H2H Endurocross: Chris Hollis

The first-ever Australian Motorcycle Finance Head2Head Endurocross presented by Yamaha is set to take place alongside the Melbourne MOTO EXPO this weekend, November 29-30. We spoke to the reigning Australian Enduro-X Nationals champion, CDR Yamaha’s Chris Hollis, to get his take on the event, the bike he’ll be competing aboard and who he thinks his closest competition is going to be… 

How has 2014 been treating you, Chris? You claimed the Australian Enduro-X Nationals title earlier in the year, and you did pretty well at this year’s Australian 4-Day Enduro and Australian Off Road Championship.

Yeah, this year’s season started really well for me. Winning the Enduro-X was a pretty big deal, as it was the first time that it has been ran as a three-round series, so it was cool to come out on top after that one. Racing a YZ250F on those tracks was perfect. Everything was tight and technical and you never really needed a lot of top-end speed, so choosing to race a 250cc machine over a 450 paid off. In regards to the A4DE and AORC, I’m reasonably happy with how I went. I had a bit of bad luck when it came to the AORC, though. I was leading after the first two rounds, but at the third and fourth rounds I had clutch problems and a crash, and although I wasn’t put completely out of contention, I was a long way back in the standings. At the 4-Day, I was also leading after the first day, but the tracks got rougher and the other boys picked up the pace a bit and I dropped back to third. Third’s nothing to complain about, though, when you’re chasing Daniel Milner and Toby Price (laughs). I’m happy enough with how I raced, but I’m looking forward to racing aboard a YZ450F next year and seeing how I go with that.

While the top Aussie off-road racers were training for the International Six Days Enduro when the AORC came to an end, you began training to win yourself the inaugural Head2Head Endurocross title, right?!

Ha (laughs)! Yeah, mate. I’ll be racing the all-new WR250F at the first-ever Head2Head Endurocross event this weekend and I can’t wait. I attended the official media launch of the bike up at Coffs Harbour last week, and spending four days trail riding around on that thing was excellent. I got a lot of riding in and a lot of training in, and I’m feeling good heading into this weekend’s event. I’m keen to see how the WR250F handles at Melbourne’s MOTO EXPO.

Is the WR250F just a YZ250F with a headlight and 18-inch rear wheel?

The bikes do feel very similar, but the WR250F does have its own unique characteristics. The electric start and battery are good, and the engines are pretty similar. It has a six-speed transmission instead of a five-speed, though. The suspension is a little bit different, but it’s quite good for a standard bike. The handling is what blew me away the most. I was able to hit whatever I wanted to out in the bush the other day and it never bottomed out, which was pretty impressive. The thing’s good, man.

Looking at the Head2Head Endurocross, who do you think is going to be your closest competition?

My teammate, Tom McCormack, is going to be on the same bike as me, and he’ll be running the same set-up I won the Australian Enduro-X Nationals with earlier this year, so he’s got a pretty good step-up in terms of bike preparation, being with CDR now. I definitely think he’ll be up there. Daniel “Chucky” Sanders and Peter Boyle will both do really well, too, I reckon. Boyle’s always knocking on the door at these kind of events. I’ve heard that the track builders, David and Colin Robbins (who run the Australian Enduro-X Nationals), are going to add some really unique bits and pieces to the course, too, which should make the racing really interesting.

You’re racing the second annual Baylistic Scramble down there, as well.

Yeah, that’s going to be heaps of fun. I’ve done dirt track racing once before (at the Troy Bayliss Classic) and that was awesome, so this, in teams of four, should be really good. I haven’t had the chance to practice at all, either. I’m just going to whack a 19-inch trials tyre on my bike and see what happens! I think it will take the edge off the whole event for me. It’ll be good hanging out with my mates in Melbourne and riding without any real pressure.

What’s your take on these events being held alongside the MOTO EXPO?

It’s going to be awesome for all the dirt bikers and non-dirt bikers. It’s exciting for me, because Yamaha will be launching their all-new WR250F there and I’ll be the first one that gets to officially race it. I’ll get one little test session in before the event just to run the bike in and make sure there are no issues, but out of the box the thing was awesome.

Are you using the Head2Head Endurocross to prepare for the 2015 Enduro-X season?

Obviously, Im going to Melbourne to race and win, but it’s going to be a good platform to test the new bikes ahead of the Enduro-X Nats next year. Really, we’re just taking the set-up that we used on the YZs this year and adapting it to the WR, but it will be good to get that little bit more development in. Practice on Friday should be fun, and racing on Saturday and Sunday should be even better.

Thanks for the chat, Chris.

Cheers, mate.