Results from the opening round of the new Australian Enduro Championship in Kempsey where Wil Ruprecht returned to the series with a win on day one and reigning champ Daniel Milner grabbing day two.

Gone is AORC to come in line with world enduro categories and formats but the terrain was pretty familiar from wide open, grassy loam paddocks, boggy swamp-like conditions to hard, baked Aussie bull dust Kempsey challenged even the best in the business.

Temperatures topped out at 34 degrees to and ensured the battle of stamina raged all day long across a 50km course.

New look championship and a new look to the entry list with the return of Wil Ruprecht and many riders in new teams facing this opening weekend of Sprint Enduro.

Pro Enduro kicks-off

New look and new scratch category at last as the Aussie series rewards the outright classification in Pro Enduro class.

It was a solid debut in the Yamaha team for Ruprecht who showed the way overall with very consistent times on a course that offered plenty of chances for mistakes. Over the five tests there was only 15 second variance in his times. 

Unofficial outright champ last year, Daniel Milner, was extremely consistent too, just over 10 seconds variance in his times across the day kept the pressure on until the final turn.

Behind them Will Dennet and Andrew Wilksch went toe to toe in third and fourth, each grabbing the upper hand through various tests on the day ahead of Jeremy Carpentier fifth scratch.

Milner returns the blow as the battle intensifies

With a new sprint enduro test for day two, the slate was wiped clean but it was bigger bikes which dominated the times for the overall with E2 and E3 bikes occupying eight of the top 10 places.

Ruprecht aboard the Shop Yamaha offroad team WR450F topped the leaderboard by a 1.6 seconds over Milner on his KTM DM31 racing 450 EXC-F after the first test.

Milner chipped away at the times, turning it into a lead of 0.38 seconds going into the 5th and final test. William Dennet aboard his Shop Yamaha offroad team was flying, staging his own battle with Andrew Wilksch once again picking up two tests each going into the final.

At the close, Milner held strongest with a time 3.1 seconds quicker and securing his first victory for 2025 with Ruprecht second and a massive ride from Will Dennett to take third ahead of Andy Wilksch with Korey McMahon completing the top five.

Day 1 results (top 15):

Day 2 results (top 15):

The next AEC weekend is in Traralgron on April 5-6. More information and full results: www.ausenduro.com.au

Photo Credit: Troy Pears + Yamaha Australia | Foremost Media