Off Road Feature

We caught up with Chris Hollis between the opening rounds of the 2013 Australian Off Road Championships, to see how the multi time Australian champion was going.

Hollis has a bit of a year to forget in 2012, though it still did come with some results that in years to come Hollis will be able to look back on reminisce with great fondness.

The rider from Port Macquarie, New South Wales suffered injury after injury last year and while none of them were big injuries in the grand scheme of things, they were enough to see his usual top results suffer.

Hollis was part of our most successful International Six Day Enduro team, helping to secure Australia second place in the historic event, though not all was well at the ISDE with Hollis again suffering an injury after a crash on the final stage on the final day.

2013 has started on a much brighter not for the 28 year old, coming away with in outright victory at the opening round of the 2013 AORC championship and having won every E2 round to date.

Fullnoise: First up congratulations on a great start to the season at the opening round of the 2013 AORC Championships, you came away with an out right round win and second place finish over the two days, and went undefeated in the E2 class.

How did it feel to come away from the first round with such good results?

Hollis: It felt pretty good, It was the first race of the year and I really did not put to much pressure on myself. I went out there with not to many expectations on myself, I felt that I was riding good at the time.

It was a little hard coming off last years results, I think I finished around 7th outright last year, I am not exactly sure where I finished but it was a fair way back. I had a lot of injuries last year, including an injury I picked up at the Six day which forced me out of the Australian four day event.

I headed to the first round this year, thinking ill just go out there and do my thing, I had been doing a lot of training and riding and all the right things, so I was pretty happy to get the win at the first round, especially by the margin I won by, that was pretty cool.

Fullnoise: You did have a few issues with injuries and as a consequence your results suffered last year. What has been the biggest difference between last year and the first round this year.

Hollis: Last year I had a lot of little injuries, I broke a knuckle at the second round of the Off Road Championship. That injury really played up for around three months, it took a long time to heal being such a sensitive part of your hand.

Then I had the crash at Hattah, I got taken out by another rider and that really knocked me around, I hit the ground pretty hard that day. The impact was enough to snap the bars off the bike. She was a big one and that put me back again for another two months due to the damage to my hip.

Also there was another crash that I had out at Finke during a pre-run, I got pretty much beat up last year (laughs). I went ok at the first round of the AORC, then it all went down hill from there and I just kept crashing. I was never able to get comfortable and it just kept building up all year.

Then at the six day I ended up breaking my collarbone. Going into the event I knew something was coming sooner or later with the year I was having.

For this year I have been able to turn it all around, which is a pretty good feeling. It has been a long time since I had started a race, I had not raced since the six day last year.

Mentally it was a bit of a tough gig to push through, there are people that doubt you hear all the talk with in the industry. I knew I could still race, so all the talk did not really bother me, it was just a matter of getting through it all.

Fullnoise: Obviously KTM had your back even after last years results, it must have given you some confidence to know that the company and the team still believed that you had the talent to run up front.

Hollis: They were fully 100% behind me, They could see that I was just having a really bad year, I had the worst year I have every had in my career. When you sit back and break it down, it was pretty much injuries all year. Mainly little things and nothing to major, I just got beat up all year and I could not get back to where I needed to be. To have to skip all the training and riding and have all that time off with a broken hand and stuff like that did not make it easy.

So far this year it has worked out well for the team with our results on the weekend, there is no doubt the team was happy with those results for sure.

Fullnoise: Despite having a shocker of a year in a lot of ways, you were part of the triumphant Australian six day team who raced to our countries best ever result finishing second. It must have been a great feeling to be part of that despite breaking your Collarbone.

Hollis: Yeah I broke my collarbone on the last lap of the final moto for the event (Laughs). That was an awesome team to be part of, Pricey (Toby Price) Milner (Daniel), Phillips (Matt) and Strangy (Joshua Strang) were on fire, they were right up there in their classes and inside the top ten outright, they were killing it.

It was great to be part of the team and helped out as much as I could. My times were not quite there, but I put in some good stages and got close a few times. I was part of it and was able to help keep us up there and we all ended up pretty happy.

Fullnoise: You certainly were, at the end of each day it was our top five riders results that were counted, so every last minute or second for each rider certainly counts in that race.

Hollis: For sure. I am really looking forward to this year in Italy, I think Motorcycling Australia put together another good team, which I am sure they will, we will have another really good chance of getting on the podium again for sure.

Fullnoise: You are a previous outright winner of the Australian Off Road Champion, you obviously shown after the first round that you have what it takes to win. What is it going to take this year to beat your number one rival in the series, your team-mate Toby Price.

Hollis: I get along with Toby really well and we are good friends, but when you strip it all back, we were pretty close at rounds one and two. He probably had a little bit of jet lag, having just returned from the Baja race, I think he landed the Wednesday morning before the opening round. He would have still been feeling the effects of that.

I know that he can push a little bit harder as well, so it is going to take a bit. For me, I am really happy with where I am at now, the bike is working really well, the team is awesome and I am fit and healthy. All I need to do now is focus on my riding and at the moment I have all the distractions regarding injuries behind me and I am at 100%.

I think I have a really good chance of taking out this year. Though I am sure that Daniel Milner and some of the other guys, will be putting their heads down and bum up heading towards the up coming rounds, so it will be interesting to see how it all plays out.

At the end of the day Toby will be hard to beat, but win or lose, as long as I am up the front and part of the challenge that is what racing is about. You always want to win, but if it is a close battle and you end up losing it is still a good feeling along the way if it all comes down to the wire.

Fullnoise: Apart from the 2013 AORC, what other events do you have lined up for this year, will we see you racing the one off events like Finke and Hattah?

Hollis: I have only got Hattah planned at the moment, I am not going to do Finke, I just wanted to focus on getting back on track with the AORC and the four dayer and just focus on that. Those events are what KTM mainly want me for, Toby and Grabham (Ben) have Finke under control.

There is an Enduro-X on in South Australia in a few weeks that I am planning to get to, then obviously the four day and hopefully the six day again. There is not a lot on my agenda yet, but I am sure it will fill up pretty quick.

I am actually doing a cycle race with Troy Bayliss in a couple of months, the O'Reilly's Scenic Rim Grand Fondo I think it is. I recently went up and hung out with Bayliss for a few days and rode the course and done a little media stuff with him. So I am going to do that which is cool and something a little bit different and certainly a lot of fun.

Fullnoise: You have raced on the world stage previously, do you have any future plans to head back overseas and race something like the GNCC in the United States or head back to the World Enduro Championship.

Hollis: It is funny you say that, I am really undecided at the moment, I really kind of want to go back to Europe and have another go at the World Enduro Championship. Last time I don't think I was mentally ready I guess you could say.

I did not have a very good run at first over there, I had one really good race and the next day I broke both my arms, I only went back for one race after that but I was still having issues due to my injuries. I didn't really get to shine over there I don't think

It is on the cards, I am kind of thinking about it.

Fullnoise: That is awesome, hopefully something can work out for you and you can head back over.

Hollis: I want to try and get over and do a race this year, having Matty Phillips and the other Australian's already over there makes it easier to go over and have people to hang out with and go to the races.

There are no immediate plans in place, but I am considering it, we will just have to see how things play out during this year.

Fullnoise: It would be good to see another Australian over on the world stage, we have gone from having nobody over there to having a handful of riders competing this year.

Hollis: Exactly and it is no holiday over there, those guys are fast and the races are really hard, the guys over there at the moment are doing very well, Matty is killing it in the EJ class and I am sure his team would be pumped with him and that is really good to see.

Fullnoise: Thanks for your time mate, and good luck for the rest of the season.

Editors Note: Big thanks for Chris for taking the time to speak to us. Since we spoke to Chris which was close to four weeks ago, a lot has happened in the Off-Road world.

Chris won the E2 class at both rounds three and four of the AORC in Qld and finished second outright behind his team mate Price, who as since had a very serious accident and has a long road to recovery in front of him which we wish him all the best.

Chris has also confirmed he will line up in this weekends Yamaha King of the EnduroX in South Australian on Saturday night, we will be there capturing Chris in action.

Top Image: Chris Hollis
Credit: Ikapture