World title for Daniel Milner
Daniel Milner has broken through for his first International Six Day Enduro world champion title in his eighth attempt at the event.
With the event hosted by Chile in the sunny city of Vina Del Mar, Milner formed part of the successful Australian team to claim the world title ahead of the USA while also taking an individual world title.
While Milner had won a World Title with the Australian team in 2015 in a tight finish, this year’s event saw him claim his first individual prize in an Australian team that was clearly faster than the opposition.
After a gruelling five days in punishing heat and dust and travelling more than 200km a day, the event finished with a short and fast Motocross circuit race.
With the aim of the day to remain mistake free while recording fast times, the Australian team continued to produce world class riding to remain ahead of rivals USA by more than seven minutes.
Milner also maintained his two-minute advantage to be crowned E3 world champion, recording the fastest time on day six of 13:18.84.
“It’s one of the races I’ve always wanted to win, and this was my eighth time representing Australia at the ISDE,” Milner said.
“I was stoked to go over there and win with the team, and individually as well.”
Milner said the team was challenged from the outset, having been seeded behind the E1 and E2 riders.
“Day one was tough,” he said.
“We had to pass a lot of guys, which was hard to do with a lot of dust.
“Once we made it to the lead, we got stronger and stronger.
“Our main goal for day five was to maintain it, make minimal mistakes, get through clean and on the final day also get through clean.”
Joining Milner to obtain the ultimate success for Australia were Daniel Sanders, who recorded the second fastest time on day six and finished second overall behind Milner, Josh Strang and Lyndon Snodgrass.
It was a remarkable feat, given Snodgrass was forced to retire after the second day from a mechanical malfunction.
Trailing behind the United States were Italy, France and Spain, with the Spaniards finishing just over 21 minutes behind the Australians.
Having returned to Australia last week, there was no rest for the newly crowned world champion as he launched into testing in Batemans Bay.
A brief period of down time over Christmas and New Year will see Milner launch back into training for next season, which will begin in March.
Milner said he would target the same events next season, while also trying his hand at Motocross for the first time.
“I’ll have a go at the Australian Motocross,” he said.
“I’m normally just an off-road guy, so it will be nice to try something different.
“I’ll target the Australian off-roads, try to go for the six-day enduro next year and hopefully get some good results.”