The first round of the Queensland Yamaha 2 Day Enduro Championships was held at the Fat Farmers Property near Warwick on the weekend. The property, or as it is also known “The Rock Farm”, is well known for its hard country and challenging tracks.

The tracks were not going to beat the junior riders who turned up to fight for the Queensland title. The event included 3 junior classes and had almost 40 junior entries with only 5 of the juniors not finishing the weekend.

The junior lites class was hotly contested, with the boys swapping positions throughout the weekend. At the end of racing it was Suzuki rider Guy Parkinson who took the crown. Recovering from a crash on Saturday morning, Parkinson managed to move himself up from third place to take the victory.

Parkinson was closely followed by Kawasaki rider Kasey Winston who managed to move himself up from fifth place on day 1. Third place was taken by Kaleb Treasure who showed a huge amount of consistency over the weekend. Honda rider Benny Nash finished in fourth place with Motocross rider Dylan Hickling, after incurring an unfortunate time penalty, making up the top 5.

The 85 class managed to push through and ride their little bikes over whatever the track decided to throw at them. At the end of the weekend, the victory went to young Yamaha rider Alex Papamanolis who was followed by Peter Allan and Jaiden Treasure. Jake Deegrenaars and Benjamin Korn came through to finish in fourth and fifth place completing the top 5.

For the first time, this year’s Championship includes a junior girl’s class and the girls really showed that were made of tough stuff. The five girls who started the race all finished the weekend while, in the senior classes, grown men were pulling out of the event.

The racing between these girls was close with the first place trophy being taken by young Codie Winston. Winston was closely followed by Kyogle rider Jaymi Connolly finishing in second and Taryn Cox who, even though endured a large crash on the Saturday, managed to finish the event in third place. Sarah Brook and Emily McNulty pushed through to finish their first 2 day making up the top 5.

The next round of the Queensland Yamaha 2 day will be held at Pioneer Valley near Mackay on the weekend of the 31st of July - 1st of August. For more information and results please visit www.qldenduro.com.

Junior Lites Standings after Rnd 1
1.    Guy Parkinson
2.    Kasey Winston
3.    Kaleb Treasure
4.    Benny Nash
5.    Dylan Hickling
6.    Kane Hall
7.    Michael McCormack
8.    Daniel Gordon
9.    Joshua Simpson
10.    Lachlan Vanderhor

Story & photo by: Leah Nash