Image: Russell Colvin.

CDR Yamaha owner Craig Dack has confirmed there will be no team orders relayed to Daniel Milner and Chris Hollis on the eve of the 2014 Yamaha Australian Off-Road Championship.

Milner and Hollis went 1-2 in the AORC Outright last year on their way to clinching the E1 and E2 categories, before Hollis made a shock switch defecting from KTM back to Yamaha in the off-season.

Yamaha has officially confirmed Milner will trade his customary title-winning YZ250F for a YZ450F in E2 this season, while Hollis will ride a completely different model aboard the WR450F also in E2.

Now that they’re paired together as title favourites along with returning KTM former champion Toby Price, Dack insists it will be the best man that will win at the end of the year in both the E2 category and overall.

“Absolutely not, there’s no team orders,” Dack told MotoOnline. “Obviously we were hell-bent on keeping Daniel and we were proud to retain him. We wanted to keep Stefan Merriman on, he was a champion and great ambassador for the brand, but decided to retire.

“At the same time Chris had left KTM, so it left the door open for us and he was thrilled – so were we. We decided to enter both riders in E2 this year, which makes it interesting. They’re both super-competitive and I would never want to squash that enthusiasm.

“They’re pure racers and we want to let them loose. Milner’s on a YZ450F and Hollis will be on a WR450F, but they’re both on equal footing as far as their favoured settings are concerned so it’s shaping up to be a really strong year.

“We signed Daniel first and his negotiation point was that he wanted the YZ. We wanted someone to compete on the WR, it’s a massive bike for Yamaha in sales, and Chris loved the WR straight away. He’s won the championship before on a WR.

“He’s quite fond of the engine on it and it always has been a great motor. The overall characteristics of the bike he also loves, so there was no issue at all.”

Earlier this year in the Enduro-X Nationals it was Hollis who made a winning return to Yamaha with two round victories and the championship overall, while Milner was third – both on board the brand new YZ250F.

The AORC’s opening two rounds take place this weekend at Bulahdelah in New South Wales.