The Yamaha Australian Off-Road Championship (AORC) saw a pack of weary riders switch from the XC yesterday format to the sprints today at Hedley.
Toby Price (Motorex KTM) was again in fine form, snaring the round six win. It was a master class ride by Price who took the win with a total time of 57minutes 08.374 seconds and was once again the overall victor in the E2 class.
After winning all five heats, bar the last which was taken out by CDR-Yamaha’s Chris Hollis, the three times AORC champion now leads the outright championship on 119-points. “A great weekend all in all” beamed Price after the race.
“The KTM 450 EXC was working awesome all day today, I had no problems at all this weekend, so I can’t complain at all!
“I can’t thank the whole team enough for a great job they have done all weekend, massive credit to them” added Price who will now turn his attention toward the Finke desert race which kicks off 7 June
Active8 Yamaha Yamalube rider Josh Green was second once again to Price and stared strong but had a few falls towards the end of the day.
Green ended up 1 minute 01.058 seconds down on Price and admitted to having a pretty tough weekend. “I’m happy enough with my result, but I want to win” said Green.
“I’m just finally starting to get to 100% fitness now, so I find every round I get stronger and fitter and faster so I’m really looking forward to the last second half of the championship to have a crack at this title.” added Green.
Glenn Kearney climbed on to the final podium spot for Husqvarna recording a total time of 58 minutes 46.747 seconds, Kearney was once again the winner of the E3 class beating JBR Husaberg’s Jarrod Bewley who was sixth overall. Kearney and Green are now locked up in second overall with 114-points each
The first Victorian rider home was yet again Daniel Sanders on his KTM. Sanders prevailed after a mechanical problem in the first heat which forced the youngster to ride his practice bike. “I’m stoked to finish in fourth place as it’s my best finish to date.
“I’ll keep chipping away with it and hopefully get up there in the top three.” Sanders did admit he needs to get on the bike a bit more to get his fitness up as he cramped up a bit.
Rounding out the top five was Chris Hollis who had a few falls in the first few tests but made up for lost time as the day went on. “I lost too much time this morning” explained Hollis.
“It took me a while to adapt to the pace in the sand. I don’t have anything like this at home, so it’s something I definitely have to work on for next time.”
After a DNF in round five due to mechanical gremlins, Bewley wrapped up sixth from Lachlan Stanford (Husqvarna Racing Team) in seventh. Active8 Yamaha Yamalube’s Beau Ralston was eighth.
Price’s Motorex KTM teammate Peter Boyle was ninth and the winner of the E1 class with another Active8 Yamaha Yamalube pilot in Stefan Granqvist who rounded out the top ten.
Jess Gardiner recorded her fourth consecutive victory with a faultless ride to take out the Women’s class. The Balllard’s Motorex Off Road Team rider proved to be in a league her own as she beat Emelie Karlsson aboard her Yamaha and Tayla Jones mounted on her KTM. 25-year old Jemma Wilson was fourth again with Sophie Coldicutt rounding out the top five.
Other class winners included Kirk Hutton in the Vets. David Flemming took out the Masters from Geoff Ballard and Trent Lean. The J2 Class was taken out by Joshua Brierley. J3 was won by Ben Kearns while Lyndon Snodgrass took out the J4.
Rounds 7 & 8 will be on 21-22 June at Coonawarra in South Australia, the return of reigning champion Daniel Milner will certainly make for some interesting racing.
2014 Yamaha Australian Off-Road Championship Outright Points after 6 of 12 Rounds:
Toby Price 119
Josh Green 114
Glenn Kearney 114
Chris Hollis 95
Lachlan Stanford 90
Daniel Milner 85
Daniel Sanders 82
Jarrod Bewley 74
Tom McCormack 71
Stefan Granqvist 66
Toby Price – KTM 450 EXC. “It all went really well for us this weekend with two wins that have got us into the lead in the championship, so now we’ll just try to stay smooth and consistent and we’ll be good to go. The racetrack yesterday and today was gnarly and it didn’t form up the way we thought it would. It was just soft, powdery, sand that actually felt like aquaplaning on water half the time! Plus there were hidden tree roots to deal with so there were a few unexpected split decisions to try to keep the bike on the ground. I’m pretty stoked to get this double.”Active8 Yamaha Yamalube’s Beau Ralston was eighth.JARROD BEWLEY – FE501. “Bit of a tough one this weekend, I had a miscommunication with my pit and ran out of fuel yesterday, so recorded a DNF. Today we were second in class and sixth overall which was pretty good considering the conditions. Last year was completely different here, the sand had a lot more body to it and would hold you up where today it was just dry and powdery and there were sink holes so it was tricky riding. I played with my setup a little as we went and posted the fourth fastest overall on the last go so that’s pretty good. Overall I stayed consistent with my riding and felt like I was riding pretty well, but Glenn is riding really well so it’s going to be a tough series and I just want to start getting some race wins under my belt.”Peter Boyle – KTM 250 EXC-F “We had a DNF yesterday when we were going really well and challenging for a second outright, but the 250s got left behind a little bit today. Class-wise though, I was in front the whole day just trying to keep it upright and it worked. I’m just feeling a bit more comfortable on the bike and feel like it’s really sorted for me. I’ve got a bit more work to do to really go after that class win, but we’re only halfway through so there’s plenty of time to catch up now that I’ve got the bike sorted and I’m really looking forward to that second half.”GEOFF BRAICO – FE350. “This weekend was a bit of soul searcher for me, I came in with such high expectations but it didn’t go the way I wanted it to. Oh well, you can’t always have good days and I’d like to say a big thanks to my mechanic Drew who never stopped all weekend. I had a freak electrical problem only 20 minutes into yesterday’s XC which put me out, but today I just struggled. The track was pretty brutal and the conditions were way drier than we expected. It was powdery, very sketchy and quite scary in places and I never felt settled so it was a matter of going into survival mode. It’s good to get through that without getting hurt and now we’ll go on to South Australia and better results.”Rounding out the top five was Chris Hollis who had a few falls in the first few tests but made up for lost time as the day went on. “I lost too much time this morning” explained Hollis. “It took me a while to adapt to the pace in the sand. I don’t have anything like this at home, so it’s something I definitely have to work on for next time.”25-year old Jemma Wilson was fourth againActive8 Yamaha’s Josh Green put in his best performance of the year so far, at rounds five and six of the Australian Off Road Championship to move into second place in the championship and take over the E2 class lead, held at Headley, in Victoria, over the weekend.Husqvarna Enduro Racing Team Manager Glenn Kearney – FE501 “Well I said this one was going to be hard, and it was worse than expected. We all thought it would be wet but it could have done with a lot more moisture as the berms were a bit powdery and had no base, which made life difficult. To come away with two podiums in conditions I couldn’t get comfortable with is a good outcome for me. Today I pushed harder but made a costly mistake in a heat and crashed twice. The boys did a great job again, as did the mechanics, who were all over the fuel stops. Lachy rode great and got his best XC result ever, and Scotty Keegan was real strong after a big crash on the sighting lap today but he soldiered on and jagged a podium. Damo was a little off today, but when your worst result of the year is a second you can’t really complain.”Scott Keegan – FE 250 “Yesterday I felt like I could have won, I had the lead for the majority of it but started cramping up real bad in my forearms and legs so I backed down a little but got caught by Tom and didn’t have anything for him because I was struggling physically. Today I had an awkward fall on the sighting lap and knocked my head and got pretty beaten up. I was dizzy at first and a bit dazed all day, so I was pretty much in survival mode. The 250 was spot-on and the team ran perfectly, but I had a few little falls and dropped it in four of the six races so I was very happy to still get third.”Lachlan Stanford FE 450 “I’ve never really done so well in the XC, but after being pushed wide in Turn Two I charged through and got a good pace going. I wasn’t making many mistakes and finished seventh overall. The track was really rough, with sharp bumps and sand whoops so it was tough going. Today I had real sore hands so it was hard to hold on until I got warmed up. I was riding tight at first, but I got a couple of good laps in, although there was a little bit of a focus on coming out uninjured as the track got pretty scary. The bike was working really well in the conditions and I’m happy with how I’m going, I’m feeling a little bit faster every race and the stuff I’m working on, is working.”Tom McCormack also enjoyed success on the weekend, taking the class win in E1 on board his Yamaha YZ250F on Saturday and then consolidated his weekend with a second in class on Sunday. McCormack has been ultra consistent all year and as a result leads that E1 class at the half way point and sits inside the top 10 Outright in ninth place. “I had some issues on Saturday with my brake that made my come in and get it looked at after the first lap but we got it fixed and I was able to fight my way back to the front of the class from there, so it was a good result. “Sunday was good without being great but second is good and it’s important that I keep consistent at each and every round.”Stefan Granquist turned in his best result of the year on Saturday with a fifth Outright on his WR475F, second in the E3 category. The long, three hour event is perfect for a rider like Granquist, and his fitness came to the fore as the hard working Granquist continued to motor along all day. Sunday saw Granquist finish the round 10th Outright in another good performance. He currently sits equal 10th Outright and second in class.
