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April 26 2005
Off Road Series

GHR Honda Off Road Team Begins Assault on New Oz Series

While enduro riders have traditionally had the four day championship to determine their national title, it has only ever been conducted once a year. Manufacturers, industry sponsors, the media and riders have all wanted a chance for the country’s best riders to race against each other on a regular basis. This chance has now become a reality.

Glenn Hoffmann Racing (GHR) and Honda have once again joined forces after winning the Condo 750, Finke Desert Race and Australian Safari last year to take on the newly formed Australian Off Road Series. The ten round series, which commenced last weekend, is to be conducted over five weekends in three different states, bringing together the country’s best riders on a regular basis.

At “Barleigh Ranch” Raymond Terrace, the teams met for competition for the first time. The track was tight and technical in the natural terrain bush section, with the last part of the course being run on the motocross track. Special test times were just under the ten-minute mark with a trail loop of approximately 15 minutes, and riders completed the course four times on Saturday.

AJ Roberts on a Husky 250cc two stroke, Brad Williscroft aka “Wonka”on a 450cc KTM four stroke and Damian Smith on a 250cc four stoke Yamaha have been the front runners at all state races thus far in 2005.

Round one of the Australian series is the first chance that the GHR Honda riders including Jamie Cunningham (CRF450R) and Ben Grabham (CRF250X) have had a chance to race against the best in the country.

Round one saw Jamie slow to start however by heat three his time was only beaten by number one plate holder Brad Williscroft.

Jamie’s team mate was also setting times only two seconds off class leader Damian Smith after a ten-minute loop. By the end of round one Jamie finished 3rd in the E2 class and 4th outright, and Ben finished 2nd in class and 7th outright on the little CRF250X.

Team owner Glenn Hoffmann was stoked saying “both riders were rapt with their results.”

“We are never happy to finish second or third so the reality is that there is room for improvement in our package. But the other teams have been at it for months and are fully developed whereas our riders have yet to dial in their suspension or tyres. We already have people questioning Jamie’s bike thinking it is a 500cc! It is the quickest bike in the open, we must now get it sorted in the tight technical bush sections.”

Ben also was excited with the engine performance of his 250x commenting that he believed he could win outright once the suspension is sorted. He was able to match 250cc two stroke riders in a straight-line drag from corner to corner.

Round two was much of a repeat of round one with AJ, Wonka and Damien Smith filling the top three outright positions.

Jamie finished 3rd in his class again and Ben finished third in class also.

“Jamie had one forgettable heat where he lost 30 seconds on the lead riders due to being stuck in a tree, but he is already matching the outright speed of the leading two on stock suspension and now just needs to string some good heats together,” Hoffmann said.

“Ben is about 8 seconds off the outright pace per ten minutes and he also should find this improve with suspension development.”

Hoffmann went on to comment that “now that our bikes and components have come on line we have scheduled suspension testing days before the next round. We believe that once our suspension is sorted, either rider is capable of outright victories on any given day. ”

Remaining Rounds of the Yamaha Australian Off Road Series are: