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06
05
2018

Gardiner, Chibnall and Ballard Take Wins in trying Hedley Conditions

Hedley produced one of the tougher days of riding here at Round Four of the Yamaha Australian Off-Road Championship (AORC), but that didn’t stop Jessica Gardiner showing her class and completing the Hedley double on her Yamaha. Richard Chibnall also completed the double on his KTM in the Veterans class whilst Geoffrey Ballard took the honours in the Masters.

The women took on the bLu cRu test for 4 Sprints whilst the Veterans and Masters were out on the WR450F test where they were put through their paces for 5 sprints.

Womens
Gardiner has shown great speed throughout the weekend here at Hedley and proved this by being the only rider in her division to complete a test in under 12 minutes. After getting out of the blocks well, Gardiner continued to get the most of out her Yamaha in the sprints and claim the round win. Emelie Karlsson bounced back after a disappointing day on Saturday to claim second position and get back some much-needed points aboard her Yamaha. Rounding out the podium was Jemma Wilson who continues her consistent run of podiums after yesterdays second place finish.

Veterans
It was much of the same again for Chibnall after taking out yesterdays Supersprints, he continued his form to once again take class honours on his KTM. Jade Gartlan had the task of once again trying to track down Chibnall on his Gas Gas but he just couldn’t find the same speed over the five sprints, finishing just under two minutes behind. Paul Chadwick rounded out the podium in one of the toughest AORC rounds the competition has seen.

Masters
Ballard has bounced back after narrowly missing out on victory yesterday to claim class honours here at Hedley. Ballard got the most out of his Husqvarna and turned the tables on yesterday’s winner Michael Widdison, who had to settle for second just 24 seconds off the pace. Craig Treasure filled the final spot on the Masters podium after a solid days riding in the five sprints, finishing the day with a time of 1:07:05.664.

AORC Womens Round 4 Provisional Results
1. Jessica Gardiner (Yamaha MX Store Ballard Off-Road Team) 48:15.754
2. Emelie Karlsson 49:04.571
3. Jemma Wilson 49:38.853
4. Sophie Coldicutt (Motul Pirelli Sherco Off-Road Team) 50:53.491
5. Danielle Foot 51:04.875
6. Kellie Catanese 55:36.614
7. Holly Cuneo 1:00:32.291
8. Alisha Major 1:01:01.348
9. Kasey Major 1:03:51.416
10. Rachelle Dessent 1:09:20.545

AORC Veterans Round 4 Provisional Results
1. Richard Chibnall 1:01:57.826
2. Jade Gartlan 1:03:44.717
3. Paul Chadwick 1:05:45.344
4. Peter Rudd 1:06:41.577
5. Con Privitera 1:06:41.981
6. Marco Kroese 1:06:47.204
7. Darren Lessio 1:07:02.796
8. Michael TURNBULL 1:07:26.136
9. Lou Stylianou 1:09:58.292
10. Hugh Howarth 1:11:08.498

AORC Masters Round 4 Provisional Results 
1. Geoffrey Ballard 1:06:25.297
2. Michael Widdison 1:06:49.222
3. Craig Treasure 1:07:05.664
4. Stephen Boucher 1:08:09.266
5. Ray Scott 1:08:46.324
6. Ken Burt 1:09:39.900
7. David Salt 1:09:57.716
8. Peter Schaper 1:10:04.575
9. Andrew Young 1:10:12.267
10. Jamie Armstrong 1:12:43.937

The next stop for AORC will be Dungog, New South Wales for Round 5 & 6 on July 28-29.Stay up to date with all the happenings of the 2018 Yamaha Australian Off-Road Championship by visiting the brand new AORC website at www.aorc.org.auor by following the AORC on Facebook as well as @aorc on Instagram.

Photos courtesy of John Pearson Media