It was an action packed weekend that kicked off Saturday at Round One of the AORC (Australian Off Road Championships) in sunny Queensland.
BCP Honda Off-Road Team rider Kyron Bacon made his debut in the 250cc Junior category (J4 class) and turned a lot of heads on day one by winning the first three tests against a star studded field. The Tasmanian gun ended up 2nd place overall just 12 seconds off the lead once Round One had come to a completion behind eventual winner Korey McMahon.
Bacon backed it up again on day two with another impressive second place overall, consolidating his place up near the top of the championship tally with two rounds in the books.
“I’m really happy with the start of our AORC campaign,” said Bacon.
“Being my rookie year on the 250 and with some big guns already established in this class I was just hoping to be up near the podium somewhere. So to be up there battling for the win felt really good. I kind of had a feeling with how good I felt on the bike in recent weeks that we may be able to throw ourselves right up there in the mix but you never know until you get that first race out of the way.”
Bacon’s team-mate Baylee Davies performed very well on his CRF250R in one of the toughest classes in the paddock the E1 category. The current Tasmanian Off Road Champion rode the wheels off his Honda to finish just outside of the top 5 each day, posting a 6th in class on both days.
“I was really happy with my bike and I felt really good out there,” said Baylee.
“I need to find about 5 seconds to be up there battling for podiums against the likes of Styke and Simpson so I’ll go away and keep doing the work that needs to be done.”
South of the border in NSW it was the current National Junior Champion Dante Hyam who put his BCP Pro Circuit Honda Junior Development team bike up on the top step of the podium at the Nowra ‘King of MX’ qualifier event.
“It’s great to get our first win under our belt on the new 2018 Honda CRF250R and I really felt comfortable out there today,” said Hyam.
“We are only a few weeks away from our Championship events getting underway and I just can’t wait to get into it.”
It has been a solid start to the season for both the off road and MX BCP Honda riders.
“I’m really impressed with how everything is travelling at the moment,” said Team Manager Lee Hogan.
“Kyron really blew me away with how we went up in Queensland this weekend gone in what was his first proper race on a 250. It’s great to see Dante get his first win on the Honda, and Baylee always impresses me up against the factory boys. We’re in a good position to have a solid year.”