Ballards Yamaha report from Mogo

Jarrod Bewley has led home a strong Ballard’s Yamaha charge at this weekend’s dual-round staging of the Yamaha Australian Off Road Series at Mogo in NSW. The riders revelled in warm conditions across the weekend and battled hard through a series of dry and dusty tests, coming into their own as the ground developed deep ruts and a clear racing line.

Bewley has kickstarted his 2007 campaign for E3 and outright honours in fine style and continued his run this weekend, adding the round 3 and round 4 victories to his name and further asserting himself as a strong championship challenger.

The winner of rounds 1 and 2 admitted he made a slow start, but put it down to being one of the first out on Saturday morning. “I was one of the first guys to hit the track and it was really fresh, there was no real lines and it slowed me down a little as I tried to develop a rhythm,” said Bewley.

“I began to find speed and came into my element later in the day, it was then all about shaving off precious seconds and I was pretty happy with the Saturday/round 3 result.”

“It was much easier on Sunday as we raced on identical tracks, it was a lot more competitive and so I was really satisfied with the result I achieved.”

As well as winning the E3 class, Bewley finished just 14 seconds shy of the outright winner at the conclusion of round 4.

Providing strong backup to Bewley in the E1 class was Chris Hollis, who also emerged victor of rounds 3 and 4. Hollis finished the weekend a further 7 seconds away from Bewley to claim third outright, a fantastic effort and a good reward for the hard work put in.

“I’ve really enjoyed the weekend and am pleased with the results, the riding was tough and very fast at the front and to come away with the class win and finish so close to the outright leader is great,” said Hollis. “My Ballard’s tuned WR250F was great in these conditions, as with everyone I managed to improve my times each time I went out simply due to the tracks becoming more defined.”

“Four from four round wins is great and I really want to keep this streak going as long as possible.”

The newest  member of the Ballard’s Yamaha team was on the improve this weekend, with Shannon Lewry recording some good results and making back ground in the E2 championship class. Lewry’s third placing was the result of staying close to the frontrunning pair in his class and finding areas where he could better his own test times.

“Being on track for up to 6 hours each day meant it was a tough round on the riders and the bikes, I’m pretty happy with how I held up and very pleased with the performance of the WR450F,” said Lewry. “I worked hard to put the mistakes of rounds 1 and 2 behind me and I am continually learning things about the bike which I am using to my advantage.”

Lewry rounded out the weekend in 6th outright, less than 50 seconds behind the eventual winner.

The team’s remaining members enjoyed another dominant weekend aboard their Yamaha WR range, with the four riders recording 7 from 8 round victories and building on their respective championship points campaigns.

Geoff Ballard was his usual dominant self, blitzing the Masters field and making it 4 from 4 round wins.

Australia’s fastest woman, Alison Parker was once again in a league of her own, with the gap back to her closest competition able to be measured in minutes, not seconds. The weekend results also cement her ranking at the top of the table with the four consecutive round wins giving her a perfect score thus far.

Josh Ballard pushed himself to the limit in Expert E2 and was rewarded for his hard work, taking weekend honours for rounds 3 and 4.

Jason Cater’s battle with Stuart Bennett in the Expert Veterans class continued, with Cater coming up trumps on Saturday but narrowly missing the win on Sunday.

Rounds 5 and 6 of the series will be contested in 3 weeks time at Ballarat in Victoria.