Off Road

Gardiner, Stephens, Hutton and Hardaker Send It For Gold At AORC Round 2

Posted:

Monday, February 24th, 2020

7:47 AM

What a way to start off the 2020 Yamaha Australian Off-Road Championship presented by MXstore (AORC).

Screaming across the WR450F Test Track for six laps, it was Jessica Gardiner (Yamaha MXstore Ballards Offroad Team), Lee Stephens (True Painting & Decorating, KTM Newcastle),

Kirk Hutton (Yamaha Motor Australia) who claimed back-to-back glory atop pristine conditions with Brad Hardaker taking the honours for the 2 Stroke Cup.

Women‰Ûªs
Proving why she continues to lead the charge here in Australia, Gardiner racked up back-to-back class wins here in Toowoomba, with nearly one minute ahead of second place.

Penrite Honda‰Ûªs Emma Milesevic pushed hard to score second place ahead of Emelie Karlsson (Yamaha), with just over seven seconds separating the two.

Special mention goes out to Kaitlyn Hall, who made her presence known after jumping up into the big league from her former Junior class back in 2019! Hall finished in fifth place today with a total time of 1:02:40.468.

‰ÛÏI preferred yesterday just becaused the conditions suited me better, but I sent it today and I‰Ûªm super happy with the end result,‰Û

Veterans
Clearly, once he gets started he can‰Ûªt be stopped. Stephens was on form and on fire today for Round 2, taking back-to-back class wins, ahead of Richard Chibnall (WBR Echuca, OnPoint Motorcycles) and Christopher Thomas (Thomas Lee KTM).

Stephens clocked in after six tests with a total time of 52:05.658, leading ahead of second and third by over a minute and 20 seconds.

2020 AORC Round 2 Veterans Top 10 Provisional Results:
Lee Stephens (True Painting & Decorating, KTM Newcastle) 52:05.658
Richard Chibnall (WBR Echuca, OnPoint Motorcycles) 53:29.118
Christopher Thomas (Thomas Lee KTM) 54:09.902
Daniel Sawtell 56:18.399
Jeffrey Briggs (Lusty Industries, KTM Newcastle) 56:42.898
Jason Pearce 58:33.638
Chris Dennis (Blacklabel Concreting) 58:41.085
Ian O‰ÛªBrien 58:49.104
Jim Kennedy 59:10.850
Mark Cowie (KD Moto) 1:00:20.395

Masters
A blur of Yamaha blue, Hutton was in fine form for Round 2 as he stole away consecutive class wins here in Toowoomba. Behind Hutton and finishing today in second place was Timothy Martin with a total time of 55:34.769.

Rounding out the podium was Andrew Gillam (Coolblue) who was hot on Martin‰Ûªs heels, tapping out at the finish line with a time of 55:46.549.

‰ÛÏToday was fantastic! Today I got my mojo back after a tough day yesterday. I haven‰Ûªt been racing since South Australia‰Ûªs AORC last year, so yesterday was a struggle but I found my groove today,‰Û

It was Hardaker though who took home top spot, with a total time of 1:06:11.948.

2 Stroke Cup (2T)
A new fulltime class, the 2 Stroke Cup well and truly brought the heat today and Teed and Brad Hardaker tussled all day in their campaign for gold. It was Hardaker though who took home top spot, with a total time of 1:06:11.948.

Harry Teed finished just over 30 seconds behind, with a total time for Round 2 of 1:06:42.277.

The third and final podium today was won by Motul Pirelli Sherco rider Dalton Johnson, who clocked off after six tests with a total time of 1:11:18.037.

2020 AORC Round 2 2T Top 6 Provisional Results:
Brad Hardaker (Banana Coast Pest Control, Yamaha) 1:06:11.948
Harry Teed 1:06:42.277
Dalton Johnson (Motul Pirelli Sherco) 1:11:18.037
Brady Adams 1:22:57.318