Price humbles off-road field
Claims first-ever victoryMSC Kawasaki’s Toby Price claimed his maiden Yamaha Australian Off-Road Championship (AORC) victory at Cherrabah Resort near Warwick (Qld) on August 15.
The 22-year-old from Singleton (NSW) was brilliant, humbling defending champion Chris Hollis by a massive 46 seconds. Yamaha’s Jarrod Bewley made it three different manufacturers on the podium.
“It’s been a good weekend so far, so hopefully we can carry on with it tomorrow (in round eight),” Price said.
“The bike’s working awesome and this year the whole team... they’ve done a great job and it’s really good to be up on the top this time.”
Price hit a tree in his first lap of the day, “smashing up” one of his fingers.
“My finger should be all good for tomorrow, I’ll just ice it up and try to get back up on the podium,” he said.
A rejuvenated Hollis, who switched from a 450 to 250 four-stroke Husqvarna for the Warwick rounds, was the only rider to keep Price honest, and he also took home the E1 honours.
“I had a lot better day than I’ve been having the last few rounds... the 250F’s an awesome bike,” Hollis said.
“It’s good to be straight up the front on it pretty much straight away and stay up the front on it, Toby and I were pretty close there for a while.
“I feel a lot more comfortable on this bike and my speed is back to normal, where it should be.”
Price and Hollis shared victories in the first four special tests, before Price really turned the screws, winning the last three by nine, 10 and 13 seconds respectively.
Kirk Hutton (Ballard’s Wellard Yamaha) was fourth outright, from Motorex KTM’s Ben Kearney and – uncharacteristically -- championship leader Stefan Merriman(Ballard’s Wellard Yamaha).
Price has now slashed Merriman’s lead back to just 14pts (153 to 139), followed by Bewley (136), the absent AJ Roberts (GHR Honda, 117) and Hollis (112).
Roberts dislocated his shoulder in the 2009 Australasian Safari and, despite intensive treatment, wasn’t able to get himself up for the off-road battle.
Round eight of the championship continues today.
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