KTM Australia’s factory Australian Off Road Championship team, Motorex KTM Off Road Racing, revealed it will contest the 2011 series aboard pre-production 2012 model EXCs at rounds one and two over the weekend.

The team surprised onlookers on Saturday at Bulahdelah when it unveiled defending dual champion Toby Price’s 350 EXC that he’ll contest the E2 category aboard this season.

Price experienced a crushing DNF after he misjudged his fuel stops in Saturday’s three-hour Cross Country race, before bouncing back to take a commanding victory in Sunday’s Sprint round.

Price won both the E2 and Outright categories in round two, marking a historic first national off road victory for KTM’s highly anticipated 350 EXC.

“It was pretty disheartening on Saturday after I made a big mistake and got the goggle and fuel lanes mixed up during my pit stop,” Price admitted. “But we were able to fight back on Sunday and everything went to plan.”

Price was in devastating form for his opponents on Sunday, his best laps well faster than any of his world-class competition could manage during the weekend.

“I’m glad we made up for it and I think I have even more left in me,” the talented 22-year-old added. “Giving them a head start in the points should make things interesting, but I know we have what it takes to fight back.”

Teammate Jarrod Bewley, who this year steps up to the big-bore E3 category as reigning E1 champion, commenced his campaign with a pair of stunning E3 class victories aboard a 2012-spec 300 EXC two-stroke, also claiming third Outright on both occasions.

“To win on debut with the 300 and also finish on the podium Outright was a strong result for us,” Bewley said. “It was a consistent start to the year and should give us a strong platform to build from.”

Desert racing legend and renowned all-rounder Ben Grabham is tied on points for the series lead in the E1 class after claiming 2-1 results aboard a pre-production version of next year’s 250 EXC-F with fuel injection.

That form also saw him score 4-6 results Outright against his larger capacity competition.

“This weekend was a good start and I’m quite happy to be tied on points with [Stefan] Merriman in the series,” Grabham said.

“I didn’t feel I rode to my potential in the Cross Country, but Sunday’s Sprint round was definitely a lot better and I was stoked to get the class win.”

Motorex KTM Off Road Racing team manager Brad Williscroft was pleased with his squad’s performance despite the disappointment of Price’s DNF on Saturday in the Cross Country.

“I’m really happy with the way everything went over the weekend, even though Toby had the unfortunate incident on Saturday,” Williscroft said. “All three guys were strong and I think they can challenge for the titles in an exciting year.

“The new EXCs performed faultlessly – Toby, Ben and Jarrod all really liked the models in their race debuts and a lot of people expressed interest in them all weekend.”

KTM wasn’t the only brand to debut a new bike at round one, with 22-year-old Sutto’s Husaberg Alpinestars rider Geoff Braico finishing with a pair of third place finishes in the big-bore E3 category riding the all-new 2011 model Husaberg TE300 two-stroke.

Rounds three and four are scheduled to take place at Hedley in Victoria on 28-29 May.