Bonnie Doon’s Ashden Gramlick is gearing up for round three of the junior enduro in the 2016 Yamaha Victorian Off-Road Championship (VORC) that will take place Erica on Saturday, April 16.
Junior Two class leader Ashden says he’s looking forward to consolidating his lead at one of his favourite courses in the state. “The opening round of the VORC in March was pretty good. It was a little dusty but it was a really good round,” Ashden said.
Ashden completed the Rawson course in an impressive total time of 54:05.106 of the six-lap junior course, with his best lap being a scintillating 8:51.608. He now heads the J2 class Kaelin Littlejohn and Harrison Huber.
The format for this course will consist of 2 different loops ridden 2 or 3 times and special tests that will be pre-ridden and timed twice each. Total riding time will be about 3.5 to 4 hours for juniors, and 4.5 hours for Under 19s and Women, including about 1 hour of special tests.
J1 and J2 classes may have a slightly different course and slightly different section times, according to the Final Instructions available on www.mvorconline.com.
“It’ll be a different track. We’re given a time card where we’ll do time trials, which is a bit different to the sprints or a cross country. The card tells you where you need to be and at what time.
“If you don’t get there by the allotted time they penalise you so you have to get back as fast as you can,” Ashden added. “It’s a good, exciting format. I did it last year where I got a second,” he continued.
The budding talent is also faring well in the country’s biggest enduro competition, the 2016 Yamaha Australian Off-Road Championships (AORC). “The AORC is going pretty good. In the first and second rounds in Queensland, I got a third and a second place.
“In the third and fourth rounds last weekend in New South Wales, I got two firsts, which was pretty good,” he said.
“The track was pretty cool but it was pretty tough,” he added. He is currently topping the J2 class after four rounds of the AORC.
On his goals for the VORC for the year, Ashden said: “I want to put 100 per cent in and hopefully I go well.” The 14-year-old came second in the J2 class in last year’s competition, incredible, considering the fact he missed the first two rounds.
Ashden would also like to one day turn professional and achieve the feats of 2016 Dakar Rally champion Toby Price and VORC champion Daniel ‘Chucky’ Sanders. “That would be a dream come true, definitely. I look up to all those guys that we race with,” he added.
“I’d like to thank Online Racing Spares, who have been a massive help all season, 67 Gear, Stu Rankin, and Team Britta Racing,” Ashden praised.
Round 3 (Junior Enduro) of the 2016 Yamaha Victorian Off-Road Championship, hosted by the Dandenong Motorcycle Club, takes place at Erica, on Delpretes Road in Moondarra, on Saturday, April 16. Click here for the Final Instructions: http://bit.ly/1NnnEwI
ENTRIES are still open and close at midnight tonight, April 13, on www.mvorconline.com.