AORC Round 1 at Wauchope – OLD Bull Trailriders

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February 23, 2009 at 5:28 am #95922

Mick D
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MEDIA RELEASE

For immediate release: 23 February 2009

Australia’s best to kick-off battle for AORC crown at Wauchope
Wauchope native and reigning Yamaha Australian Off-Road Champion (AORC), Chris Hollis, will kick-start his campaign to keep his number one ranking against some stiff competition at his home track on March 7th and 8th.

Four-time World Enduro Champion Stefan Merriman has returned to Australasia to contest this year’s AORC after spending several seasons in Europe cementing his place among the planet’s off-road elite.

Predictions are sparks will fly between Merriman, who has joined the Ballard’s Wellard Yamaha Team, and the top-ranked AORC riders.

One racer who “can’t wait” for the season to get started on his home soil is Chris Hollis, who has been training hard on his new Husqvarna.

“It’s been a long off-season, so it’ll be good to get underway with racing, “ Hollis said.

“[Racing against Merriman] is going to be awesome, but I don’t think Merriman is going to be the only factor this year, you’ve got a lot of fast guys – [Jarrod Bewley], [AJ Roberts], [Peter Boyle], [Ben Grabham]… it’s going to be a tough year, a good season.”

Merriman, who is living in Port Stephens (NSW) with his family, said he was looking forward to the event and had been racing in New Zealand as a warmup.

Organiser, Phil Sargent, of Dirt Bike Promotions, said the AORC had been held at Wauchope before and was always a great event.

“We’re really excited about this year’s AORC,” Sargent said. “We’ve made a few changes to the series which I think will make it better for competitors and we’re looking forward to continuing to improve throughout this season.

“We’re also happy to announce our sponsors for this year: YAMAHA, BMW, MOTUL, ENDURA, RK, FERODO, POLISPORT, ALPINESTARS, FOX, FMF, ONEAL, RENTHAL, UFO, AXO, DID, UNIFILTER, BEL-RAY and KTM.

“Without the help of these fantastic companies the AORC wouldn’t be possible – we would like to thank them very much for their support.”

The 2009 AORC is a 10-round series held over five weekends, with one round on Saturday in a cross-country format (class mass start, championship classes race for two hours flat out) and one round on Sunday in sprint format (several laps of the bush/motocross track racing against the clock).

The opening rounds will be held at Wauchope on March 7 and 8. Rounds three and four: Hobby’s Yards (near Blayney, NSW) on May 16 and 17. Rounds five and six: Murray Bridge (SA) on June 27 and 28. Rounds seven and eight: QLD on August 15 and 16. Rounds nine and 10: Young (NSW) on September 12 and 13.

The championships boasts classes for every level of rider, from Juniors older than 9-years to Clubman, Women, Veterans, Masters, Experts and championship-level racers.

The AORC are fantastic for spectators, with nail-biting action and the chance to get up close and personal with the stars of Australian enduro racing.

Gates at the Hastings Valley Motorcycle Raceway (170 Pacific Highway, Wauchope will open at 8.30am Saturday (March 7) and Sunday (March . Admission is $6.00 Adult & $2.00 Child.

To enter or for more information please visit http://www.dirtbikepromotions.com.au, contact Dirt Bike Promotions on 02 63624437 or 0438721024 or email treena@dirtbikepromotions.com.

February 23, 2009 at 9:54 pm #123481

Anonymous

That was well planned to clash with your Birthday ride then!

February 23, 2009 at 9:59 pm #123553

Mick D
Member

Moto wrote:

Quote:

That was well planned to clash with your Birthday ride then!

Yeah I was planning on riding in it untill I found that it clashed with the March ride…LOL
WE will most likely drop in at the track on the sunday ride for some lunch and a squiz.

February 23, 2009 at 10:04 pm #123556

Anonymous

Sweet! I was going to ask if we are going to be anywhere near on the Sunday. I’d love to go have a look-see

February 23, 2009 at 10:09 pm #123557

Mick D
Member

Moto wrote:

Quote:

Sweet! I was going to ask if we are going to be anywhere near on the Sunday. I’d love to go have a look-see

Trouble is we will still have about 20km of trails to get home from there,and once you get a whiff of some racing,it might make for an interesting run home.:huh:

February 23, 2009 at 10:16 pm #123562

Anonymous

That’s okay, I’ll be too tired and broken to care by then. I am sore as hell from riding one day last weekend!

March 10, 2009 at 1:52 am #123564

Mick D
Member

Merriman takes AORC round one victory

Four-time World Enduro Champion Stefan Merriman didn’t let a near-last-place-start deter him from taking the Outright win of round one of the Yamaha Australian Off-Road Championship (AORC) today at Wauchope (near Port Macquarie, NSW).

Merriman, of the Ballard’s Wellard Yamaha team, was one of the last Pro riders off the line in the grueling, 2.5-hour, mass-start cross-country race.

The 35-year-old, who returned to Australia from Europe to contest this year’s AORC and Hog’s Breath Cafe Australian 4-Day Enduro (A4DE), charged through the pack to win today by 35-seconds.

“It was pretty hard today. I haven’t done any cross-countries at all really, mostly just special tests, so it should suit me a little bit better the special tests [sprint laps] tomorrow,” Merriman said.

“It was a good ride and the bike went really well. The team was great too with all the [pit boards] and that, lettin’ me know what was goin’ on.

“It was all good, a good day.”

Tomorrow and round two of the AORC will see the 210 competitors race in ‘sprint lap’ format, competing one-at-a-time against the clock.

Motorex KTM Off-Road Racing’s Ben Grabham, from Bathurst (NSW), lead today’s race for several laps before being passed by Merriman. Grabham finished 2nd in the hotly contested Championship E2 Class and 2nd Outright.

“I’m rapt. New team and first race of the year, to be on the Outright podium and not only that, to get second to Stefan Merriman is probably like a win to me at this stage,” Grabham said.

“I’m happy as and I’m pretty buggered, but I’m coming good now.”

Third Outright (and in E2) went to Merriman’s teammate Jarrod Bewley, who came 3rd Outright in the Championship last year.

Race hole-shot honours for the pro’s (grid one) went to Geoff Braico, who lead for the first few laps and finished 9th Outright and 1st in Championship E3.

GHR Honda Racing’s AJ Roberts finished the day 4th Outright. Shannon Lewry (Husaberg), Toby Price (Kawasaki), Chris Hollis (Husqvarna), Kirk Hutton (Yamaha), Braico and Jehi Willis (Husqvarna) rounded out the top-10.

Hutton also won the Championship E1 class.

In the remaining Australian Championship divisions, Geoff Ballard won Masters and Alison Parker won Women’s.

A record number of women competitors ripped up the track today, with Yamaha riders taking the top-six positions.

Jesse Jenkins came out on top of the Expert E1 leader board, with BMW pilot Luke Tomlinson winning Expert E2/E3.

In Clubman, Matthew Sprenger won E1, Thomas Clark E2/E3 and Wayne Winston Veterans.

The fastest Junior today was Yamaha’s Ben Burrell, who won Junior Lites and Junior Outright ahead of fellow Yamaha racer, Tom McCormack.

Full results from today as well as videos and pics can be found at http://www.dirtbikepromotions.com.au

March 10, 2009 at 1:53 am #125285

Mick D
Member

Merriman takes second AORC win

Ballard’s Wellard Yamaha racer Stefan Merriman won a heated battle today with defending Yamaha Australian Off-Road (AORC) Champion, Chris Hollis, to take the Outright victory of the championship’s second round at Wauchope (near Port Macquarie, NSW).

Merriman, who also won round one yesterday, finished the day 7-seconds ahead of Husqvarna-pilot Hollis after the eight ‘sprint’ laps.

“I’m really happy. It was a great result for my first race back here in Australia,” Merriman said.

“The guys are really fast, I expected that Chris would be really fast on his home track and he really had me right to the last test.”

To watch a video interview with Stefan Merriman go to http://www.dirtbikepromotions.com.au.

Merriman now leads the point’s race for Championship Outright and the Championship E2 class.

Third Outright today went to young-gun Toby Price (MSC Kawasaki) who has a motocross and Supercross background and only joined the AORC regular rider line-up this season.

Merriman’s teammate and number three AORC plate holder, Jarrod Bewley, finished the day 4th Outright.

Defending number two plate holder, AJ Roberts (GHR Honda), crossed the finish line 5th Outright today.

KTM’s Ben Grabham (who was 2nd Outright in round one), Grabham’s teammate Ben Kearney, fellow KTM racer Geoff Braico, Yamaha E1 contender Kirk Hutton and Kawasaki E1 racer Josh Green rounded out today;s top-10 Outright.

Kearney wrapped up the Yamaha Championship E1 Class today by about two-seconds over Hutton. Hutton and Kearney are now tied for championship point’s in the class with a win and a 2nd each.

Geoff Braico extended his lead in Yamaha Championship E3, repeating his class win from yesterday.

In the remaining Championship divisions, reigning Women’s Champion Alison Parker won today by 1.4-seconds over fellow Yamaha racer, Jemma Wilson.

Geoff Ballard again won the Championship Masters and Stuart Bennett was the fastest rider in Championship Veterans.

In Experts, Jesse Jenkins won Expert E1 and Daniel Milner won Expert E2/E3 (Milner also wrapped up Expert Outright).

Clubman Outright was taken out by Dylan Rose, while Clubman Veterans was won by Queensland’s Wayne Winston.

And Ben Burrell (Ballard’s Wellard Yamaha Team) was again the fastest Junior, winning Junior Lites and Junior Outright ahead of fellow Yamaha racer Tom McCormack despite suffering a flat tyre in the final lap of the day.

Full AORC results, pics and video can be found at http://www.dirtbikepromotions.com.au (championship point’s standings to be loaded Monday, March 9th).

The 2009 AORC is a 10-round series held over five weekends, with one round on Saturday in a cross-country format (class mass start, championship classes race for two hours flat out) and one round on Sunday in sprint format (several laps of the bush/motocross track racing against the clock).

Rounds three and four of the AORC will be held at Hobby’s Yards (near Blayney, NSW) on May 16 and 17. Rounds five and six: Murray Bridge (SA) on June 27 and 28. Rounds seven and eight: QLD on August 15 and 16. Rounds nine and 10: Young (NSW) on September 12 and 13.

March 10, 2009 at 2:50 am #125286

Anonymous

Merriman and Hollis looked the quickest boys on the day too. Grabbo looked very smooth on the bike, I liked his style.
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