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Queensland Moto Park (QMP) came to life for Rounds 3 and 4 of the 2023 Yamaha Australian Off-Road Championship presented by MXstore (AORC), with riders rolling in and anticipation mounting of who can get it done for the weekend the feeling in the air was electric. SA was there in force and boy did we bring it!!

14 South Aussies made the trip over to continue their championship hopes for the season. Still sitting on cloud nine after being selected by the ShopYamaha Off-Road Racing Team to replace the injured Kyron Bacon, Cooper Sheidow showed what he was made of right from the get-go. Sitting sixth outright for Round 3 (Saturday) and finishing Second for E1, he was able to hold off ex-pat Will Price, who settled for third. Showing nothing but consistency, he finished Sunday’s Round 4 again second in E1 with a seventh outright time. Will Price couldn’t quite get the upper hand on Cooper who again stood third on the podium.

Rowan Pumpa started the weekend on a heater, leading the Veterans class, with a first-place finish. Unfortunately, after some really tight racing, he had to settle for a second-place finish for Round 4 behind NSW Christopher Thomas.

Round 3 saw our South Aussies top the first 2 steps of the Masters podium with Leigh Bentley taking out the category first, followed closely by Peter Rudd. Keeping his flow going into Round 4 Leigh kept the top sport going with another podium first, however unfortunately Peter had a day he would rather forget, finishing ninth.

Continuing the journey of bringing home another back-to-back championship, Ollie Gear really let his riding do the talking, taking out a clean sweep of first-place wins for Rounds 3 and 4 in the J3 class, but also topping the leaderboard in first place both days overall…Well done lad!!

After being pipped for a podium in Round 3 by NSW Kai Austin and settling for forth in J2, Harry Gilbertson put his head down and fought through, passing Kai and taking the third place finish for Round 4. We’re looking forward to plenty of battles ahead between these two.

Plenty of our South Australian contingent came through with top 10 finishes including:

Max Midwinter (EJ), Forth place round 3 and 4.

Luke Bunnik (E3), Sixth Round 3 and fifth Round 4

Davey Gear (J4),  Fifth place Round 3 and sixth place Round 4

Levi Rossi (J1), Fourth place Round 3 and Fifth place Round 4.

AORC Round 3 Full Report – HERE.

AORC Round 4 Full Report – HERE. 

2023 Yamaha AORC Rounds 3 and 4 Race Recap – HERE. 

AORC Website – HERE. 

AORC FB page – HERE.

AORC points rankings as they stand after Round 4:

(Below): Ollie Gear turning iot on for his

weekend of 1st place finishes.

(Above) Cooper Sheidow looking good in Blue with a seat riding for

the ShopYamaha Off-Road Racing Team.

The inaugural Jamalka Off-Road Race at Tumby Bay was run and won over a massive 4 days of action from the 13th to the 16th of April. Riders and buggies were met by a gruelling 60 KM per lap off-road course, framed perfectly by the beautiful Eyre Peninsula wilderness. The event was the brainchild of a South Aussie farmer, off-road racer Ben, and his wife Nat McNamara. The pair dreamed of creating an Enduro Desert Race extravaganza that could test its competitors and grow to join the National Off Road Circuit.

Crowds were greeted by plenty of fast-paced action during each day, with even more off-track entertainment late into the night, including music, food and of course, many beverages shared between friends in the specially designed facilities Ben created for the event.

Enduro riders from all over South Australia jumped at the opportunity to get their bikes and bodies warmed up for the upcoming Fink Desert Race and you could see by the smiles on their faces a mile away… the event was a fan favourite.

After a full perfect 2 days of racing and 300km under his belt, Jay Simister #229 took out the competition outright with an impressive total time of 03:50:18.434. With a grin from ear to ear, you could tell straight away he was pumped and keen to get back out to do it all over again. With only a marginal gap of just over 5 minutes, Daniel Hunt #380 finished outright in second place with a time of 03:55:46.007. Showing the young lads how it’s done John Harkness #759 put down a cracking time of 4:11:26.073 both winning the Veterans 45+ and sitting third outright. The fourth fastest overall for the weekend came in as Tanner Pfitzner #47 with a 4:12:30.527 followed closely by Benjamin Piggott 5th fastest overall.

Tammy Peters #721 represented the girls as the only open Women but we are sure there are going to be plenty more competitors joining her in the coming years. Similarly, Matthew Pierce #415 ran solo in the Up to 251cc but in the end, still stood tall after conquering the event challenge. John Harkness #759 led the Veterans 35+ class with an incredible ride, in front of Reece Scott #5 and Jason Mitchell#701.

Proving that experience still can mix with the young crowd, Scott Baker #932 took out the Veterans 45+ years, with Quenten O’Connor #411 not being able to catch him in time, to finish in second after a long weekend on the bike.

The course laid claim to its fare share victims with Andrew Kerr coming off his bike at the finish line just before 11 am on Saturday, Jessie Malone suffering a broken collar bone during his race and Clinton Letton, ending his weekend after having the misfortune of tagging a tree stump.

With the first successful Jamalka Off-road Race in the history books for 2023, we are sure we will see it back in 2024 bigger and better than ever. The skies are really the limit with the future of the Jamalka Off-Road Race and it’s already off to a huge start.

Pictures curtesy of Jamalka Off Road Racing Page. and The Dapper Crow Photography.

Full break down of results – HERE

Overall Class Results: