Jarrod Bewley takes A4DE lead
Ballard’s Wellard Yamaha racer Jarrod Bewley has moved into the lead with two days to go in the prestigious Hog’s Breath Cafe Australian 4-Day Enduro (A4DE) at Orange, NSW.
Bewley, 21, from Sydney, blitzed the 315-strong field in the last two special tests of today, gaining 17-seconds on Husqvarna’s Chris Hollis (who was leading by 11.3 seconds after yesterday).
Bewley was 3rd in the Outright and Championship Class 4 (290cc to 450cc 4-stroke) stakes behind Hollis and Kawasaki’s Toby Price after yesterday’s racing.
“Last year [Hollis] was beating me by 40-seconds a day in this event so I’m stoked with how I’m doing,” Bewley said.
“I thought I might have had a good chance at winning today because of how I was riding, but I wasn’t sure, cause the other guys were riding really well as well.
“I thought I had put in some good times in the last half of the day, something clicked and I was really smooth, I had really clean and good runs through the last half of the day.
“Tomorrow I’m just going to do the same thing, I’m just going to stay out of the berms, just focus on what I’m doing and make sure I feel that I’m riding the best I can and that’s all I can do.”
Hollis said his day was “reasonable”, but had one crash which cost him precious seconds.
“That was a bit of a bummer… It’s pretty rocky and dusty out there,” Hollis said.
“Tomorrow I’m just gonna go do what I did again and try not to fall off again… just try to stay out of the dust and off the ground.”
Price, who now sits 20-seconds behind Bewley and about 15-seconds off Hollis, said he was “very happy” with his ride so far.
“My body’s holding up really good, my bike’s working awesome… hopefully I’ll just try and keep on two wheels and keep up front,” Price said.
“I had one little get off and then in [the final test] I broke my rear brake lever off so I would have lost a little bit of time, but hopefully not too much and hopefully I’ll make up a little bit tomorrow and look forward to going into the final moto on Sunday.”
Honda racers AJ Roberts and Peter Boyle switched Outright and Class 4 positions today, with Roberts moving into 4th place, just 1-second ahead of Boyle.
Yamaha’s Kirk Hutton maintained 6th Outright and his lead of Championship Class 3 (250cc 4-stroke) by 10-seconds ahead of Kawasaki’s Josh Green and Motorex KTM’s Ben Kearney.
Green, from Port Stephens (NSW), gained two Outright positions today and now sits 7th behind Hutton.
Husaberg’s Blake Hore (VIC) dropped a spot to 8th Outright. KTM’s Ben Grabham is now 9th, followed by Jehi Willis in 10th.
In Class 1 (200cc 2-stroke), Grant Siebenhausen has slipped ahead of Nathan Castle (KTM) to lead the small-bore charge by 2.7 seconds.
New Zealander Rory Mead has taken the lead in Class 2 (220cc to 250cc 2-stroke) ahead of fellow Kiwi Karl Power. Yamaha rider Mitch Bowen had a stand-out day today, jumping several Outright positions into 18th and 3rd in Class 2.
In ‘big-bore’ (Championship Class 5) Jehi Willis (Husqvarna) has maintained his 1st place position ahead of KTM’s Brad ‘Wonka’ Williscroft.
Yamaha’s Alison Parker remains in front of the record number of women competitors (10) in Championship Women’s.
In Championship Master’s, Ballard’s Wellard Yamaha’s team boss and reigning Master’s champ, Geoff Ballard, has extended his lead to a massive 7-minutes ahead of Steven Clarke,
And Orange’s own Stuart Bennett remains in front in Championship Veteran’s.
One more day of trail and special test phases remains in the 2009 A4DE. Riders must also complete the Jayco Final Motocross Event on Day 4.
In the 2009 A4DE riders of all skill levels – from Clubman to Pro male and female – from every Australian state (including Tasmania) and New Zealand will be vying for class and Outright honours.
There is also a state-versus-state element to the event, with the top riders from each state competing on Junior and Senior Trophy Teams. New South Wales took out the top gong last year for Seniors and Victoria for Juniors.
‘Parc Ferme’ (the staging area for riders and crews) is located at Orange’s Warratah Sport’s Oval.
The Jayco Final Motocross for the event will be held on Sunday (April 19th) at the Australian National Field Day Site – Borenore.
(sorry mick for stealin your thread, any news is good news:laugh: )
