CDR Yamaha’s Daniel Milner claimed the 2013 Australian Off-Road Championship title at Dungog in New South Wales. Image: FourOhFour.

CDR Yamaha’s Daniel Milner has claimed the outright 2013 Australian Off-Road Championship title on the back of a convincing performance at the series’ final two rounds at Dungog in New South Wales.

Milner headed to the round 11 and 12 weekend showdown with a considerable lead, but chose not to play it safe and as a result of his round win on Saturday, sewed up the championship a day early.

The 22-year-old backed up the performance with the overall win on Sunday, proving quickest in the dual-sprint format.

He edged out Motorex KTM Off Road’s Chris Hollis on both days to end the season with a 33-point advantage over his elder rival who had been running at the top of the ladder at the half-way mark.

Hollis put together a solid performance but conceded there was little he could do to make up the points required.

“Things went pretty smoothly both days, Daniel was pretty good here, but I was on par or close to it most of the time so I was happy with my performance,” said Hollis.

“It was a really good event here, a little dusty but that’s out of the organiser’s control, but heaps of hills here and a nice place to end the series.

“My AORC season started off pretty well, until unfortunately I had a back issue which threw everything out of whack and Dan grabbed the opportunity with both hands.

“We have the ISDE next up and it should be a lot of fun, we’ve got a real good team which, fingers crossed can be on the podium for sure.”

Milner’s teammate Stefan Merriman took two outright third-place finishes for the weekend, to end the series in fourth, five points shy of Glenn Kearney.

Individual class spoils on Saturday went the way of Milner from Kearney and Ben Burrell in E1, with Hollis winning from Merriman and Josh Green in E2.

The E3 class win went to Jarrod Bewley from Geoff Braico and Stefan Granqvist.

Across the other classes, round 11 victors included Damian Smith (Vets), Trent Lean (Masters), Emelie Karlsson (Womens) and Nic Tomlinson (Juniors).

The 12th and final round saw a carbon copy of Saturday’s outright results within the top three, with Milner winning from Hollis and Merriman.

Milner was again the E1 class victor from Kearney, with Tom McCormack third. The E2 class replicated the previous day, with Hollis winning from Merriman and Green, while it was a similar story of form in E3, won by Bewley from Braico and Granqvist.

Damian Smith won the round 12 Veterans battle, sealing the title by three points over Kirk Hutton. Local Masters man Lean took the round and class championship win in the Masters ranks, while Karlsson won the Women’s division once more to race to a 38-point victory.

Tom Mason won the final Juniors round it wasn’t enough to stop Tomlinson, who too second on the day and the overall championship by a solid 30-point margin.

2013 Australian Off-Road Championship

Round 11, Dungog
Outright results:
1. Daniel Milner 25
2. Chris Hollis 22
3. Stefan Merriman 20
4. Lachlan Stanford 18
5. Glenn Kearney 16
6. Jarrod Bewley 15
7. Geoff Braico 14
8. Scott Keegan 13
9. Ben Burrell 12
10. Tom McCormack 11

Round 12, Dungog
Outright results:
1. Daniel Milner 25
2. Chris Hollis 22
3. Stefan Merriman 20
4. Josh Green 18
5. Glenn Kearney 16
6. Jarrod Bewley 15
7. Lachlan Stanford 14
8. Tom McCormack 13
9. Geoff Braico 12
10. Tom Kite 11

Championship standings (after 12 of 12 rounds)
Outright:
1. Daniel Milner 268
2. Chris Hollis 235
3. Glenn Kearney 198
4. Stefan Merriman 193
5. Jarrod Bewley 175
6. Josh Green 174
7. Lachlan Stanford 144
8. Geoff Braico 137
9. Scott Keegan 128
10. Tom McCormack 126

Click here for detailed results