AORC releases revised 2020 calendar.
With state restrictions easing and life returning to something close to normal, motorsport is starting to resume around the country and the latest national category to announce its return to racing is the Yamaha Australian Off Road Championship, presented by MXstore, which will be back in action from August.
As well as enduring the same sort of lockdowns as every other form of motorsport, the Australian Off Road Championship (AORC) lost a round earlier in the year that had nothing to do with COVID-19.
At Dungog back in mid-March, Round 3 of the AORC was held successfully on the opening day, but heavy rain through that day and overnight led to the following day’s competition, Round 4, being abandoned. As such, the AORC teams will have gone without racing for more than four months when competition finally resumes.
A new calendar for the championship was released by Motorcycling Australia (MA) on 18 June and it’s broadly similar to what was already in place. The four locations for the remaining eight rounds remain, but Nowra has been moved from its original calendar position. Previously scheduled to host rounds 5 and 6 on 18-19 April, Nowra will now host rounds 7 and 8 on 29-30 August.
Rounds 5 and 6 will now be in Murray Bridge, but on the same dates as when the SA town was scheduled to host rounds 7 and 8. Rounds 9 and 10 in Omeo and rounds 11 in 12 in Wynyard are unchanged from their original dates.
2020 Yamaha AORC presented by MXstore – revised calendar*
Round 5 & 6 01-02 Aug Murray Bridge, SA
Round 7 & 8 29-30 Aug Nowra, NSW
Round 9 & 10 19-20 Sep Omeo, VIC
Round 11 & 12 17-18 Oct Wynyard, TAS
*provisional, subject to changes in government restrictions
While state government directives may still impact this calendar, MA are confident the championship will go ahead unchanged, with appropriate safety and social distancing measures in place.
“We have a world class field of riders from our junior riders, right through to our senior men’s and women’s classes, who we know are eager to get back on track and continue the 2020 Yamaha Australian Off-Road Championship presented, by MXstore,” said MA Off-Road Events Manager, Matthew Falvo.
“Our Yamaha AORC, presented by MXstore, has produced world class racing this year and we know riders, teams and officials are eager for rounds five and six at Murray Bridge, South Australia.
“We thank everyone from our riders, officials and sponsors for their support and patience during the COVID-19 pandemic, and while there will be some restriction in place at events, we are very excited to get back on track.”
For updates and further details on the restarted 2020 AORC season go to: ttps://www.aorc.org.au
