2019 AORC: Outright Update, After Rd 9

As outlined in yesterday’s AORC Form Guide, Daniel Milner, Luke Styke and Kyron Bacon are all holding commanding leads in their classes (E2, E1 and EJ, respectively) as we head into this weekend’s final two round of the 2019 Yamaha Australian Off-Road Championship (AORC). And Daniel Sanders has already wrapped up the E3-class title. So you’d think the PR focus for this weekend’s AORC racing action would shift to the battle for Outright supremacy, right? Nope. No chance. PR opportunity lost yet again, it seems, as the AORC’s organising committee continues to actively withhold information about the series’ Outright points and standings.

So, let’s take a look at the (unofficial) Outright standings (which we collate manually after each round ourselves) as we head into this weekend’s final two rounds of the 2019 AORC – Saturday’s Cross-Country and Sunday’s Sprint. As the accompanying 2019 AORC Outright table demonstrates, Husqvarna’s Daniel Sanders is poised to claim his second AORC Outright title. Sure, he may only have a nine-point advantage over KTM’s Daniel Milner, but with the two Daniels locking out first and second Outright at all nine rounds thus far this year (a differential of just three points per round), Milner will be depending on another rider(s) getting between him and Sanders if he’s to claw back that margin and win his fourth AORC Outright (and class) crown. Interestingly, Active8 Yamaha teammates – the injury-affected Josh Green and ever-improving Luke Styke – are only separated by 3 points in the battle for the final podium position for the coveted AORC Outright, but don’t expect any team orders to come into play there. Behind that top four, Lyndon Snodgrass, Fraser Higlett, Michael Driscoll, Beau Ralston, Jeremy Carpentier and Andrew Wilksch look like they’ll squabble for the remaining top-10 Outright positions. Mention should also be made of the 17-year-old Tasmanian and Matt Phillips protégé, Kyron Bacon, who sits in a very impressive 12^th position Outright. This is spite of the fact Bacon was ineligible to score Outright points at the two Dungog rounds because EJ-class riders raced a different track at that Round 3-4 venue.