Karlsson Knocks Gardiner Off Perch While Hutton And Stevens Continue Lead
Whether you call it desert racing or a Cross-Country, this racing format separates the wheat from the chaff, there’s no denying. Upon the close of today’s Senior Prologue ahead of tomorrow’s Round 7 Cross-Country race, our Women’s, Veterans, Masters and Pony Express competitors tackled a new set of challenges that differ from any round they have experience thus far in the 2019 Yamaha Australian Off-Road Championship (AORC).
Coming out fastest today was Emelie Karlsson (Yamaha), Lee Stephens, Kirk Hutton (Yamaha Motor Australia) and the duo made up of Jack Anderson and Keith Stanford. Our competitors results from today’s Prologue determine where they start tomorrow in our AORC Cross-Country race.
Women’s
In a major turn of events, Karlsson has quietly and subtlety taken away Jess Gardiner’s (Yamaha MX Store Ballards Off Road Team) hopes of achieving a seventh consecutive class win! After a quieter than normal start to the season, Karlsson was all fire and no ice today as the ‘Flying Swede’ took out the fastest Prologue time for the Women’s class.
Gardiner conceded for second place after Karlsson, with a Prologue time of 6:30.648. Honda’s Emma Milesevic clocked in the third fastest Prologue time of 6:31.428, followed by Danielle Foot (Road & River Motorcycles, Sherco) with a 7:03.710.
2019 AORC Women’s Round 7 Prologue Top 5 Provisional Results:
- Emelie Karlsson (Yamaha) 6:23.231
- Jessica Gardiner (Yamaha MX Store Ballards Off Road Team) 6:30.648
- Emma Milesevic (Honda RideRed Team) 6:31.428
- Danielle Foot (Road & River Motorcycles, Sherco) 7:03.710
- Julie Denyer 7:39.018
Veterans
For the Veterans, Stephens maintained his dominance at the front of the pack, clocking in the classes fastest Prologue time of 6:05.385. Stephens was followed by Christopher Thomas (Thomas Lee KTM) and Jason Pearce for second and third fastest, with respective times of 6:30.452 and 6:32.063.
2019 AORC Veterans Round 7 Prologue Top 5 Provisional Results:
- Lee Stephens 6:05.385
- Christopher Thomas (Thomas Lee KTM) 6:30.452
- Jason Pearce 6:32.063
- Luke Ablitt (Autosmart) 6:37.114
- Stephen Short 6:54.123
Masters
Leading the charge for the Masters in Prologue today was current leader board Champion, Hutton . With a Prologue time of 6:08.506, Hutton dominated his class, taking fastest time by over 20 seconds. Second fastest Prologue went to Peter Rudd (Kessner Motorcycles) with a time of 6:32.176.
Third fastest Prologue today was awarded to Duane Woolford (MotoAdelaide), with a time of 6:59.512.
2019 AORC Masters Round 7 Prologue Top 5 Provisional Results:
- Kirk Hutton (Yamaha Motor Australia) 6:08.506
- Peter Rudd (Kessner Motorcycles) 6:32.176
- Duane Woolford (MotoAdelaide) 6:59.512
- Craig Treasure 7:06.410
- Stephen Matheson (SMW Hornsby) 7:39.046
Pony Express
Featuring once off as a support class this weekend, the Pony Express class was dominated today by the duo made up of Jack Anderson and Keith Stanford, who clocked in the best Prologue time for the class, 6:05.230.
Second fastest team today in Prologue was Callum Dodimead and Joshua Knights, with a time of 6:05.649.
Third fastest dynamic duo today was Nicholas Pearce and Todd Winders, who clocked a 6:35.374.
2019 AORC Pony Express Round 7 Prologue Top 5 Provisional Results:
- Jack Anderson / Keith Stanford 6:05.230
- Callum Dodimead / Joshua Knights 6:05.649
- Nicholas Pearce / Todd Winders 6:35.374
- Gordon Lawrence / Timothy Rogers 7:27.668
- Jason Milne / Mark Andrews 7:33.944
To view the full Senior Cross-Country start times for tomorrow, please click here.
Our Seniors return to Broken Hill tomorrow for the Cross-Country race. Our Women’s and Masters will be completing a three hour race, whilst our Veterans and Pony Express classes will undertake a four hour race.
Don’t miss a minute of the action of the 2019 Yamaha Australian Off-Road Championship by visiting the AORC Website at aorc.org.au, or by following the Yamaha AORC on Twitter and Facebook as well as @aorc on Instagram. Don’t forget to download the Official AORC app via Team App. It’s as easy as download Team App and search ‘AORC’!
Images courtesy of John Pearson Media
