Roughly a four and a half hour drive from Adelaide’s airport heading South East, the small country town of Penola with a population of 1,317 is the most productive of wine growing areas. Well for the second year in a row, Penola will increase its population.

However it sure won’t have anything to do with sampling wines or enjoying the finer things in life because this weekend the 2014 Yamaha Australian Off-Road Championship rolls into town to make a bit of noise racing between the pine trees and the stone quarry.

After a seven-week break, the championship will kickstart its second leg of this year’s championship that sees KTM Enduro Racing Team ace Toby Price topping the standings in the outright championship with 119-points on the board, five points clear of Active8 Yamaha Yamalube’s Josh Green who leads the E2 series by one point from Price.

With Price sitting out this event last year due to injury, the big question mark is, how well can Price adapt to the Coonawarra soil over there. You would think seeing it’s the same conditions as last rounds round at Hedley in Victoria, the three-time AORC champion will not have a problem what so ever. But then, stranger things have happened in the world of motorsport.

Between Green, Price and Husqvarna’s Glenn Kearney who finished third outright in the last two rounds you would be a brave man (or woman) to bet against them from seeing the chequered flag first come this Saturday and Sunday.

CDR Yamaha Off-Road’s Chris Hollis really needs a win this weekend to keep his outright championship alive as he lies 18-points behind his former teammate and just four-points behind Green in the E2 title. Hollis finished with a sixth and fourth at Coonawarra last year.

Hollis’ teammate Daniel Milner will be back in the pilot’s seat after missing rounds five and six after hurting his ankle, so keep your eye on a very determined ‘Doogs’ as last year he cleaned up at this round.

Another championship that is boiling up very nicely is the Masters class between three New South Welshman’s that include Mike Shearer, Trent Lean and the legendry Geoff Ballard. Just three points separate the trio going into this weekend, so this weekend should be a blockbuster to watch some of the ‘old’ boys lock horns.

In regards to riding the crest of the wave, it’s hard to look past young Jess Gardiner of Ballard’s Motorex Off-Road Team Sherco. Just like Milner did in 2013, Gardiner also made the South Australian round her own when she beat Emelie Karlsson and Tayla Jones in both rounds.

Gardiner tops the championship points tally on 147 to Jones’ 131 with Karlsson on 120 points, just eight points ahead of Jemma Wilson. Gardiner has four successive round wins so far – can she make it six this weekend?

In the ‘stars of future’ classes (Junior classes), Lyndon Snodgrass holds onto a slender two-point margin over Wil Ruprecht in the J4 class while Seth Muller is in third, 10 points behind Snodgrass. Both Ruprecht and Muller are the only two riders to have finished inside the top three to date.

Ben Kearns has a 100 percent score card in the E3 class having not dropped a round. In the E2 class it’s a family affair between Joshua and Mitchell Brierley as they prepare to do battle once again sitting one and two in the title hunt.

So why not the trip to this iconic location this weekend and watch some of the best riders in country do battle. Both rounds will be conducted as a sprint/sprint format. And Entry is free!

Image: Russel Colvin.

Circuit location

Track is located approximately 12kms from Penola near Coonawarra on the Dergholm road. The pits are located in a stone quarry, amongst a pine plantation.

From Penola, Turn into Cameron Street
Travel past school 100 metres turn left
Travel 400 metres turn right onto Dergholm Road
Travel 2.2km turn right onto Dergholm Road
Travel 8.7km along Dergholm Road, look for clearing in pine forest on left hand side of road
Turn left at signage (pink circle on bitumen) onto small gravel road, pines on Left, scrub on right – travel 1km into stone quarry
Arrival total distance from High School 12.8km
From Melbourne – 419km (5hr26min)
From Adelaide – 383km (4hr14min)

Event entry

Free

Event schedule

Saturday:
8:30am riders briefing (Juniors and Senior)
Following riders briefing, riders will commence the parade lap. Racing will commence immediately after parade lap.
Parade lap, Juniors, J1,J2,J3,J4 (Grovescaff test)
Parade Lap, Seniors, all classes (Yamaha and GS Moto tests)

Sunday:
8:00am Riders briefing (Juniors and Senior)
Following riders briefing, riders will commence the parade lap. Racing will commence immediately after parade lap.
Parade lap, juniors, J1,J2,J3,J4 (Yamaha Test)
Parade lap, seniors, all classes (Grovescaff and GS Moto tests)

Outright top 10 championship standings:
1. Toby Price (E2) 119
2. Josh Green (E2) 114
3. Glenn Kearney (E3) 112
4. Chris Hollis (E2) 101
5. Lachlan Stanford (E2) 86
6. Daniel Milner (E2) 83
7. Daniel Sanders (19U) 83
8. Jarrod Bewley (E3) 75
9. Tom McCormack (E1) 71
10. Stefan Granquist (E3) 68

E3 top 5 championship standings:
1. Glenn Kearney 147
2. Stefan Granqvist 124
3. Jarrod Bewley 111
4. Adam Giles 36
5. Craig Hepburn 31

E2 top 5 championship standings:
1. Josh Green 120
2. Toby Price 119
3. Chris Hollis 116
4. Lachlan Stanford 103
5. Beau Ralston 93

E1 top 5 championship standings:
1. Tom McCormack 141
2. Scott Keegan 127
3. Peter Boyle 114
4. Tom Kite 108
5. Nic Tomlinson 80

AORC Champ 19 and Under top 5 championship standings:
1. Daniel Sanders 150
2. Broc Grabham 124
3. Tom Mason 121
4. Kane Hall 110
5. Alex Papamanolis 75

AORC Women’s top 5 championship standings:
1. Jess Gardiner 147
2. Tayla Jones 131
3. Emelie Karlsson 120
4. Jemma Wilson 112
5. Kellie Catanese 85

AORC Champ Masters top 5 championship standings:
1. Mike Shearer 130
2. Trent Lean 129
3. Geoff Ballard 127
4. Ian Jenner 95
5. Robert Day 69

AORC Champ Vets top 5 championship standings:
1. Damian Smith 147
2. Kirk Hutton 135
3. Rowan Pumpa 120
4. Anthony Greene 61
5. Michael Widdison 45

AORC Champ Junior Four top 5 championship standings:
1. Lyndon Snodgrass 136
2. Wil Ruprecht 134
3. Seth Muller 126
4. Stuart Holt 98
5. Dallan Villani 90

AORC Champ Junior Three top 5 championship standings:
1. Ben Kearns 150
2. Deon Javni 107
3. Tom Bushell 98
4. Luke Strauch 94
5. Dean De Fazio 44

AORC Champ Junior Two top 5 championship standings:
1. Joshua Brierley 137
2. Mitchell Brierley 132
3. Jack Matthews 111
4. William Price 84
5. Corey Hammond 82

MotoOnline.com.au social media

2014 series calendar:

Rd 1-2: 22-23 March, Buladelah, NSW
Rd 3-4: 19-20 April, Boyland, QLD
Rd 5-6: 3-4 May, Hedley, VIC
Rd 7-8: 21-22 June, Coonawarra, SA
Rd 9-10: 19-20 July, Kyogle, NSW
Rd 11-12: 6-7 September, Heathcote, VIC