AORC Rnds 3+4: Bacon and Milner share scratch honours at Mount Misery
Mount Misery hosts rounds three and four of the 2024 Yamaha Australian Off-Road Championship presented by MXstore (AORC) with overall scratch fastest times for Kyron Bacon and injured Daniel Milner.
AORC 2024 series hit Mount Misery in Victoria for a tough weekend of Sprint Enduro and where a mixed bag of dust, rocks and loamy grass tests saw battle across the classes.
After seven tests on day one, it was the patient racers who claimed victory on day one at Mount Misery. Landing atop the leader board was Kyron Bacon (Shop Yamaha, Threesix Motorsports) in E1, Daniel Milner (KTM Australia, DM31 Racing Team) in E2, Riley McGillivray (Shepparton Motorcycles, KTM) in E3, Jess Gardiner (Yamaha JGR Ballard’s Off Road Team) in EW and Kogan Lock (GASGAS) in EJ.
Day two saw riders facing five tests and switching around on top of the podiums as Bacon hit mechanical gremlins and Milner nailed the fastest time, despite carrying an injury. After five Sprints, the victory was clinched by Korey McMahon (GASGAS Australia, Motorex) in E1, Daniel Milner (KTM Australia, DM31 Racing Team) in E2, Riley McGillivray (Shepparton Motorcycles, KTM) in E3, Danielle McDonald (Yamaha JGR Ballard’s Off Road Team) in EW and Jett Yarnold (Yamaha Motor Australia, Yamalube) in EJ.
Video highlights from Mount Misery here: 2024 AORC: Mount Misery Sprint Enduro Rounds 3 & 4 Recap
E1 class
It was three for three for Tasmania’s Kyron Bacon leading the charge and clocking in the fastest total time for round three to finish with a blistering time of 1:29:51.311 for the overall scratch time.
Bike troubles on day two however, round four, meant GASGAS’s Korey McMahon stepped up to beat Tom Buxton (KTM Australia, DM31 Racing Team) and Will Price (Empire Motorsports Kawasaki Off Road Racing Team).
McMahon clocked off today with a total time of 1:07:43.563 but admitted he wasn’t on the pace of the fastest boys: “The conditions this weekend have been super tough,” explained McMahon. “It’s not easy but it’s definitely separated the men from the boys. People like Milner, Bacon and Reynders definitely showed us how to ride this stuff this weekend.”
Tests looked like this...
E2 class
Recovering from a bust collarbone injury, Daniel Milner was never-the-less unstoppable in E2 as he claimed consecutive wins. A Victorian local, the KTM racer was completely at home in conditions and although he couldn’t beat Bacon to the fastest overall time on day one, it was a start to finish win on day two.
Behind Milner by over two minutes on both days, the E2 competition has some homework to do. Andy Wilksch took second on day one for Beta, Jonte Reynders for Sherco on day two after bouncing back from a lacklustre start to the weekend ahead of Yamaha’s Will Dennett third.
E3 class
It was a clean sweep in E3 for Ryan McGillivray who claimed another top step finish fending off Beta’s Jye Dickson on day one and Husqvarna’s Stefan Granquist who jumped up the leader board to claim second place on day two. Granquist traded places for third, just over 16 seconds adrift.
Enduro Women
After five tests, Jessica Gardiner claimed the day one win with a lead of just over 10 seconds from Danielle McDonald as the Yamaha pair finished ahead of over 200 clubmen class riders.
It was McDonald’s day to shine on Sunday after battling it out with Gardiner all weekend. McDonald managed to produce super-fast Sprints all day to claim first place with a total time of 51:31.583.
Enduro Junior
Yamaha’s points leader Jett Yarnold was knocked off the top step by Victorian local, Kogan Lock on day one. More used to Hard Enduro, the GASGAS racer blitzed his EJ competition to claim first from Eli Tripcony (Husqvarna, Motorex) and Yarnold by over one-minute.
Clearly with a lesson learnt, Yarnold climbed back up from third to first, beating Lock on day two. “We regrouped from yesterday and ended having a great day! The track was rough, rocky with some great loamy, grass tracks out back. The competition was tight the weekend between me, Kogan and Eli, it definitely made for some great racing.”
All AORC classes, results, and more information: www.aorc.org.au
Words help: AORC
Photo Credit: Troy Pears
