KTM Australia press release:

KTM Enduro Racing Team rider Tye Simmonds has capped off a brilliant weekend by taking the first AORC victory of his career as the Australian Off-Road Championships continued at Murray Bridge in South Australia.

Simmonds was relentlessly consistent across the weekend, finishing second outright on Saturday behind Chris Hollis and ahead of Lachy Stanford, before powering his KTM 450 EXC to a demonstrative victory today.

Simmonds won five of today’s six sprints to seal the victory ahead of Stanford and Hollis, in the process moving from fifth to fourth in the AORC outright standings, and into close contention in the super competitive E2 category.

Early on Saturday, KTM’s Daniel “Chucky” Sanders had looked set to add to his tally of four straight AORC victories in this year’s championship, when he dominated the opening sprint.

However the KTM 300 EXC rider struck an unseen but apparently immovable object on the side of the trail during the second sprint and injured his left leg, his weekend reverting to one of Damage Control from that point on.

Despite this, Sanders managed to finish fifth outright on both days and he’ll now take a healthy and well-deserved 14-point lead into the AORC mid-season break.

In the E1 category former pro-motocrosser Jack Simpson regained the championship lead aboard his KTM 250 SX-F, winning both rounds and posting spectacular 6, 4 outright results in the process.

Transmoto 19 and Under class action saw Nic Tomlinson continue his brilliant form therein with a 2, 1 haul from the weekend aboard his KTM 300 EXC.

Ben Grabham – KTM Enduro Racing Team Manager: “We had two days of sprint format down here in South Oz. It was a bit of a tough weekend but both boys started off really strong, with Chucky fastest outright in the first test and Tye in third. But during the second sprint, Chucky caught his leg on something and felt it go ‘pop’, and then went to put it out and it failed. He lost a lot of time but soldiered on. We won’t know the full extent of the injury until we get tests done, but he clawed back from maybe 18th outright to finish sixth for the day. Tye worked his way through to second outright which was a solid effort. There is a 13-week break until the next AORC, so today, Chucky was in full survival mode. I could see by the look on his face that the pain was pretty extreme, but he gritted his teeth and got it done, and he wasn’t far off the pace considering he only had one good leg – he finished fifth outright which was good damage control. Tye took his first AORC outright win, which was pretty cool and he did it in dominant fashion, I think he won five of the six laps. It was nice, everyone’s been putting in a lot of effort, especially Mick, who has been on the road for three weeks with Finke testing and does a great job.”

Tye Simmonds – KTM 450 EXC “It took me long enough, but anyway we got it, so I’m over the moon! The first two rounds I struggled a bit with the trees and the rocky stuff, but this one was a lot more open, I had room to move and I was able to ride like I know I can. A few people were all over the shop this weekend so that has helped championship-wise, but it’s just nice for me to get my stuff together and repay Grabbo and the team for the hard work they’ve put in and for sticking by me when I wasn’t going too well. I felt like it was just a matter of time – I’ve been training and riding really good.”

Daniel “Chucky” Sanders – KTM 300 EXC “It’s a bummer, I was really looking forward to this. The leg is pretty tender – in the second test I got my foot caught on something and it just went real weak and folded on me. It didn’t feel good. I’d been going well before that, and won the first test with a time that didn’t get beaten all day. So that was cool. Luckily we had (KTM Exercise Physiologist) Tim Cole here to see what we could do and we strapped it all up. It was really hard to put the pain out of the head, especially if I dabbed a foot in a corner! I had to ride pretty smart and smooth and stand up most of the way after that so I didn’t lose balance. Today it was pretty sore, but the track was a bit more flowy which was better for me.”

Jack Simpson – KTM 250 SX-F “I won both days this weekend and got sixth outright yesterday and fourth today, so I went pretty good. It was wicked! I had a stall and a drop yesterday and was playing catch up for the rest of the day, so I was chasing my tail a bit. Then today I got a second outright in one sprint, and was sitting third all day long until the last sprint when Hollis got me. Can’t wait until I’m a bit more set up in this sport! I’m back leading the E1 again too so I’m glad I made this decision to move to off road. It’s freshened up my whole outlook and I can’t wait to go out and race and try to get better each time.”

Nic Tomlinson – KTM 300EXC “I got second yesterday and first today so that was pretty good. My weekend started off a bit ordinary but it got better as the day went on. Yesterday I was too late trying to get up to speed, but today I went out and pushed hard straight up, made a couple of little mistakes but it was a pretty good run. The dirt here ended up really hard packed with little pebbles and stuff, so it didn’t really suit me that well but there were a few spots for me to wind the big KTM 300 up and it ended up being a pretty good weekend.”

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