Yamaha Motor Australia press release:

It was another enterprising weekend for the Active8 Yamaha Yamalube team as they competed at rounds three and four of the Australian Off Road Championship (AORC) held at Portland in NSW.

In dry and extremely dusty conditions, the team again acquitted themselves well with Josh Green and Beau Ralston cementing their positions in the E2 and E3 classes respectively while Tayla Jones logged good results racing the men in the E1 division.

Josh Green led the team on his WR450F in the E2 class. Green kept his podium position streak alive in 2016 after another good weekend. He finished third Outright on both Saturday and Sunday with some consistent racing and as a result, locked in his second place position on the outright leader board and stretched his lead in the ultra-competitive E2 division.

“Was a pretty good weekend in some tough conditions,” Green states. “The lack of rain lately in the area meant it was pretty dry and vision was an issue with amount of dust. But, being on the podium at each round so far has been a good start to the championship and now the next goal is to step up and win some rounds.”

Beau Ralston also proved to be consistent all weekend with more top 10 outright results and maintaining his position in the top three in E3 honours. Mounted on a WR480F, Ralston took eighth and sixth place in the outright standings and a couple of third place positions in the E3 category.

After four rounds, Ralston sits sixth outright and third in class.

“Nothing real exciting for me to report,” laments Ralston. “I have been consistent but I want to pick up my pace in the next round and start to put some pressure on the riders ahead of me in the championship.”

Tayla Jones continues her racing development as she represents the team in the E1 class. On board the WR250F, Jones continues to up-stage the men with some spirited racing in a tough division. She has improved her results at each round so far this year and racked up an 11th in E1 on Saturday before breaking through for her first top 10 with a ninth on Sunday.

She is now knocking on the door of a top 10 in the E1 championship after her strong performance on the weekend and now sits eleventh in the championship.

“The weekend went well for me with no problems at all. My bike was good all weekend and the only issue was the dust but it was the same for everyone. Hopefully I can continue to get better results and be a consistent top 10 rider in this class,” Jones ends.

Former AORC champion and Active8 Yamaha team manager, AJ Roberts came away satisfied with his teams’ weekend but also knows that the time for round wins is nearing.

“As a team we have made a good, solid start to the championship and all the riders are well placed after four rounds. Everyone is healthy so I feel we need to step it up in the coming rounds and make a run at the championship leaders as we reach the mid part of the championship.”

The team now look towards rounds five and six of the championship on April 23 and 24 in South Australia.