Over 200 riders have signed on to tackle the penultimate rounds of the Yamaha Australian Off-Road Championships (AORC) to be contested at Wedderburn near the township of Bendigo, Victoria, this weekend.

Riders will do battle in a cross-country format on Saturday before moving to sprint-style races on Sunday.

Rain is forecast for the region, with Motorcycling Australia chief stewart Chris Gray predicting “difficult” conditions.

“With 20mm of rain forecast across the region this weekend, we expect track conditions will be difficult in both the cross country and sprint races but nothing our competitors can’t handle,” said Gray.

Coming into the event it is CDR Yamaha’s Daniel Milner leading the outright standings by a considerable 27-point margin.

Milner has only featured off the outright podium once, and has won three consecutive rounds of the AORC.

He’ll be pursued by early season form runner Motorex KTM Off Road Racing Team’s Chris Hollis, who is steadily recovering from a foot injury sustained at the Australian 4 Day Enduro.

Active8 Yamaha’s Josh Green sits third, and just five points in arrears, with Glenn Kearney and Jarrod Bewley also in the mix and rounding out the current top five.

A full complement of classes – E1, E2, E2, Veterans, Masters, Women and Juniors – will contest the dual-format event.