Ballard’s Yamaha has fired the first shot in what has been a dramatic silly season in the Australian Off Road Championship, naming its three-rider team this afternoon.

The team will consist of Australian E3 Enduro Champion Matt Phillips, E1 Class winner Stefan Merriman and Victorian Daniel Milner.

Phillips, 18, from Tasmania, and 20-year-old Daniel Milner will be the ones to beat in the championship E2 Class aboard new fuel-injected WR450Fs, while Stefan Merriman will be defending his E1 title.

Phillips hit the off-road scene this year at full throttle. He won his class in the Yamaha Yamalube Cycra GYTR Australian 4-Day Enduro (A4DE), then placed within 16-points of the AORC series winner after claiming four of the nine rounds Outright.

“I’m happy to be returning to Yamaha,” Phillips said. “We’ve got some big plans on the cards for the 2012 season, which will be very exciting.

“I’m definitely looking forward to riding the WR. The new frame, fuel injection and new suspension will make it even better than the YZ to ride in the bush. All that will be left will be going fast.

“I will be doing a lot of races next year – all the off-road, enduro and desert events that the team is doing, plus the Australian Motocross Championship and the Super X championship.

“I’ll also be traveling to the United States to contest select rounds of the WORCS and the GNCC and possibly an enduro-cross as well.”

Milner suffered a shaky start to the 2011 AORC season, but proved again he is one of the true rising stars, winning the E2 Class at round five and coming second in class at round six.

Merriman, 38, has won five world titles and this year took his AORC class win by an impressive 41-point margin.

Ballard’s Yamaha team manager, Geoff Ballard, said he was happy to have signed the three pro riders.

“We are still finalising a few more details of the team, which will be announced shortly,” Ballard said. “We were very happy to have been able to keep Matty Phillips, he’s a real young gun. I feel that him and Daniel Milner will work well off each other.

“And having Merriman around in the team will be advantageous as well. He has a lot of experience, and he’s pledged to help the younger guys. I’m excited about the new WRs and the lineup.

“The team will be doing the Yamaha AORC, the A4DE, the Hattah Desert Race and the Wildwood Rock extreme event, down near Melbourne.

“I would like to thank Yamaha Motor Australia for their continuing support. A full list of sponsors of the team will be announced soon.”