Conditions were ideal for the majority of the weekend for rounds nine and ten of the Australian Off Road Championship (AORC) where competitors faced a challenging three hour Cross-Country event on Saturday and then returned on Sunday to contest the Sprint format. Yamaha’s Kyron Bacon dominated the E1 class.
Despite not racing the same classes, Saturday was the first time this season Kyron Bacon and Daniel Milner went head to head. The pair charged off together in the Cross-Country race and left the field in their dust. The duo gapped the field and engaged in their own personal feud at the front of the pack.
How close were they matched? Lap five of the 29-minute loop saw their lap times separated by .05 of a second. In the end, Milner got the win when he muscled his way passed Bacon within sight of the finish line to take the win ahead of Bacon. They were three minutes clear of third and Bacon was over eight minutes ahead of his rivals in the E1 division.
Bacon backed that up with another dominate day on Sunday win the E1 division and on top of that, also take the overall Outright win on the day. It was a superb performance from the Tasmanian and gives him a healthy buffer in the E1 points as they head towards the final weekend of the championship in a few weeks’ time.
“I’m pretty happy with the weekend and to finally get some good results, but more importantly, I rode well on both days,” Bacon begins. “Racing Daniel was good yesterday, and we were never further than a few seconds apart the whole time. I felt him on me, and we both upped the pace on the last lap, and I made a mistake, and he was able to get by.
“I was a bit fatigued coming into today, but once we got going, I was fine. I was clean in most of the laps and didn’t have any major issues so it was a drama free day and the team did a great job behind the scenes to keep things rolling.
“The final weekend isn’t too far away and there is still plenty to race for so its back to work this week to ensure I finish the championship strongly and look for another winning weekend,” he ends.
Will Dennett improved as the weekend went on and overcome a slow start on Saturday, to finish on a high by Sunday afternoon. The Cross Country saw him miss the start and get buried in the pack. He moved his way forward before a fall set him back again. He came across the finish line fourth in the E2 class and seventh outright.
But Sunday was much better with Dennett coming home in second place in class and inside the top five Outright. As the course got rougher, Dennett found his grove and won the final sprint lap in the E2 class. That was just the confidence injection didn’t needed as he is locked in a tight battle for the class podium in the championship.
“It was a tough weekend as the track was rough and with it being a Cross- Country and a Sprint, it was physically demanding. Because I had an issue at the start of the Cross-Country, I had to use a lot of energy trying to get back into the race and somewhere near the front. But today was pretty smooth all day and finished second in class and stay in the fight for the E2 podium.
“Thanks to the team for their hard work again and getting the bikes turned around Saturday night. A three-hour race keeps everyone busy and those guys kept working to make sure everything was good for today.
“Nowra is next and hopefully I can pick up there exactly how I finished here,” Dennett said.
Bacon now leads the E1 class while Dennett is in a heated battle in E2.
The final weekend of AORC racing takes place at Nowra, NSW on September 15 and 16.
