Off-Road Observations: 18
The landscape of the Australian Off-Road Championship will severely change when it resumes at Corner Inlet in Victoria later this month.
The landscape of the Australian Off-Road Championship will severely change when it resumes at Corner Inlet in Victoria later this month on 25-26 May, as the Outright and E3 championships have been blown wide open due to the unfortunate injury of Toby Price.
Price had won three of the four rounds Outright contested so far this season, beaten just once by teammate Chris Hollis at the opening round, who is the early leader of the E2 title chase.
Hollis’ return to form in 2013 has been timely when you consider the injuries of Price, now in the box seat to claim a third national title. But it’s not as though we can automatically hand the prize over to Chris now, because there are a heap of handy Yamaha, Husqvarna and Husaberg riders anxious for a piece of the success.
With Toby Price (left) injured, Chris Hollis (right) will be KTM’s main title hope. Image: Greg Smith/iKapture.
In fact, if Hollis falters, we could very well see E1 championship leader and defending A4DE champion Daniel Milner step up to claim the crown on a YZ250F in the brand new Craig Dack-run CDR Yamaha team. How about the form of Josh Green since joining Active8 Yamaha? There are many potential candidates on the rise.
There’s a lot of depth in the sport right now and it’ll be interesting to see how these guys handle the added pressures/expectation now that Price has been sidelined.
Speaking of top level Australian enduro riders, Motorcycling Australia has announced the 13-rider team that will fly the flag for Australia at the 2013 International Six Day Enduro (ISDE) to be held in Sardinia, Italy, from 30 September-5 October.
The Senior Trophy team will be comprised of Joshua Green, Chris Hollis, Glenn Kearney, Daniel Milner, EJ world title threat Matthew Phillips and American-based Joshua Strang. The Junior Trophy team makeup consists of Ben Burrell, Scott Keegan, Tom McCormack and Lachlan Stanford.
Australia will be capably represented in the Womens ranks, the three-prong attack made up of Jessica Gardiner, Tayla Jones and Jemma Wilson.
Daniel Milner could contend for the Outright title on his CDR Yamaha YZ250F.
Noticeably absent from the line-up are Toby Price and Mitch Harper, two leading riders seriously injured last month in separate incidents in the USA and Europe.
In 2012, Australia’s Senior Trophy team finished second overall, with the Junior team coming in fourth and the Women in a commendable third.
Coming off the back of such an admirable campaign last year, the Aussies will be firing come that race weekend.
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