KTM Australia press release:

Defending AORC champion Toby Price will attempt to again show a clean set of heels to the opposition when he takes the coveted series lead into this weekend’s Round 3 and 4 of the national championship at Hedley in Victoria.

The KTM Off-Road Racing Team rider was relentless at last month’s series opener in Queensland, powering his KTM 500 EXC to victory ahead of Beau Ralston and Chris Hollis, and currently holds an eight-point championship lead after 2 of 12 series rounds.

Price’s young teammate Daniel ‘Chucky’ Sanders took second to Price in the E3 class on his KTM 300 EXC, and as one of the fitter riders on the scene, the Victorian is hoping for an improved showing in the outright standings in Saturday’s 3-hour cross-country format, which will provide a gruelling fitness test.

Saturday will also require a steep learning curve from the KTM team’s AORC rookie and E2 contender Tye Simmonds, who astonishingly sits sixth outright in the AORC standings after the very first rounds of his off-road racing career.

While the former motocross pro’s ability to ride a bike to the limit is unquestionable, he’ll learn how to pace his first three-hour XC using nothing but on-the-job training.

Toby Price – KTM 500 EXC: “It’s another race weekend, but with a three-hour cross-country, I don’t know if anyone looks forward to them too much, but at the end of the day it’s part of the race schedule and our bikes feel strong and are handling well. It’s one of those races, the three hour, you don’t know really where you are going to sit, you’ve just got to take the day as it comes and see how it unfolds. Hopefully we can be on the top step but if not, we’ll just try our best and see how close we can get. That’s always our main goal is to just get through fit and healthy and stay consistent throughout the whole championship.”

Daniel ‘Chucky’ Sanders – KTM 300 EXC: “It’s been a good break between rounds. I’ve spent a lot of hours on the bike, and been doing some cross-country long-distance stuff. We had a club day at our property the other day so it was good to test out the fitness and I was feeling really good. I’m excited for the weekend. I’ve raced in that area since about 2009; the club down there do an awesome job and it’s good being sandy we can ride in any weather conditions, but it’s definitely a challenging track when it gets rough.”

Tye Simmonds – KTM 450 EXC: “I had a good week out at Alice on the bike, but then I’ve just been working ever since. It feels like I’m back where I used to be with all of the travelling and I love it, it’s the best thing. After doing it so long you get so used to it and with that break, it just refreshed everything. I just worked a week and a half mustering, and finished up the other afternoon and I just couldn’t wait to get in the car and just drive. And it’s all new and different, so I don’t know what I’m going down to this weekend, what the track is like or how it’s going to be. It’s just back to being a buzz and I’m having a shed load of fun. I know we’ve got black sand and it has a lot of roots in the track but other than that I don’t know much about it.”

Ben Grabham, team manager: “We are looking forward to getting out into the first cross country of the year and seeing what the boys have got, fitness-wise. We have been down here the last couple of days doing some sand practice and training. Toby and Tye have got some good solid hours under their belt with a bit of pre-running in the desert the other week at Finke, and Chucky trains pretty hard anyway so I think he’s probably looking forward to a three-hour and it will be interesting to see how he goes. Toby knows what he is in for it’s just a matter of trying to get a clean start, sometimes the 500 isn’t the quickest bike off the line, but once Toby gets out there and starts doing his thing I’m sure he will be at the front somewhere. It’ll be an eye-opener for Tye, who’s never done a three-hour cross-country, and then had to wake up the next day and do a sprint. As usual Mick’s done a fantastic job with the bikes.”

For more information on KTM motorcycles visit www.ktm.com.au or www.facebook.com/ktmaustralia.