With round 1 & 2 of the Victorian Off-Road Championships (VORC) cancelled due to dry conditions; round 3 & 4 at Rawson saw the first live action for the VORC. With the weather still a little on the dry side, the weekends format was changed to suit, seeing the juniors running cross country on the Saturday morning and seniors completing 18 minute sprints in the afternoon.
In the pro-expert class as suspected Fraser Higlett from QLD put on a good show with our Vic boys, Highlett jumping into 3rd place rather quickly and holding it for the entire race, while Daniel Sanders and Lyndon Snodgrass held 1st and 2nd place solidly for the entire race respectively. Sanders taking the win with quite a significant lead over Snodgrass. Highlett is an up and coming rider, and we suspect he may represent Australia in the in the 6 day in years to come.
In the juniors Tyran Tomich was an outstanding rider in both cross country and Sprints, showing excellent form looking incredibly comfortable on the bike. Tomich took out first outright in round 3 and round 4 at Rawson. While he is only a young rider he is miles ahead of everyone else in the field. Tomich will definitely be one to watch!
Andrew Neilson did incredible well taking out the Clubman cross country in round 3 and also round 4 Clubman sprints. Neilson demolished the competition in both rounds, “Neilson has the ability to adapt easily between cross country and sprints, while he can smash out 8 or so solid minutes during a sprint at peak performance he can also maintain this peak performance in the cross country heats across significantly longer periods of time, this type of endurance is not an easy feat” noted Chris Gray, committee member for the Motorcycling Victoria Enduro Committee.
Daniel Milner, who is the current Australian number one, did not race at the Rawson, instead opting for some testing in preparation of the AORC. Milner will be at the upcoming AORC round 3 & 4 at Headley. Milner and Sanders are sure to put up some great riding with most punters speculating that it will come down to just seconds at the end provided that there are no crashes or other setbacks and both ride to their peak capacity.
Photo credit: Mad Dog Images – https://www.facebook.com/maddoggimages/