chris Hollis won the A4DE. Since then his journey has taken him many places but he turned back the clock at Dungog and gave the 2014 a real shake. Hollis led the event early and then when the pressure came from Milner and Price, Hollis went toe to toe with them and in the end, less than a minute separate the top three in an enthralling battle that lasted the entire week.
In the end, Hollis finished third outright on his WR450F and his return to top form impressed everyone.
“What an awesome Four day!” Hollis said. “There is no disgrace finishing between Dan and Toby and I can leave here knowing that I gave it everything I had. The difference between winning and coming third was a couple of tests of day two where I made a couple of mistakes, but I have no regrets and I’m really happy with how the week turned out.
“Congratulations to Dan on a great ride. He really deserved to win and had to handle the pressure the whole time. Thank you to the CDR Yamaha team and our sponsors for their continued support and everyone involved in running such a successful event.”
This 2014 event marks the second year since CDR Yamaha become involved with off road racing and it is also the second time that the CDR Yamaha team have won the event with Daniel Milner at the controls. For team owner, Craig Dack, the move across to off road has been a challenging one, but the rewards have been great.
“This is our second year in off road and we still have a lot to learn about this style of racing. Thankfully with riders like Daniel and Chris, as well as Stefan Merriman before that, we have been able to work with determined and talented riders who pass on as much knowledge to us as we pass onto them.
“Both Dan and Chris did an amazing job this week. On two totally different bikes, both riders proved just how good they are and what they can achieve. I couldn’t be prouder of the way they conducted themselves during the week and the results they got as well as the hard work and commitment everyone on the CDR Yamaha team puts in.
“This is what all that work adds up to and it makes the long hours testing and in the workshop worthwhile.
“ I’m genuinely hooked on the four day experience and as a company, Yamaha are the driving force behind off road in Australia with people like Steven Cotterell, Ray Howard and Peter Payne passionate about racing and the 4ADE.
“Thanks to Yamaha and our band of sponsors, most of which have been with us for years. I hope they can share in this victory also,” Dack signs off.
KTM Report
KTM enduro racing team riders Toby Price and Peter Boyle both gave it plenty and both came away with Australian enduro championship podium finishes as the A4DE wound up at Dungog, NSW, yesterday.
Price enjoyed a Herculean struggle with defending A4DE Champion Daniel Milner, winning his fair share of special tests, but ultimately a slow start to the event for Price saw the two-time champion yield time to Milner over Days One and Two on the way to second Outright.
The early deficit proved to be a perfect illustration of the competitiveness between the two as Price pushed right to the limit on Day Three, winning five special tests on his KTM 450 EXC and pulling back significant time on Milner, but a crash in the final test saw him drop 13 seconds, and he could only finish the day on the same second.
Price led Milner home in the final moto, but fell 25 seconds short of a career third A4DE outright win.
KTM 250 EXC-F-mounted Peter Boyle leapt from the blocks on Day One to lead the E1 class, ultimately finishing second in the category behind Tom McCormack, with Mike Brown third.
Tayla Jones finished with her best-ever A4DE result, taking second in the Women’s category behind Jess Gardner and ahead of Emelie Karlsson.
KTM Enduro Racing Team Manager Brad Williscroft: “The boys tried hard the whole week, and it was a good result, but it wasn’t the result we hoped for.
“Toby early on was just a little bit off and he wasn’t riding as well as he knows he can and we found ourselves behind. The next day he pushed harder and moved from fourth to second outright, but Milner had a good day as well. On Day Three he pushed really hard and gained back almost 15 seconds, but lost all that hard work in the last test when he had a fall. That left him with 29 seconds to make up in the final Moto, and that’s a pretty big ask against a rider like Milner
“Pete started the event really good and as the event went on he thought he was riding well, but the pace was high up front. The bikes ran really smooth, the team and the boys did an awesome job and all our helpers at the controls were great so thanks to everybody.
“We’ll focus now on our lead in the AORC and hopefully we can wrap up that championship in three weeks.”
Toby Price – KTM 450 EXC. “The week went fairly good, I wasn’t too switched on in the first couple of days and it’s just unfortunate that I couldn’t claw it back. But that’s part of racing, you’ve got to take the good with the bad, and the bad wasn’t so bad… On the third day I tried to do the best I could and I had about a 13-second lead for the day, and unfortunately I had a crash in the last test that gave all that time back and things were a bit too tight to do that. Over the four days of racing we had roughly 29 or 30 tests so the difference probably averages out at about a half a second per test, so it was pretty close. But other than the dust the trails were pretty sick and the KTM 450 EXC did a great job. And any day you’re out riding around on your bike is a good day. Obviously it’s disappointing not to get KTM and the boys up on the top step, but we’ll just try and make it up somewhere else.”
Peter Boyle – KTM 250 EXC-F. “The week went pretty well, I made a few mistakes in some of the tests out there so I lost a bit of time but second is a decent result and I’m fairly happy. Tom was riding great the whole week and I couldn’t put it to him.
“The KTM 250 was awesome around here through the rocky stuff and on the trail, but in the outright standings all of the 250s were at a bit of a disadvantage compared to the 450s.
“It was an awesome four-day to be a part of. It’s an awesome layout in this resort area, where you pretty much wake up, walk down to the bike, get on and ride. Toby snagged up the double bed and left me the single which was a bit of a bugger but other than that it was one of the best four-days I’ve ridden!”
Tayla Jones – KTM 350 –SX-F. “I picked up the ‘flu two days before the event which made me be a bit tired but it wasn’t too bad. I started the week pretty good, winning the first day. But then I had a few mistakes on Day Two which cost a bit of time I guess. It was good fun, good battles the whole week. A got the holeshot in the final motocross and led from start to finish and built a pretty big gap over the rest of the field which was pretty awesome. I went into the final 48 seconds behind Jess, and I pulled 22 seconds I think, but I needed more. This is the first time I’ve ever made the podium at a four-day. I was on the KTM 350 SX-F, which was awesome all week, perfect for all the hills and trails here.”
