Yamaha Motor Australia press release:

The Active8 Yamaha team went through the full gamut of emotions at an eventful weekends’ racing at Corner Inlet, Victoria, as they competed in rounds three and four of the Australian Off-Road Championship.

Saturday featured the Cross Country format with Australia’s top off road riders taking on three hour of racing on a challenging course while Sunday saw the sprint format used in a weekend that tested all riders and teams.

Josh Green threw out the challenge on Saturday when he took the Outright and class win on the day on his Yamaha WR250F. After three hours and twenty- two minutes of hard work, Green crossed the line first and clawed back valuable points in the championship chase. Despite the tough day Green finished the day strongly and was confident to back up the result on the following day.

Sunday’s sprint format again saw Green dominate proceedings in the E1 category, yet still finish a very respectable second outright, just 22 seconds behind round winner, Toby Price. His solid points haul over the weekend now sees him climb to second overall in the championship standings after four rounds and also hold a comfortable margin in the E1 class.

“As a whole, the weekend went pretty well,” Green offered. “Traditionally I have always done well here and was confident of a good result leading into the weekend.

“Saturday was good as I was able to just ride my own race and had no hiccups all day while I would have liked Sunday to be a little better but all up, we are well placed after four rounds. “The team again did a great job and the WR250F is a pearler. I love riding that bike,” Green ends.

The weekend also started out promising for team mate, Beau Ralston, who claimed third outright on Saturday and the class win in the premier E2 division. Ralston was in good form and his Saturday result had him well placed to take control of the championship race as he had gained several points on the series leader.

Unfortunately, that wasn’t to be as Ralston dislocated his shoulder on the fourth lap of the sprint series and battled pain to cross the finish line in 13th for the round. It was a tough and gritty display from Ralston who despite the injury and discomfort, has managed to keep himself inside the top five in points and still in with a shot at championship glory. Ralston now sits third in points for the Outright championship and again inside the top three for the E2 class honours.

“It was a rollercoaster of a weekend. I gained four points on Toby on Saturday and felt with a good ride on Sunday I would be right there, but I fell on Sunday and felt my shoulder pop out and from then on it was just a matter of trying to make it to the finish. “I was able to get it back in but had no real strength in it and just couldn’t ride at my normal pace. “I will need to get it checked out and sorted out before the next round to keep my championship alive,” Ralston explains.

The Active Yamalube Yamaha team will now focus on rounds five and six of the AORC to be conducted in South Australia on May 23-24. That leaves Ralston with five weeks to get his shoulder back into race condition while Green will use the time to fine-tune his skills for upcoming events.