Snow can't stop Off-Road Championship
Tuesday 12th July 2008
Motorcycling Victoria
 

Ballarat lived up to it's cold and wet reputation on the weekend, but not even a scattering of snow could stop the riders at Rounds 9 and 10 of the 2008 Yamaha Victorian Off-Road Championship.

Cold and wet conditions greeted the riders on the Saturday (Round 9) as they faced nine sprint tests throughout the day and with the Championship so close, any minor mistake could be costly.

Only 19 points separated the top 3 riders in the Pro Open class, with Blake Hore leading Todd Stephenson and Jehi Willis.

Blake had the best of proceedings on Saturday, winning seven of the nine sprint tests and managing to hold off Jehi Willis who finished a comfortable second ahead of Mark Portbury, who managed to grab his first podium finish for the Championship.

Expert riders Daniel Milner (E1) and Reece Klippel (E2) put in fantastic performances to clinch 4th and 5th spots respectively in the Outright class, which was more than enough to see them take out the win in their respective classes.

In the Juniors, Alex Bolton (J4) managed to close the gap on Jesse Milner to just two points with Jesse Milner lurking just another 6 points behind after another solid weekend.

Andrew Wilksch (J1), Lachlan Terry (J2) and Travis Cooper (J3) once again dominated their classes.

On Sunday (Round 10) only four heats of the sprint track were able to be completed. One again, wet and slippery conditions greeted the riders and this time mistakes were made.

  

Action from the Victorian Off-Road Championship
Photography by Kathryn Feldmaier Photography
 

Jehi Willis made an uncharacteristic mistake which saw him slip right back and gift second spot in the Championship back to Todd Stephenson, who he had overtaken just the day before.

Blake Hore was largely unchallenged at the front of the pack, although Mark Portbury put in another stellar performance that saw him climb one step higher on the podium.

After a quiet Saturday by his standards, Todd Stephenson managed to step it up in the challenging conditions to take the final spot on the podium just ahead of Dan Goodwin.

In the J1 class, Andrew Wilksch wasn't able to finish and that saw Jake Salems step up and take his first win of the year. Lachlan Terry (J2), Travis Cooper (J3) and Alex Bolton (J4) took the win in their classes.

Other winners from the weekend were:

Saturday (Round 9):
Luke Grylls (C1), Rick Miles (C2), David Murray (C3), Jed Cornthwaite (Inter), Andrew Bain (Masters), James Bowden (V35), Brett Wiltshire (V40)
 
Sunday (Round 10):
Luke Grylls (C1), Brett Pitcher (C2), David Murray (C3), Jed Cornthwaite (Inter), Andrew Bain (Masters), Hugh Moll (V35), Brett Wiltshire (V40)

Rounds 11 and 12 will be held on September 20th and 21st by the North West Victoria Motorcycle Club in the Mildura area.