By Jade Lawton
Daniel Milner is on the way up on the off-road motorbike circuit. 37075 Picture: Luke Plummer
YANNATHAN South teenager Daniel Milner has been crowned the 2009 Victorian Off-Road champion after the season finished at Noojee a fortnight ago.
Daniel won the Expert Outright Class, defeating a field of more than 100 by 25 points on his Yamaha YZ 450YZ and creating history by being the first expert class rider to win the number-one plate in 30 years.
But the 18-year-old’s victory was not all smooth sailing – Daniel was forced off his bike for five months in the 2008 season after he snapped his collarbone for the second time in less than a year.
He also takes on the gruelling cross-country events with the added challenge of managing his type 1 diabetes.
Daniel’s mother, Loris, said the condition added an extra element to the race.
“Cross-country proves the most challenging with his diabetes as his sugar levels can fluctuate over the three-hour period of solid racing,” she said.
Daniel, who works as an earthmover, has been involved in the Kooweerup and District Motorcycle Club for about seven years and started racing occasionally as a 10-year-old junior in the Victorian Off-Road Series on a Honda XR100.
“The next competition is an eight-hour enduro in Tasmania in November,” he said.
“It’s pretty demanding. It’s the toughest motorsport I reckon … I’ve been going to the gym, riding the pushbike, trying to keep fit.”
Last year Daniel gained the support of Christensens Motorcycles in Warragul and decided to retire from his football career with Lang Lang to concentrate on riding. He has applied to attend a 10-day camp for bike riders at the AIS in Canberra in December and said he would one day like to represent Australia in the International Six-Day Enduro events.
