Bacon and Green Inch Closer to AORC Championships
ShopYamaha Off Road team racers, Kyron Bacon and Josh Green, have moved closer to securing 2022 Australian Off-Road Championships (AORC) after a successful penultimate weekend of the series at Kingston, South Australia.Rounds nine and ten of the championship were held at Kingston where the dirt was in great shape all weekend as rain sprinkled through the weekend keeping conditions cold, but the riding good as the ShopYamaha team close in on more silverware. Each day provided a new challenge for riders with a good variety of soil and terrain.
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Coming into the weekend, Kyron Bacon had proven to be the man to beat in 2022, as he led the E1 (250cc) class as well as carry a narrow point lead in Outright honours over Andrew Wilksch. Bacon started the weekend off slowly, by his standards, and took a few tests before he started to hit his stride.
From there the moment carried all weekend and he charged home to win the E1 class on both days and move to a 34-point lead in the class and remain undefeated in his division so far this year.
Things aren’t so easy in the Outright points and with just two rounds remaining, Bacon holds a one-point lead over Wilksch, thanks to his strong performance on Sunday. Bacon was third on Saturday and handed the advantage to Wilksch, but he wrestled the lead back on Sunday and heads into the final weekend with everything on the line in a huge finale to the series.
“The weekend was pretty good apart from a few mistakes on Saturday morning,” Bacon explains. “I just couldn’t get a flow going, had a couple of small crashes in the tests and lost time but I was able to get it together in the afternoon and ride the way I should and that gave me some confidence for Sunday.
“One weekend to go and in my home state in Tasmania, so I’m really looking forward to that. Hopefully we can get plenty of locals out to the event and make it a great weekend for the AORC.
“Thanks to the team for another awesome job and my Dad for standing by me all weekend,” Bacon ends.
Only a single point separates Josh Green from another national championship as he closes in on the E2 Australian Off Road crown. The weekend was a spectacular one for Green made even more incredible as he carried a hand and finger injury into the weekend and was even doubtful to line up at all.
Green was in a race against time after injuring his hand at the ISDE only two weeks ago, but he managed to not only get through the event, he won the E2 division both days and also finished inside the top three Outright across the weekend.
“I had been in some doubt all week about if I could ride or not and had several visits with my doctor about what I could and couldn’t do. On the day before I left, I was able to get on my mountain bike and go for a ride and while there was some discomfort, I was able to hang on and feel safe.
“We made a slight alteration to my grip as I couldn’t get my pinkie wrapped all the way round so we added some size and padding on the outside of my grip and that did the trick. There were times that there was some pain, but as long as I used my head, read the dirt and what was coming, I could get through.
“So, the effort was more than worth it and with two rounds to go, I’m in the lead of the E2 class and just 10 points out of the Outright lead, so I’m glad were we able to get it done,” Gren said.
It was a another solid and consistent performance from Blake Hollis in the E1 class as he took home a couple of fourth place results from the weekend and sits third in class with to rounds remaining.
Hollis had a couple of falls on Saturday which cost him time and then did a similar thing on Sunday when one crash left him under the bike and desperately trying to get back to his feet and re-join the race.
Despite the drama, he remains injury free and looking forward to cementing a podium position at the final weekend in Tasmania on October 8 and 9.
“I didn’t get on the podium either weekend so that was a little disappointing,” Hollis laments. “There are a few of us a very similar in speed so a crash is costly and it becomes difficult to make that time back as we are all so evenly matched.
“I need to have a trouble free run in Tassie to finish the year out strongly, so I will keep working hard the next couple of weekends and come out swinging at the final rounds.”
Wynyard in Tasmania will host the final weekend of the Australian Off Road Championship. The Tasmanian round is viewed as one of the best on the calendar with some great riding.
AORC RESULTS
Round 9- Outright
1st Andrew Wilksch
2nd Josh Green (ShopYamaha Off Road Racing)
3rd Kyron Bacon (ShopYamaha Off Road Racing)
4th Jonte Reynders
5th Cooper Sheidow
E1
1st Kyron Bacon (Yamaha)
2nd Cooper Sheidow
3rd Korey McMahon
E2
1st Josh Green (Yamaha)
2nd Fraser Higlett
3rd Riley Graham (Yamaha)
Round 10 Results
Outright
1st Kyron Bacon (ShopYamaha Off Road Racing)
2nd Andrew Wilksch
3rd Josh Green (ShopYamaha Off Road Racing)
4th Jonte Reynders
5th Cooper Sheidow
E1
1st Kyron Bacon (Yamaha)
2nd Cooper Sheidow
3rd Korey McMahon
E2
1st Josh Green (Yamaha)
2nd Fraser Higlett
3rd Liam Mason
AORC Championship Standings
Outright
1st Kyron Bacon – 174 (ShopYamaha Off Road Racing)
2nd Andrew Wilksch – 173
3rd Josh Green – 164 (ShopYamaha Off Road Racing)
4th Jonte Reynders – 134
5th Korey McMahon – 115
E1
1st Kyron Bacon – 200 (Yamaha)
2nd Korey McMahon – 166
3rd Blake Hollis – 148 (Yamaha)
E2
1st Josh Green – 194 (Yamaha)
2nd Fraser Higlett – 145
3rd Todd Waters – 134
