Image: John Pearson.

KTM Enduro Racing Team’s Daniel Sanders kicked off his weekend in Hedley, Victoria for rounds seven and eight of the 2016 Yamaha Australian Off-Road Championship (AORC) with a victory in the cross country event.

It was Sanders’ factory KTM teammate, Tye Simmonds, who took the early lead over Lyndon Snodgrass and former professional motocross racer Jack Simpson who sat in third place.

By the half way mark in the race it was Sanders who captured the lead ahead and went on the claim the event victory with a time of 2:45:54.863 over Simmonds’ time of 2:48:15.472.

Snodgrass concluded the race on the third step of the podium with a time of 2:51:54.437 followed by Simpson in third with a time of 2:52:15.340 and Riley Graham rounding out the top five with a 2:55:26.892 overall time.

Sunday’s round eight of the 2016 AORC championship saw the circuit transform into a sprint style course where again it was Sanders who reigned supreme.

Sanders finished the event with an overall time of 32:02.953 to claim the Outright victory ahead of teammate Simmonds and Snodgrass, replicating the top three results from round seven.

Simmonds claimed his second place finish using a time of 32:53.359 with Snodgrass rounding out the podium using a 33:17.569 overall time ahead of Simpson in fourth with Beau Ralston rounding out the top five.

The 2016 Yamaha Australian Off-Road Championship now takes a two week break before returning at Monkerai in New South Wales for rounds nine and 10 on 13-14 August.