Transmoto Issue 58 ISSUU

Series Support
When Dirt Bike Promotions
stepped down at the end of the
2009 season, after promoting
the AORC for five years, there
was genuine concern for the
future of the national series.
And to be honest, the notion that
the AORC could successfully
piggyback on a handful of
state rounds – overseen by a
caretaker series coordinator –
sounded a bit fanciful. But here
we are, seven seasons later,
and the Yamaha Australian
Off-Road Championship is
more robust than ever. Thanks
to the cooperation of MA’s
State Controlling Bodies and
their Enduro Committees, 12
rounds were staged across four
states in 2016. Commercially,
the AORC hasn’t lured private
promoters back into the fray,
but both Motorcycling Australia
and Yamaha have tipped enough
into the AORC’s coffers to
underwrite its future, during
which time Australia has evolved
from international mid-packers
to one of the enduro world’s
powerhouse nations. The AORC
has now spawned riders who’ve
gone on to win Enduro World
Championships and the Dakar
Rally, and the Holy Grail of
enduro: the ISDE.
And so it was very encouraging
to see MA ratchet up its
investment into the AORC
this year – by way of an MAappointed
series coordinator
and publicist, a rider liaison
to ensure consistency with
the courses, and RaceSafe
medical support. All of which
highlighted the fact that the
AORC’s series coordinator
up until 2016, Denise Hore,
juggled those roles herself on
a tighter budget. And for that,
the entire off-road fraternity
owes Denise a huge debt of
gratitude. Without MA, Yamaha,
Denise and her core group of
helpers, the opportunities that
Aussies riders are now enjoying
on the world stage would never
have materialised.
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