Image: Russell Colvin (Deus Images).

Active8 Yamaha Yamalube’s Josh Green took a commanding win in round three at Hedley in Victoria in the Yamaha Australian Off-Road Championship (AORC).

Green’s overall victory today marks his second ever overall win in his career, which he regarded as a “very special,” because he is back in the E1 ranks on board the 2015 WR250F.

Green settled into a pace early on into the three hour Cross Country format race and simply “rode around,” said Green. “I just stayed around the same pace all round and it worked out very nicely.”

So for Green, which race win means the most? His first one, which came at Hedley in 2013 or this? “This one means more for sure because I’m back on the 250.”

Finishing 2m28.501s behind Green and the first E3 rider home was KTM ace Daniel ‘Chucky’ Sanders. After a somewhat average start, Sanders worked his way back up to the pointy end of the field.

“I’m happy with my performance today,” said last year’s Under 19s champion. “The first few corners in the tree section were just shocking!

“You couldn’t see anything because of the amount of dust, but it is what it is, will just rest up well tonight and come out tomorrow and hopefully do the same.”

Finishing third overall and claiming the honours in the E2 class was Green’s teammate Beau Ralston.

On the second lap, Ralston hit the deck, which resulted him in bending his handlebars, forcing him to tackle the remaining of the day with bent bars!

In fourth place was the reigning outright champion, Toby Price. The New South Welshman was quite disappointed with his round after having to play catch up the whole day.

“I started off really badly,” said Price, who came off at the first turn on the start. “I pretty much had to come from behind the whole way and the dust just caught us a lot.”

To make things worse, Price came off another three times during the race and on top of that he stalled his KTM many times as well after rushing things. “I just buggered this round up,” he admitted.

Completing the top five was reigning E3 champion Glenn Kearney (Husqvarna Enduro Racing Team).

Some of the heavyweights of the sport to not see the end of race included the likes of Penrite Honda’s Peter Boyle, KTM’s Tye Simmonds, Scott Keegan and CDR-Yamaha’s Chris Hollis.

Tayla Jones kept her winning streak going in the Women’s championships as she showed a clean pair of heels on her Yamaha YZ250FX. The youngster was on fire, setting the best lap time of a 23m19.036s, which was set on her second lap.

“It’s been a good start to the championship so far,” Jones told MotoOnline.com.au. “We just have to keep it going for the rest of the year.”

Jess Gardiner (Balllard’s Motorex Off Road Team Sherco) had to settle for second. She had a up and down day which was highlighted by seven get-offs during the day.

“I think I set a new world record with the amount of get offs in one round,” joked Gardiner. “It was mostly because I had that first crash when I was side-by-side with Tayla not far in the race.

“I went down hard in the start of the race and bent my handlebars and front wheel in about a thirty degree angle. It was very too hard to coordinate which direction it was for the front wheel to be straight. Other than that it was an alright day.”

Emelie Karlsson finished in third, while Jemma Wilson and Sophie Coldicutt rounded out the top five respectively.

Other class winners included David Fleming (Over 45s), Tom Mason (Under 19s), Kirk Hutton (O35-U45), Ben Kearns (J4), Josh Brierley (J3) and Mitch Brierley (J2).

2015 Australian Off-Road Championship
Round three – Hedley, Victoria

Outright results:
1. Josh Green (E1)
2. Daniel ‘Chucky’ Sanders (E3)
3. Beau Ralston (E2)
4. Toby Price (E3)
5. Lachlan Stanford (E2)
6. Glenn Kearney (E3)
7. Broc Grabham (E2)
8. Stefan Granqvist (E3)
9. Tom Kite (E1)
10. Ivan Long (E3)

Women’s results:
1. Tayla Jones
2. Jess Gardiner
3. Emelie Karlsson
4. Jemma Wilson
5. Sophie Coldicutt
6. Tamara Gray
7. Kellie Catanese
8. Tegan Hall
9. Bronwyn Aplin
10. Alexandra Long

Click here for detailed results