Yamaha’s all-new 2016 WR450F made an impressive Australian debut at round one of the Queensland Enduro Championships at Queensland Moto park over the weekend with Active8 Yamaha’s Josh Green and Beau Ralston at the helm.

Green, who made the transition back to the E2 class for 2016, took the round win over the two-day event, 28 seconds clear of Ralston in second to make it a 1-2 finish for Yamaha’s new off-road machine.

“It was good to get a race under my belt and get the season underway,” said Green. “We have done some testing over the off season on the new bike but there is nothing like trying it out in race conditions and we were able to do that over the weekend.

“The bike handled the conditions perfectly and apart from me crashing it a couple of times, it was a super smooth run. I thought stepping back up to the E2 class might take me some time to get used to the extra power but I felt right at home and we were able to put a good weekend together.”

Admitting the larger capacity bikes have been known to be a handful in the past, E3 contender Ralston praised the all-new WR450F’s ease of use out on the trail.

“The weekend went well and the big WR did a great job,” Ralston said. “There is a lot of power to control with an E3 capacity bike, but because of the smooth delivery, it doesn’t feel that way out on the trial. It’s a really easy bike to ride.

“The team have done a great job preparing the bike and its great fun to ride so I look forward to racing it throughout the 2016 season.”

The Active8 Yamaha team will now turn their focus to the Australian Off Road Championship which begins on 19-20 March.