Image: John Pearson.

A heavy crash the weekend prior to rounds five and six of the Yamaha Australian Off-Road Championship (AORC) created an enduring encounter for Daniel Sanders at Dungog, although he still pushed through for dual victories in the E2 category.

The popular Victorian was sidelined for a number of days in the lead-up to the New South Wales round, ultimately exceeding the Husqvarna Enduro Racing Team’s expectations as he wound up runner-up in the Outright results behind rival Daniel Milner (KTM Enduro Racing Team).

“This weekend was alright and it could’ve gone a lot worse, that’s for sure,” Sanders admitted. “I had a big crash in the Victorian round last weekend, so didn’t get back on the bike until Thursday, but we salvaged some points and actually went better than I expected.

“Saturday was a bit of a struggle, but we made some improvements for Sunday, even though there were some dramas with a blown fuse. It was a big effort to get back to where we did and that was good. To score these points on one of our worse weekends is definitely positive, so now we will move forward from here and hopefully have a good run for the rest of the season.”

Sanders holds a healthy 22-point advantage in the E2 championship standings over Active8 Yamalube Yamaha’s Josh Green with five rounds still to be run in the AORC series.