KTM Australia press release:

KTM Enduro Racing Team rider Toby Price ignored the pain of a niggling foot injury to move two wins closer to a successful defence of his AORC number one plate at Aratula in Queensland over the weekend.

The injury, which he sustained in pre-running for the Finke Desert race, meant Price had virtually no seat time with which to re-acclimatise from the insanely high-speeds of Finke to the relatively modest pace of enduro racing, but someone forgot to tell the defending champion, who got the better of a weekend long battle with Chris Hollis to extend his mid-season winning streak to five consecutive AORC rounds (and of course, Finke).

While the tighter conditions were less than ideal for the monstrous grunt of his KTM 500 EXC, the Maitland ace extended his championship lead to 42 points over Josh Green, with KTM Enduro Racing Team mate Daniel Sanders retaining third place overall.

Sanders continues to lock horns with the demands of dry hardback such as is found in Queensland, but minor changes in setup and strategy saw the KTM 300 EXC rider advance from Saturday’s eighth place outright into fourth position overall today.

For the team’s former pro motocross racer Tye Simmonds, the event was significant for being his first ever enduro race, and while many would have considered seventh and sixth outright finishes and a victory in today’s first special test a more than respectable debut at national level, the KTM 450 EXC rider knows what he wants – and this isn’t it.

Toby Price – KTM 500 EXC – “That’s the result you are always aiming for, so it’s good to come out with the two wins. The championship, points-wise is now looking pretty good, but like I say, there is still a lot of points up for grabs, so we’ll make sure we keep our heads down and keep doing what we are doing until the finish and keep enjoying it and having fun. I was a little bit shocked with the result, because when I was walking the tracks I was looking around and thinking this is going to be pretty hard work on the big girl. Me and Chris were having a good battle, but we got the job done. The 500 is not really suited to that tight stuff, but then again I guess it shows what a good bike it is that it can actually put up with those conditions and come away with the win.”

Tye Simmonds – KTM 450 EXC “Seventh and sixth outright – definitely not the results I was chasing, that’s for sure. It started pretty well for us today when we won the first special test, but it went downhill from there. That second test haunted me all weekend, the others I could be top three, but I struggled with that one, and it bit me on the arse overall, that’s for sure. Grabbo said to me, it is only my first one, but I’ve been a racer all my life and I just want better results. But that’s racing. I didn’t mind enduro as a concept, we just seemed to have bugger-all race time so if you lost time anywhere, it cost you.”

Daniel ‘Chucky’ Sanders – KTM 300 EXC – “We made a step forward I guess, I’m just learning all these conditions. Down our way it’s just so wet, we don’t get any dry stuff. Yesterday I was back in eighth and we changed the bike setting a bit. That made a difference in the last two tests, so then I knew what I had to do and I got full confidence back on the bike again today, so I could push it and not make those mistakes, which definitely showed, and we finished fourth – a big improvement. It got a bit punishing towards the end here, but it’s all fun. Every day on the bike is fun.”

Ben Grabham, Team Manager – “It was a tough weekend in that they did eight special tests a day, but only about 44 minutes of total special test time for the weekend. So you make one mistake and you’re at the back of the field.
Toby got the outright both days which was a pretty good effort with just how tight the tracks were and how different from Finke. Our 500 is an easy bike to ride, but it’s still not easy in those tight conditions, so he did a really good job. Daniel started off a little bit steady yesterday and got third in E3 and 8th outright. I know he wasn’t happy with it but there was only about 10 seconds covering from about 12th right through to 3rd, and as the day went on we pointed out a few things to him and made some small adjustments. Today I don’t think he dropped below 4th outright for most of the day, and he finished second to Toby in E3, so he should be happy because he’s improving a lot. Tye was a bit similar, but the thing for Tye with his last few results including Finke, it’s easy for people to overlook the fact that it was literally his first enduro ever. I think he did a really good job with seventh outright yesterday and fourth in E2, and today he was fifth outright and third in E2. He went out firing this morning and won the first test outright, so there is no doubt he can do it, it’s just a matter of learning.”

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