AORC: Round 7 Pony Express Explained

In an exciting addition to Round 7 of the Yamaha Australian Off-Road Championship (AORC) at Broken Hill, New South Wales the round will include a new class, Pony Express. The exciting new format will run alongside usual AORC Championship classes and offers riders an opportunity not seen at AORC before, the chance to team up with a friend and ride for team victory.

As the Broken Hill, NSW round is a Cross-Country, riders involved in Pony Express will complete alternate laps of the 38km loop throughout the four-hour race. The start of the race is exactly the same as usual with the first rider of the team to line up in their row and take off once the ATV has passed.

You might be thinking; how do you make the change between riders? Well, there are a few different ways this can happen. The first way would be if you are sharing the same bike, the rider will come into the pit area and make the change at their pit. The other way you can make the change is by passing your transponder to your teammate if you are riding separate bikes, this is your baton, once the transponder is secure your teammate is free to re-enter the track

Now there are no capacity classes in Pony Express meaning riders can ride any capacity bike of their choice and their teammate can also be on a different capacity machine. This offers great options for the race with so many different combinations available to riders. The winner will be the rider who crosses the line first after the four hours, but if the field doesn’t make the four hours it will be the team who completed the most laps of the loop in the shortest time.

Is this a once off in AORC? Not at all the Pony Express class will be back at Omeo, Victoria for rounds 10 and 11. The difference when the class returns in Omeo will be that the format is different on Sunday, with the field completing Sprints. In the sprint format riders’ times will be put together from each sprint to determine the winner.