5 Things We Learnt From Broken Hill’s AORC

It was a big weekend at the seventh stop on this year’s Yamaha Australian Off-Road Championship at Broken Hill in New South Wales. After a grueling battle in tough conditions we kicked off our Cross Country Season and it certainly didn’t disappoint. With all the hype going on, here is the five things we learnt from last weekend.

Sanders is on a Mission

Husqvarna Enduro Racing’s Daniel Sanders proved on the weekend that he is a man marching towards championship glory. The Victorian rider was once again too quick for all, leading all comers by 4min39.594. Its hard to believe that the last time Sanders was beaten in the E3 class was back in 2016 at the sixth round of the championship, which took place at Murry Bridge in South Australia. Since then, the 24-year-old has won 13 races on the trot.

E1 Class Always Keeps Us Guessing

Since round five there has been three different winners in the E1 class, with Fraser Higlett (Husqvarna Enduro Racing Team), Luke Styke (Active8 Yamaha Yamalube) and Lyndon Snodgrass (KTM Enduro Racing) all toping the podium. It’s fair to say that Snodgrass, who took his second win of the year since round two, does enjoy the desert type of racing, which is why he came out on top. In saying that, he was kept honest thanks to Styke who battled it out till the end.

Milesevic Appears One For The Future In The Women’s Class

Emma Milesevic (Honda RideRed) proved that Jess Gardiner (Yamaha MX Store Ballards Off-Road Team’s) is human after all, defeating the previously all-conquering championship leader. In fact, Gardiner’s second place on the weekend was her first defeat since the final round last year.
Scoring her maiden win by 4min53.440, Milesevic proved that she was the stronger rider throughout the day, so fair play to her. We have always had great women racing in the AORC series, so Milesevic is one to watch for the coming years.

First Time For Everything As Kirk Has Proven

One of the more experienced riders on the tour, Kirk Hutton (Yamaha Motor Australia) proved that you can still win races in your time at a track, with the veteran dominate in his desert debut.
Kirk was able to notch up his sixth race win of the season with a time of 2hr50:12.921, beating Peter Rudd by 2min47.111.

Young Guns Can Go Non-Stop

It marked the first time that the juniors raced for three hours (two and a half hours for the J2 class) at Broken Hill, which showed a coming of age for the rising stars. Blake Hollis (J4), Riley McGillivray (J3) and Billy Hargy (J2) all proved that consistency is the key, which is why they came out on top again and all extended their championship lead.

Russell Colvin