News 17 Aug 2014

Milner secures third straight A4DE victory

CDR Yamaha rider completes three-peat in New South Wales.

Image: Fourohfour.

Image: Fourohfour.

Daniel Milner has won his third Australian Four-Day Enduro (A4DE) Championship in a row for CDR Yamaha.

After a solid three days riding, Milner just needed to stay on his bike and finish strong to clinch a hat-trick of championships at one of the most prestigious enduro events Australia has to offer.

The fourth and final day saw riders set out for a quick 30km trail ride before being split in to heats for the spectator-friendly final motos.

Starting in reverse order, the Masters Class took on a track that looked more golf course than MX terrain.

Peter Schaper took out the first heat and to no ones great surprise, Geoff Ballard and Trent Lean went 1-2 in the second heat, but the Masters Class was ultimately taken out by Victorian David Fleming with Lean second and Enduro stalwart Ballard third.

As the first of three heats of the Veterans Class took to the track, the skies threatened to open, but the crowd stayed dry and saw Scott Campbell, John Fry and Kirk Hutton take out their respective heats convincingly.

Hutton’s win wasn’t enough for the Queenslander to take out the Veterans Class, that honour went to Damian Smith by around 30 seconds to Hutton and Smidt in third.

The Womens moto was full of thrills and spills. A restart was required after Kellie Catanese took a fall and suffered an injury to her arm.

At the restart, Tayla Jones took the holeshot and led the entire way. Jess Gardiner was right on her tail but crashed early and went to sixth, before she recovered remarkably well to steal second from Jemma Wilson in third.

That effort sealed the Women’s championship for Gardiner, who firmed her reputation as one of the fastest female enduro racers in the world. Just over 25 seconds behind was Jones with Sweden’s Karlsson rounding out the top three.

The E1 Class first heat saw Brodie Waugh take the win by seven seconds, and heat two was another thriller. American Mike Brown was dominant, but it would be second place in the moto Tom McCormack who went on to take out the E1 championship for Active8 Yamaha.

KTM’s Peter Boyle took second in the class with Husqvarna import Brown taking the final step on the podium.

E3 solitary heat was taken comfortably by Tom Mason, with experienced Husqvarna rider Glenn Kearney seven seconds behind. The real battle was for third position with New South Welshman Mitch Bowen edging out Victorian Daniel ‘Chucky’ Sanders by just two tenths of a second.

Ultimately the experience of Kearney was too much to overcome for Sanders as they went 1-2 in the Championship, while Stefan Granquist was around 10 seconds behind in third.

The opening heat of the premier E2 Class was won by a country mile for Jesse Kistler before Myles Bowen raced home first in heat two, but it was the third and final moto of the day that had a good crowd salivating at the talent on display.

Milner, his CDR Yamaha teammate Chris Hollis, KTM’s Toby Price and Beau Ralston for Active8 Yamaha were set for five laps of frantic racing in the main event of the 2014 A4DE.

Ralston and Price spoiled the party for eventual overall winner Milner, as they excited the crowd with some spectacular racing. Ralston would edge out Price by just 1.311 seconds in the race of the day.

Despite finishing third in the final moto, nothing could wipe the smile from the face of Milner: “I’m so stoked right now.” Milner said after clinching his third A4DE championship in a row.

“With my recent ankle injury, getting back to anywhere near 100% was going to be difficult so to be able to recover from that and then win the Four-Day is really special to me. I can’t thank CDR Yamaha and our sponsors enough for providing me with the support and help I need to race at this level. This is an awesome team to be a member of and I’m proud to race on their behalf.”

Price claimed second overall, with early event leader Chris Hollis rounding out the top three riders of the 2014 A4DE.

2014 Yamaha Australian Four-Day Enduro
Dungog, NSW

Outright results:
1. Daniel Milner
2. Toby Price
3. Chris Hollis
4. Joshua Strang
5. Beau Ralston
6. Lachlan Stanford
7. Tom McCormack
8. Glenn Kearney
9. Josh Green
10. Daniel Sanders
11. Peter Boyle
12. Stefan Granquist
13. Mike Brown
14. Geoff Braico
15. Jarrod Bewley
16. Scott Keegan
17. Mitchell Bowen
18. Kane Hall
19. Tom Mason
20. Adrian Smith

E1 results:
1. Tom McCormack
2. Peter Boyle
3. Mike Brown
4. Scott Keegan
5. Kane Hall

E2 results:
1. Daniel Milner
2. Toby Price
3. Chris Hollis
4. Josh Strang
5. Beau Ralston

E3 results:
1. Glenn Kearney
2. Daniel Sanders
3. Stefan Granquist
4. Jarrod Bewley
5. Mitchell Bowen

Womens results:
1. Jess Gardiner
2. Tayla Jones
3. Emelie Karlsson
4. Jemma Wilson
5. Sophie Coldicutt

Veterans results:
1. Damian Smith
2. Kirk Hutton
3. Anthony Smidt
4. Con Privitera
5. Mark Blake

Masters results:
1. David Fleming
2. Trent Lean
3. Geoff Ballard
4. Mark Cockerill
5. Mark Peacock

Click here for detailed results

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