Kooweerup offroad star Jehi Willis revels in the tough conditions at Aberfeldy.By Marc McGowan
KOOWEERUP motorbike rider Jehi Willis continued to lead the Victorian OffRoad State Championship following the eighth round of the series, which took place at Aberfeldy near Mt Baw Baw at the weekend.
Willis finished third in the Aberfeldy leg, where he competed in seven special timetrials over 210 kilometres and secured enough points to maintain a comfortable lead in the championship.
“I did pretty well for finishing third, when I was on a 250 fourstroke and the guys who beat me were on 450 and over fourstrokes,” Willis said.
Willis’ KTM 250 EXCF was not suited to the conditions of the race, making his performance the more noteworthy. It is a lightweight model, which is much easier to manoeuvre around tightturning courses and is designed particularly for the bushbashing nature of the series.
Ahead of Willis on the podium were Matt Fish (KTM 525 EXC) and Blake Hall (Yamaha 450), first and second.
“Matt and Blake had the advantage of the bigger bikes and they really took charge on the straight sections, but I was still only two to three seconds off their times in the special tests, so the KTM 250 EXCF held up really well,” Willis said.
The toughness of the conditions were evident in Willis’ tyres.
“The track was really rocky at Aberfeldy, which was a little challenging, but thankfully the Dunlop’s held up really well,” he said. “After five hours of intense racing all the knobs on my tyres were worn, that’s just how rocky it was.”
His roundeight performance put him in the box seat to take the title he won last year.
“If I can finish in the top five for the remaining three rounds of the championship, the title will be mine so that’s what I’m aiming for,” Willis said.
He returns to racing this weekend for round nine of the series at Wedderburn, 214 kilometres northwest of Melbourne.
