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Thousands of spectators today witnessed 23-year-old Chris Hollis beat two of the world's fastest off-road racers and Australia's best to take the outright win at the 2008 Hog's Breath Cafe Australian Four Day Enduro at Warragul, Victoria.
Hollis, of the Ballard's Yamaha Off-Road Team, lead the prestigious event from Day 1 and ended up beating Husqvarna Racing's Flying Frenchman Antoine Meo by 32-seconds and Honda's Anthony Roberts by 44-seconds and after four grueling days.
I am really stoked, winning the four day is a huge honor and I am also proud to have won it for Australia - the last two years it has been won by overseas riders,Hollis said.
I am a little bit disappointed with [today's final motocross], I got stuffed up on the start when [Ben Grabham] took out the gate and it nearly hit me, AJ got the hole shot and I finished a few back, I would have liked to have won it.
But a win's a win... I have pretty much dominated this season, I won the first two rounds of the Yamaha Australian Off-Road Championships and now the four day so I am pretty happy with how things are going.
Hollis, from Port Macquarie (NSW), is the second Ballard's rider to win the A4DE in the last four years.
Glenn Kearney won the Warragul A4DE in 2004 and not long after landed a lucrative deal to race in America - Kearney, who now rides for BMW, used the A4DE win as a 'selling point' on his resume.
I am undecided [whether I will go overseas to race]. I love Australia and the competition is so good here... sponsorship is also better since Kearney was racing here,Hollis said.
I would like to do a few World Enduro Championships, I think I am going to do a few this year. And I would also like to do an [American Grand National Cross Country].
I have travelled a lot, though, and I know that Australia is the best country in the world... I'm just going to see what happens.
AJ Roberts showed impressive form in today's final motocross, holding off five-time Motocross World Champion, BMW's Joel Smets, who was pushing hard to get in front. Roberts said the only thing going through his mind before the gate dropped was don't crash, don't crash.
I wasn’t trying to aim for Hollis, I wasn’t paying too much attention to catching him because for him to lose would have been his mistake because he had about a minute lead going in to it,Roberts said.
I also had the Meo issue on my mind, I knew he was only a few seconds behind me in the outright standings coming into the final moto. He had raced before me and had got the holeshot and checked out, so I knew I had to do the same.
It was also so good having Smetsy pushing me the whole time, he just pushed and pushed and pushed... I felt good and had gotten pumped up before the race, it was really good.’’
Roberts said is was “cool racing Smets (Smets finished the Motorex Championship Class 4 final moto in second and the event in sixth outright) because he “is such a nice guy’.
I know he isn’t near being in prime shape, he retired from full-time racing a few years ago, if he was I know I wouldn’t have had a chance,Roberts said. He is the one that should get the most credit for even wanting to race against us.
Both international stars of this year’s event (Smets from Belgium and Meo from France) were already making plans to come back next year.
I would be keen to come back and we are making plans, Smets said. “It is hard for me, though, I am away from home rather often and with two kids its not always easy.”
BMW is going to have a team for next years A4DE... because they won’t be racing full-time in Australia next year, the team will probably be made up of European riders, and I would love to be on it.
Smets thrilled the crowd not only with his amazing display of ability throughout the event and in the final motocross, but with his showmanship, doing stand-up wheelies and waving to the fans.
I am happiest when there is interaction with the crowd, that is one of the best things about enduro as opposed to other forms of, possibly more popular, motorcycle sport. You can get close to the spectators and really make sure they are having fun”,Smets said.
I don’t think we should sell our souls for the sake of money, I wouldn’t have accepted this job if I didn’t think I would love it.
Smets said events such as the four day were “like heaven” because “you get to do what you love for four whole days.
Meo, who is a serious contender in the World Enduro Championships in Europe, was equally as impressed with the event and said he would be returning next year, but to win.
“This year I come for fun, and I had a lot of fun,”Meo said.”Next year, I ride a 250 four stroke or 450 and I win.”
Next year’s A4DE will be held at Orange, NSW.
Provisional 2008 Hog's Breath Cafe Australian Four Day Enduro results
Outright top-10
1. Chris Hollis (Yamaha).
2. Antoine Meo (Husqvarna)
3. AJ Roberts (Honda)
4. Blake Hore (Yamaha)
5. Peter Boyle (Honda)
6. Joel Smets (BMW)
7. Kirk Hutton (Yamaha)
8. Jarrod Bewley (Yamaha)
9. Ben Grabham (Honda)
10. Damian Smith (Kawasaki)
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