KTM Australia press release:

KTM’s AORC Champion Toby Price has concluded his immediate career in the Australian Off-Road Championships in inimitable, incredible, Price style, laying waste to a field of most of the nation’s best off road racers in his first ever race weekend on the KTM 300 EXC – and his first on a two-stroke since 2005!

Monkerai in NSW was the location for rounds 11 and 12 of the country’s most important off-road motorcycle championship, with the intended Saturday cross-country event deleted in favour of two sprint events for the weekend, due to the excessively dusty conditions.Many would have considered the conditions ideal hunting grounds for the four-strokes, but someone forgot to tell the five-time champion.

After finishing second outright to Chris Hollis on the Saturday as he warmed up to the KTM 300 EXC he had elected to ride for the weekend, Price found the groove in a resounding way on Sunday and won every single sprint – winning the day by a minute and twelve seconds. In doing so he put the finishing touches to a demonstrative KTM one-two in the E3 championship, with teammate Daniel Sanders (KTM 300 EXC) holding off Husqvarna’s Glenn Kearney.

For Sanders the weekend was bittersweet; his second in E3 was trumped by an even more impressive top-four finish in his first senior year in AORC, but with two, fifth outright finishes for the weekend in dusty conditions he still finds challenging, the Victorian finished equal on points with Chris Hollis and was forced to relinquish the top three outright position he had held since round six, on a countback.

The team’s KTM 450 EXC rider Tye Simmonds rebounded from seventh outright on Saturday to be fourth overall yesterday, the former motocross professional holding Beau Ralston at bay to claim a sensational fifth place in his very first year of off-road racing. Simmonds’ fourth and second in the E2 category, also gave him fourth in class for the championship. In the Transmoto U19 championship, Tom Mason (Bolton’s KTM) was crowned champion.

Toby Price – KTM 300 EXC – “It’s a bit of a mixed emotion, I’m a bit sad that I won’t be doing these any more for a while, it’s like a big family every time you go away racing and riding. We’ve gone out on a good note though on the 300 two-stroke; to come away with second outright on Saturday and finish off with a big win today over the rest of the field and get an AORC win on a two-stroke – we were starting to get the big girl dialled in. It’s been a mixed bag of riding in the last week, going from the 500 to the Rally bike, and then onto the two-stroke, but that’s what we like doing – having fun and enjoying it.

I’d like to thank Jeff Leisk and everybody over there in Perth for the help and support, as well as Grabbo and Mick for building the bikes – he’s been on board with me for six years so I keep telling him it’s the longest relationship I’ve ever had with anyone – and Trav, Blizzard – it’s a great team to be a part of and having the support of those guys and KTM Australia, everything just flows along easily and it just makes it a great weekend to go away racing. I can’t thank them enough, it’s been a great year and we’ve got one more race to do here in Australia and then that’s it. Until then though, we’ve got more Rally stuff to sort out and then we’ll try and get the four-day sorted for everyone.”

Daniel ‘Chucky’ Sanders – KTM 300 EXC – “I’m sort of disappointed but I was crook for a week and a half in the lead up, and it was real skatey here. We had the bike set aggressively for the first few because it was dry, but it wouldn’t look up so I had to back off on the power valve and that got it sorted. I just kept chipping away and finished second and fifth. Aollis got the win so I had to finish right behind him today. I did what I could but I dropped to fourth outright. These New South Wales guys eat dust for breakfast – I need to get better at it but at least when it rains I’m faster. I’m disappointed with dropping that position. I had a goal and I wanted to finish in the top three, but it just didn’t happen. Anyway, I’ll put some work in and with some more experience and time I’ll get it all sorted.”

Tye Simmonds – KTM 450 EXC “Saturday was terrible. I crashed in the first test and then pretty much played catch-up all day. I was pretty pissed off and unhappy. We were equal fifth going into Sunday with Beau Ralston, so we had to have a good day. The first two tests were good, but in the third I was coming down a hill and got a bit squirley and hit a tree so down I went again. But anyway, that’s part of it. So I played catch up for the rest of the sprints. Going into the last two I had to beat Beau and Lachy for fourth, both for my class and championship-wise. I had a really good run, busted my arse and pulled I think ten or more seconds on both of them. Unfortunately my runs in those last two tests were a bit too good and I beat Chucky by 0.4 of a second and relegated him to fourth in the championship so I feel like a bit of a bad guy at the moment. Glad I came back though, I’m happier than ever. This year I haven’t had fitness at all; I’ve gotten by on natural ability and having a bit of a ticker, so next year we’ll come off a big off-season with a lot more bike time and I think we should be up there. Looking forward to 2016 and having a bigger year.”

Ben Grabham, Team Manager – “It was a successful last weekend for us. The dust was an issue here but the track layout here was quite nice and quite challenging. Toby switched bikes for the weekend and wrapped up the E3 championship, and then came out on Sunday and had a bit of a send-off, smashing everyone outright, so that was cool to be a part of, and awesome to see him do it on a 300 two-stroke. It shows what that bike is capable of and what he is capable of on anything. Chucky wrapped up second in the E3 championship but is still just coming to grips with the dry. In the battle with Hollis for third outright I was pretty proud of him, he had a lot of pressure on him and fought pretty hard. They tied but Hollis got it on a count-back. I know the kid is very disappointed with fourth, but to be honest, I think just missing out today will make him a stronger and better guy come next year. Tye had a decent crash on the first lap on Saturday and got seventh outright, and today you could tell he was in the groove a lot more. He showed a lot of promise again and he should be happy with fifth outright for his first go at this series.
Overall I just have to say a huge thanks to Mick; he works countless hours and the bikes have been unbelievable all year and everyone else in the crew with Trav and Blizzard, it’s been a pretty cool year. We did everything we wanted to do and Toby did what he knew he could do. We had a great year with the young boys, and Toby is gone for next year, but I’m pretty confident that these two young guys will be fighting each other for wins next year.”

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