AORC INSIGHTS: KTM’s GLENN KEARNEY

Glenn Kearney has been at the pointy end of enduro racing – in America, Europe and Australia – for the best part of two decades, and earned a reputation as a down-to-earth straight shooter. And nothing has changed now the “GK” presides over the KTM Enduro Racing Team here in Australia.
So, in the lead-up to this weekend’s Round 9 and 10 of the Yamaha Australian Off-Road Championship (AORC) in northern NSW, Motorcycling Australia’s Tristen Spragg filed this insight into Kearney’s take on the 2017 AORC and how he hopes the season will play out…

Glenn Kearney is a multiple AORC and Australian 4-Day Enduro (A4DE) Champion who stepped into the shoes vacated by Ben Grabham to take control of KTM Australia’s highly successful off-road racing squad earlier this year – a squad that incorporates both enduro racing and desert racing teams. Kearney officially retired from professional off-road racing at the conclusion of the 2016 A4DE, deciding instead to devote all of his energies to the role of the management in 2017. His shift towards a full-time management role has reaped plenty of success so far, so I sat down with the man to get his take on the remaining rounds of the national championship…

“We’re very pleased with how the year’s turned out so far,” begins Kearney. “Obviously Daniel Milner is doing the job for us in the E2 class and Lyndon Snodgrass is excelling in E3 with a tight championship fight with Lachy Stanford (Husqvarna Enduro Team). To be leading the E2 class and tied on points in E3 is a significant achievement.
“Milner has had a phenomenal season so far. KTM always had high expectations of him, and we hired him for a reason. With our strong bike and team around him, we always believed it would be a potent combination. In terms of his performance, you couldn’t really ask for much more. The team would love to achieve a clean sweep of the entire season with Milner, but you never know what can happen in racing. We’ll prepare as best as we can and hopefully he can remain fit and fast for the remainder of the season.”

Kearney has similarly lofty expectations for Lyndon Snodgrass, who also signed on to the KTM team this season. “I’m predicting an absolute fight to the wire between Snodgrass and Lachy Stanford,” admits Kearney. “The last couple of rounds – at Renmark in South Oz and Miva in Queensland – have probably been suited more towards Snodgrass, as he has a preference for sandy and muddy tracks. But this weekend will be a real test for him as he’s heading into Stanford’s backyard in Kyogle. It will be a challenge for Snodgrass, but if he can get the job done this weekend, he will be in an excellent position.”

And how does GK reflect on his first year in the role as Team Manager? “It’s a full-time job for the entire team in terms of preparation for AORC rounds,” Kearney concedes. “We’ve just come off two major events, in the Finke Desert Race and Hattah as well. We have race bikes that are dedicated solely for AORC events, and those are prepped as soon as the previous racing weekend is finished. After a racing weekend, all the bikes are brought back to our headquarters in Sydney to be cleaned up and prepped for the following round. Then, in the weeks leading up to a race, we change several of the parts and conduct race preparation. We always need to make time for testing as well. We are forever sending parts to the boys back home so they can try out new parts and settings on their machines. It’s all about constant improvement and evolving the package. We’ve had four or five tests this year already, so it’s a very important aspect of the racing year.

“The KTM Enduro Team has two full-time mechanics and I manage the team full-time as well,” Kearney goes on to say. “But we also have plenty of personnel that come just for the race weekend. The team operates out of the new head office in Sydney, which we moved into four months ago. The full-time mechanics are constantly tinkering away in the race shop, which is also located there. KTM is absolutely behind the AORC racing program.”

Looking to this weekend’s Rounds 9 and 10 in Kyogle, what does Kearney expect? “The Kyogle rounds take place on private property, so we are not required to follow ADR regulations that include headlights, mirrors, etcetera,” explains Kearney. “Changes to the bikes are mainly about personal set-up for the riders as we move towards more hard-packed terrain, which is much different from the sand of Renmark. It’s important that we’re able to tune the bikes as the conditions and terrain changes, so it’s great that there’s a huge range of compounds available in the Dunlop tyres we use. At Renmark, we ran tyres built specifically for sandy conditions. But at Kyogle, we’ll take a wide selection of tyres to choose from, and we’ll have compounds designed to perform on grasstrack terrain. The boys can walk the track ahead of the race, so they’ll get a fair idea of which tyre will work best,” Kearney concluded.

To stay up-to-date with all the happenings of the 2017 Yamaha Australian Off-Road Championship, check out the AORC’s website, or follow the AORC on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram @aorc.
The final two rounds of 2017 Yamaha AORC take place in Omeo, Victoria, in two weeks’ time
(on August 5-6).

Check out this slick promo edit that previews this weekend’s AORC racing at Kyogle below…

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