Anthony Roberts (Yamaha) will head into the second round of the world enduro title on May 6-7 in career-best form after yet another dominating performance in the 2006 Yamaha Australian Off Road Series in Wodonga (Vic) last weekend.

The Queenslander (YZ450F) simply added more sparkle to his already healthy game, claiming the E2 (250cc 2T vs 450cc 4T) and outright double for the second successive time.

“I felt like I started a little slow, but I really started to ride well at the end,” said Roberts. “I pushed 100 per cent the whole time, and I set my fastest lap at the end when the track was really rutted, so I’m pleased with that.

“The track at Wodonga was pretty short and a lot of it was single track, but it made for some really interesting racing.

“(Chris) Hollis and (Josh) Strang pushed me hard all weekend, which was just the dress rehearsal I was looking for before flying out for the world enduro round.”

Roberts won eight of the 11 E2 heats at the Lincoln Causeway facility in Wodonga: three each on Saturday and Sunday. The other three wins were shared by young chargers Josh Strang (Kawasaki Australia KX250) and Victorian Blake Hore (Christensens Motorcycles WR450F), while Brad Williscroft (Motorex Shift KTM Off-Road Racing 450EXC) and Ben Grabham (GHR Racing Honda CRX450X) also made sporadic appearances in the top three.

Overall, Strang emerged in second place, while 20-year-old Hore, from Officer in Victoria, became just the sixth rider to finish on an E2 podium since the off road series got underway in 2005.

"I was pretty surprised with the result as I rode a bit tight in beginning and didn’t think my times would be as good as they ended up being, “ said Hore, who represented Australia’s Junior Trophy team in last year’s International Six Days’ Enduro. “The track was a bit shorter and a fair bit tighter, and I felt really confident once I got into it.

“After struggling a bit in the opening round in NSW, I am pretty happy to have done so well considering it was a bit unexpected."

Roberts is now on a maximum 50pts in E2 after two of five rounds, followed by Strang (44), Williscroft (38), Hore (33), Jarrod Bewley (Ballards Motorex Off-Road Racing WR450F, 32) and Grabham (31). Hore made the biggest charge in Wodonga – up four spots from eighth.

Roberts and Strang are also transferring their strong form over into the outright arena, where they are currently being followed by three riders from the E1 garrison: KTM 250SXF riders Ben Kearney (Dave Fraser Motorcycles) and Jehi Willis (Motorex Shift KTM Off-Road Racing) and Chris Hollis (Ballards Motorex Off-Road Racing WR250F).

Hollis, now in his second year of full-time enduro combat, won two of the opening three heats on Saturday, with a couple of seconds to spare over Roberts.

The 21-year-old then pinched another victory on Sunday to complete the outright fixture in third overall behind Roberts and Strang.

“The track was awesome and had a real motocross feel to it which suited me perfectly,” said Hollis. “The testing a week before really paid off and the conditions were just right for racing; it had rained the day before which made the track perfect.”

“There was some really good close competition at the top and it was an enjoyable battle between myself, AJ (Roberts) and Josh Strang – a couple of falls let me down and I was just beaten to second on the (outright) podium by Josh.”

“It’s been a great start and I can’t wait to have another go at the top next round.”

Obviously, Hollis’ heroics in the outright class also translated into big E1 points, as he won seven of the 11 heats, with Willis and Kearney sharing the ‘leftovers’.

Heading into round three at Moogerah (Qld) on May 20-21, just 2pts separates the troika, with Kearney on 45 from Willis (44) and Hollis (43). Shannon Lewry (GHR Honda CRF250X, 38pts) was fourth in Wodonga – the same position he holds in the title.

In a depleted E3 (251cc and over 2T vs 451cc and over 4T) field, which was missing defending champion Stuart Bennett, who was on supermoto duty, it was yet another Adam Lees demolition job on the Husaberg Australia FE550. Lees won all the heats, although his pace was only good enough for 12th overall.

Yamaha Report

Yamaha Racing dominated proceedings from start to finish at last weekend’s second round of the Australian Off Road Series, taking outright honours while recording a string of class victories for the factory outfit.

The champion manufacturer reaffirmed its strength as a leader in off-road racing with its showing at the Albury-Wodonga event, with favourable conditions buoying the lineup to six class victories.

Yamaha Racing has now taken both outright wins for the season and will look to continue its stranglehold on the top of the table at the next round at Aratula, Qld, May 20-21.

Anthony Roberts

Yamaha convert Anthony Roberts has already stamped his authority over the Yamaha Australian Off Road Series, taking his victory tally to 2 wins from 2 rounds.

‘AJ’ snatched outright spoils for the weekend and maintained a handy points advantage, though he was faced with a few challenges from rival Josh Strang (Kawasaki) and fellow factory rider, Ballards Motorex Yamaha’s Chris Hollis.

Roberts said the racing was extremely intense at times and it was enjoyable to be involved in such a competitive battle.

“Josh (Strang) and Chris (Hollis) were really on the pace from the start and it was hard to make any gains on them at all,” explained Roberts.

“I knew that consistency was the key to the weekend and that I had to finish reasonably well in each of the heats in order to keep my lead, though I did start to drop off on Saturday afternoon.”

“I wasn’t going out there to be cautious though and for good reason, there was real threat from the two guys and the track was in great condition which meant everyone was on it from the start.”

“I had a new exhaust system fitted for this weekend and it really helped in terms of performance,” ended Roberts.

At the conclusion of the event, Roberts managed to clear out from the top three competitors and ended with a 29.9 second gap between himself and second-placed Strang; Ballards Motorex Yamaha rider Hollis fell away right at the end of the day to take third place.

Ballards Motorex Yamaha

Ballards Motorex rider Chris Hollis proved he will be a constant podium threat in the competition this weekend after taking a hard-earned third overall placing as well as blitzing the competition in the Pro E1 class.

Hollis was in the thick of a tense top-end battle with fellow Yamaha rider Anthony Roberts and Kawasaki’s Josh Strang and was unlucky to drop to third after ending Saturday’s heat races in equal first with Roberts.

Holding his own in the motocross sections of the track, Hollis attributed his performance to a great track and conditions, while a couple of minor falls slowed his progress.

“The track was awesome and had a real motocross feel to it which suited me perfectly, not to mention I had an awesome bike (WR250F),” said Hollis.

“The testing a week before really paid off and the conditions were just right for racing; it had rained the day before which made the track perfect.”

“There was some really good close competition at the top and it was an enjoyable battle between myself, AJ (Roberts) and Josh Strang – a couple of falls let me down and I was just beaten to second on the podium by Josh.”

“It’s been a great start and I can’t wait to have another go at the top next round,” ended Hollis.

Jarrod Bewley’s weekend campaign was disrupted early on the first day of racing, with a minor crash slowing his charge in the Pro E2 class.

Despite this, Bewley worked towards a strong finish with some fast and consistent performances in the remaining heats to climb to a creditable 7th place overall.

“I made a mistake in the first lap due to stalling the bike and lost around 20 seconds on the front guys which was disappointing,” explained Bewley.

“It’s always tough to come back from that so early in the racing and it distracted me a little, but Sunday was a much better day.”

“It was a great circuit, very grippy and loamy which was favourable for riding though it did rough up on the last afternoon.”

Alison Parker was untouchable in the Women’s class once again, and streaked away to another easy victory for the Ballards Motorex Yamaha team.

Parker was particularly encouraged by her showing in the Clubman overall class, recording 14th overall in a field exceeding 40 riders.

“It was a great weekend and good result in a very competitive class of riders,” said Parker.

“The win in my class was great but I was also really pleased to be able to beat quite a few of the riders I’m normally chasing in the Clubman overalls.”

“We had the bike running really well on the back of a successful test over Easter and I made a pretty good choice of tyres too which was a big help, and the conditions were great for racing, a bit of a change from last year!”

Jason Cater came up against some tough competition from seasoned motocross expert Gary Dukes in the Over 35’s class and put in another stellar performance to take the victory.

Unfortunately for Cater he was just beaten to the outright Expert win but was relatively pleased with his performance and delighted with the power and handling of the bike.

Josh Ballard joined his Ballards Motorex Yamaha teammates by putting in a strong showing for the weekend, easily taking honours in the Clubman E1 class aboard his WR250F.

His performance was also good enough for overall Clubman honours and recent improvements in his racing have seen him matching the times of riders in the top 5 Expert E1 class.

Team Principal Geoff Ballard was unable to match the pace of son Josh for most of the heats but his impressive performance was more than enough to help him secure another Masters class win.

In total, the Ballards Motorex Yamaha team took five comprehensive class victories, displaying why they are the clear-cut competition leaders in the national off-road competition.

In just under a month’s time the team will return for round three of the series which at Aratula, and will look to continue the dominant run for the champion manufacturer Yamaha.

Honda Report

Glenn Hoffmann Honda (GHR) riders Ben Grabham, Shannon Lewry and Glenn Bell continued their points grab in the 2006 Australian Off Road Series this past weekend at round two in Albury.

Ben entered the round fresh after winning the Condo 750 rally, and was faced with riding his CRF450 in much tighter conditions.

The course is fully bunted with lap times taking from 7 to 15 minutes in length. Riders generally ride the same loop 10 to 12 times in a weekend, flat out for a set length of time. This is a very similar scenario to the special tests found at the A4DE and International Six Day Enduro.

After the first few heats in Albury it was evident that this series is now well and truly up for grabs. In fact, three different riders took wins in the first four heats, and to finish in the top ten outright indicated a rider was only one second per minute off the outright winning time.

GHR’s Shannon Lewry riding a CRF250 finished fourth in the E1 class and 7th outright for the weekend, a very respectable result for the rookie rider. After the team made suspension adjustments with the help of mentor Glenn Bell, Shannon shaved off seven seconds per lap, regularly setting times that would have had him finish on the podium.

Team owner Glenn Hoffmann commented, “Shannon has the raw speed and natural ability to finish on the outright podium. With the help of Grabbo and Belly on his bike set up, and with the training he is doing, I’m sure it is just a matter of time before we see that result.”

Ben Grabham also rode quite well and finished ninth outright and fifth in the E2 class. Anything less than an outright win is “disappointing”, however Ben is only one second per minute slower than the outright winning time.

“The team still has a lot of testing to do and a result like this last year would have had us on the outright podium. It is simply a very congested leader board now and we are confident of finding that one second per minute to get Ben back on top again,” said Hoffmann.

Glenn Bell also enjoyed his second foray into the enduro scene and over the course of the weekend continued to apply himself and move up the ladder.

“I am now starting to concentrate on picking good lines and trying to keep the bike flowing through the trees. My first goal is to beat Shannon,” Bell said with a smile.

Hoffmann believes Belly is a great addition to the Team. “He is a true champion and has set himself new goals. He improved over the weekend by over 17 seconds per lap. His last three laps had him only 10 seconds per lap off the outright winning time and I have no doubt that he is capable of any result that he takes aim at.”

“Not only does he continue to improve himself but he is selfless in helping out his team mates even if they are beating him at the moment.”

The next round of the Australian Off Road Series will be held at Mooergah, QLD, May 20-21.