After a whirlwind trip to the US to contest a round of the GNCC championship, Danielle McDonald had barely got her body clock back in check before rolling up for rounds five and six of the Australian Off-Road Championship last weekend.
Not only that, she went from deep mud and slippery clay-based terrain to drought desert sand and powder but it mattered little as McDonald had her most successful AORC weekend to date winning on both days and moving to the championship lead in the Women’s class.
McDonald, who enjoys riding the soft terrain, had a weekend to remember and posted her first doubleheader victory over teammate and team owner, Jess Gardiner. McDonald was instantly comfortable and set the tone right from the moment she hit the time clock to win the majority of laps in the Sprint format and take victory in both rounds. “I had an awesome weekend at Edenhope and winning both days will be something to remember,” McDonald begins. “I know this isn’t Jess’ favourite kind of riding and she much prefers harder dirt, so I made the most of it and took the wins when I could. “The results on the weekend also took me to the top of the points in the EW class which is cool but we are only halfway there and so much racing still to come. “Thank you to Jess, Jeremy and the team for all their support, as well as my family for their devotion to my racing,” McDonald ends.
Jess Gardiner endured one of her most challenging weekend in some time as crashes, a rear brake issue and generally fighting the conditions saw her trying to salvage what she could from the weekend. She finished the weekend with 2-3 results but continued to fight all the way to the finish knowing that every point matters in the championship chase wither her teammate, Danielle McDonald. “I have never been great in sandy-style tracks or courses and I struggled again this weekend,” Gardiner laments. “My pace was off at the start, I improved a little as the weekend went on and then I had a rear brake issue before big crash really set me back.
“It wasn’t my best weekend but I will keep working hard and know I will bounce back at the next round as I want to keep pushing Danielle so we can both improve as the years goes on,” she said.
