After an exciting 1-2 finish at the season opener in March, the Motorex KTM Off Road Racing Team has backed up with another dominant display at the weekend’s third and fourth rounds of the Yamaha Australian Off-Road Championship at Goomburra, near Warwick, Queensland.

The only enduro event in the 12-round, 7-month AORC championship saw the team’s KTM500EXC-mounted defending champion Toby Price all but unstoppable at the popular new venue, taking both E3 and outright honours on Saturday and Sunday.

KTM team-mate and fellow AORC title winner Chris Hollis was also running hot, dominating the E2 class on his KTM450EXC and running second to Price in the outright standings on both days.

The team’s E1 rider Ben Burrell was unlucky to miss the class podium on both days, carding a pair of fourths on his KTM250EXC-F, as well as 10th and 12th outright over the two days.

For Motorex KTM Team Manager and former Australian champion Brad Williscroft it was the result they were looking for to create an early platform for a championship assault.

“It was a great event for us, everything went well,” said Williscroft. “Toby never put a foot wrong and won almost every special test except for one or two. To go one-two on both days was exactly what we wanted at this stage. The riders, the bikes and the team worked well and helped us pull a bit ahead in the championship.

“The boys liked the venue, they were raving about the track yesterday and liked all the special tests. The recent rain meant the track was in really good condition and we had two fine days. The only incident was Benny failing the cold start test yesterday after he knocked the plug off his fuel injection while switching the seat off his practice bike to his race bike.

“As soon as he pulled the seat off he saw the problem and away he went, but it cost him a 10-second penalty and unfortunately he missed out on third in E1 yesterday by just 6 seconds.”

Price was thrilled with his 1-1 result.

“That was the best result for the team, myself and Chris,” said Price.

“It was an awesome track marked out well and it was fun – in fact I’d say definitely one of my top two or three AORC rounds I’ve ever ridden. For me I thought the 500EXC gave me an advantage on the hilly parts of the track where she just tractors right on up, but also on the grass track it handled really well showed its good power delivery.

“It works well in any conditions and all it comes down to is how much I hold the throttle on. We’ve still got a long way to go with the championship – we’re not even half way yet so it’s good to get a buffer in case something goes badly or I’m not 100% fit or healthy for some reason.”

Hollis, who finished 1-1 in the E2 class, was humble about his performance.

“Toby hosed us yesterday, he’s riding really well but I was able to beat him in a couple of tests today. He’s on the gas so in the next couple of days I’ll sit back and think about where we can find some more time, but I’m off to a good start in the championship. A couple of outright wins in the next few races would be good!

“I’m happy it all went pretty well this weekend. The bikes were awesome and they did the business for us. There were sections of trail where there was mud and rocks and you had to be really gentle with the throttle so smooth power was important. The special tests were really good here – hard packed, and a good combination. Not all the same stuff.”

© Words and photo by John Pinnell

AORC Rd.3 (Saturday) OUTRIGHT 

1 Toby Price

2 Chris Hollis

3 Daniel Milner

4 Glenn Kearney

5 Matt Phillips

6 Lachlan Stanford

7 Jarrod Bewley

8 Tom Mccormack

9 Stefan Merriman

10 Ben Burrell

11 Josh Green

12 Stefan Granqvist

13 Peter Boyle

14 Geoff Braico

15 Scott Keegan

AORC Rd.3 (Sunday) OUTRIGHT 

1 Toby Price

2 Chris Hollis

3 Matt Phillips

4 Glenn Kearney

5 Daniel Milner

6 Lachlan Stanford

7 Josh Green

8 Stefan Merriman

9 Jarrod Bewley

10 Tom Mccormack

11 Scott Keegan

12 Ben Burrell

13 Stefan Granqvist

14 Peter Boyle

15 Daniel Sanders

AUSTRALIAN OFF-ROAD CHAMPIONSHIPS 2013:

Round 1 & 2 – 16-17 March – Bulahdelah, NSW – Cross Country/Sprint

Round 3 & 4 – 6-7 April – Goomburra, QLD – Enduro

Round 5 & 6 – 25-26 May – Corner Inlet, VIC – Cross Country/Sprint

Round 7 & 8 – 29-30 June – Coonawarra, SA – Sprint/Sprint

Round 9 & 10 – 17-18 August – Bendigo, VIC – Cross Country/Sprint

Round 11 & 12 – 7-8 September – Dungog, NSW – Cross Country/Sprint