WR450F mounted Stefan Merriman certainly didn’t have it all his own way though after his team-mate, Jarrod Bewley took over the lead of Saturdays round in the final moto special tests at Dungog showgrounds, late that afternoon. Merriman led early on after taking the outright wins in the first 5 special tests, but 2 bad starts in the stadium cross type races, was all it took for the hard charging WR450F mounted Jarrod Bewley to jump into the lead for day.
Although Stefan praised the whole event that was run by the Dungog club, it was the “fun, but hard to pass all in Pro motos, that had me a bit behind the leaders. I was hoping for a better 2nd race start, I tried to anticipate the gate and it all went wrong, and again I found myself at the back trying to push forward. Anyway it was a great event and I know there’s a bit of history in this area, and this club with them running one of the biggest enduro’s in the early days from around the mid 70’s; the ‘Forrest 300’. It was a good enduro out there in the bush and the tests where excellent. The final round and Sunday went better for me, and I was pleased to take that win.” ‘That win’ ended up giving Merriman his 3rd overall for each of the 2 Day series, and the overall NSW title.
Josh Ballard also rode this weekend finishing well, but just off the podium. He had 2 strong moto’s in the showgrounds running up front and even challenging Bewley for the lead on one occasion, plus also had fast times in all the grass track tests, which is definitely his strong point.
From here the whole Ballards Wellard Yamaha team will be on board for the final 2 rounds of the AORC series in Young NSW, 2 weekends from now. With the team leading outright in the Pro class (Merriman),the Juniors (Burrell) and the seniors ‘Masters’ (Ballard), plus other ‘in class’ hi-placings for all other team riders, it should be a very exciting final two rounds.
