Hollis leads A4DE after day one

Husqvarna rider and defending champion Chris Hollis leads the 2009 Hog's Breath Cafe Australian Four Day Enduro (A4DE) after the opening day of competition in Orange (NSW).

Hollis is 11.3secs in front of Kawasaki's Toby Price, with Jarrod Bewley (Yamaha) making it three different marques in the top three.

"I had a pretty good day, it started off pretty well," Hollis said. "I had a couple little crashes, a few falls in two separate tests, but everything else went pretty good and tomorrow's a new day and I'll try not to make any more mistakes.

"I was pretty happy with how I rode today, no one likes to fall off, of course, but that's just part of racing. I'll just try to eliminate those sorts of errors for tomorrow."

Hollis was only three seconds in front of 21-year-old Price after he crashed in the penultimate special test, but he rebounded to finish off day one in fine style.

It was still an excellent outing for Price, the former junior motocross star making his A4DE debut in 2009.

"I was stoked with my effort," said Price. "The bike was working awesome and the suspension was really good. It's just if I can keep it up for the next couple days [if I can] it would be good."

Behind Bewley, Honda teammates Peter Boyle and Anthony Roberts are fourth and fifth outright. Roberts actually set a faster pace than Boyle, but incurred a 10-second penalty for failing the morning's 'cold start' test.

The top five riders are all competing in Class 4, dominated by 450cc four-stroke machinery.

Yamaha's Kirk Hutton was the first non-Class 4 rider to crack today's outright top 10, coming in sixth, about five seconds behind Roberts.

Hutton leads Class 3 by 19 seconds from Kawasaki's Josh Green and KTM's Ben Kearney.

Blake Hore (Husaberg) is seventh, from former champion Ben Grabham (KTM), Green and Scott Thomas.

In Class 1, Nathan Castle (KTM) leads the charge by 1.2secs from Yamaha's Grant Siebenhausen.

New Zealanders claimed the top two podium spots in Class 2, today, with Jason Davis 10 seconds ahead of Rory Mead.

In the 'big-bore' class, another battle is unfolding between Husqvarna's Jehi Willis and KTM's Brad Williscroft, with the former seconds ahead.

In Masters, last year's winner Geoff Ballard is leading the field by a two-and-a-half minutes.

Orange local Stuart Bennett (KTM) is on track for another veterans win, and is already nearly a minute in front.

And in women's, defending champion Alison Parker is ahead by 18 seconds from fellow Queenslander Jemma Wilson.

For full results, spectator information, photos and videos, visit here.