The 2025 Australian Enduro Championship felt like a reset and a reckoning. A reset because the series’ new Pro Enduro Outright table finally aligned the show with EnduroGP-style storytelling–every class on the same page, all day, every round. A reckoning because, once the dust settled at Gympie, Daniel Milner stood alone as Australia’s most successful domestic off-road racer with a sixth Outright crown, and KTM DM31 had completed the kind of clean-sweep you frame on the workshop wall: E1, E2 and E3 all theirs. The orange squad didn’t just win; they shaped the year’s rhythm–Milner setting the tempo, Jonte Reynders turning a battered early-season body into a relentless E1 title charge, and Korey McMahon powering a 500 to an emphatic E3 championship.

But the season was never a procession. Wil Ruprecht’s return lit a fire under everyone. He opened by trading sprint wins with Milner at Kempsey, then roared back to dominance at Rawson and Kyogle, and closed the book with a double at Gympie. His late run was “too little, too late” on points, but never in intent; the WR450F made daylight when conditions suited, and the E2 duel went from simmer to boil every time they rolled into parc fermé. That push-pull at the front forced consistency to be king–one off day in sand or dust could cost a title, and nearly did.

This was also the year of breakthrough moments. Beta’s Jye Dickson landed the brand’s first Pro Enduro Outright round win at Tintinara, then backed it with podium speed through the sand and sprint carnage of Casterton and Kyogle. Yamaha’s next wave showed its teeth–E1 podiums piling up for Jett Yarnold, while Will Dennett hardened into a constant top-five threat. And in the women’s ranks, the class war between Jess Gardiner and Madi Simpson produced some of the tightest timesheets of the tour, with Junior guns like Lorna Lock reminding everyone the pipeline is healthy.

By the time the circus reached Gympie, the storylines converged: Milner nursing ISDE fatigue but executing the points game, Ruprecht unstoppable on the day, Reynders sealing a first national title, and McMahon converting speed into silverware. It all added up to a season with real texture–new format, old rivalries renewed, fresh faces breaking through–and a stack of moments that didn’t just decide championships, they defined what Aussie enduro looks like right now.

Milner plants the flag at Kempsey

The season opener answered the only question that mattered: would Daniel Milner still be the benchmark under the new Pro Enduro Outright format? After Wil Ruprecht nicked Round 1, Milner steadied and won Round 2 outright and E2, then left Kempsey with both red plates. It wasn’t just a result; it was tone-setting. Milner’s Sunday win – by riding smooth, banking clean sprints, and minimising risks–telegraphed how he’d play the long game all year. Meanwhile, new KTM DM31 teammates Jonte Reynders (E1) and Korey McMahon (E3) delivered double class wins, instantly turning the championship into a three-pronged orange campaign.

Rawson’s split decision

Rawson gave us the first full-blooded chapter of the Milner-Ruprecht rivalry and the reminder that formats matter. In Saturday’s Cross Country, Ruprecht stalled off the start, then carved through the pack to beat Milner by 38 seconds – an emphatic statement about pace and racecraft in traffic. On Sunday’s Sprints, Milner flipped the script, won outright, and took E2 while Reynders topped E1 again and snatched P2 outright with a late test scorcher. The takeaway: conditions and format would swing day-to-day momentum, and KTM’s depth (1-2-3 across the final three tests) was a weapon in itself.

Tintinara turns Beta red

Round 6 will live in Beta folklore: Jye Dickson delivered the brand’s first Pro Enduro Outright round win, backed by five of six test victories on Sunday’s deep-sand Sprints. On Saturday’s brutal Cross Country, Milner had already asserted control and banked maximum points, but Dickson’s Sunday masterclass proved the RR 480 RACE could set the outright pace, not just E3 class speed. Andy Wilksch chimed in with podiums and kept E2 pressure honest. The point swing didn’t topple Milner’s lead, but it broadened the threat matrix – orange vs. blue vs. red, all with winning speed depending on surface.

The penalty that almost bit (Tintinara Sunday)

It wasn’t a headline win, but it was a championship-defining wobble. Reynders copped a five-minute penalty after an off-track excursion during Sunday’s Sprints and dropped out of E1 contention for the day. The damage control from there was clinical: he didn’t let it spiral into a points haemorrhage. With E1 ultimately decided in his favour by a comfortable margin, this moment still matters because it showed how fragile momentum can be under a format that punishes errors, and how Reynders’ composure under pressure would become a season-long theme.

Casterton’s sand exam

The black-sand weekend asked who’d adapt fastest as the tracks broke apart. Dickson again looked like a revelation – P2 in Pro Enduro on Sunday and multiple test wins – while Wilksch stayed in the E2 podium fight and Milner kept doing Milner things: scoring heavy where it counted, never bleeding too much on an off-hour. The meta-lesson from Casterton was about the new Pro Enduro table: every lap in every test is now meaningful across classes, and “class win” without “outright relevance” doesn’t cut it anymore.

Kyogle lights the fuse

With desert distractions done and ISDE fatigue in the rear-view, Kyogle became the late-season accelerator. Ruprecht went 1-1 outright and E2, Reynders doubled E1 and stood P2 outright both days, McMahon swept E3 and grabbed a Sunday Pro Enduro podium, and Milner gritted out what he called a “rough weekend” yet kept the points advantage intact. It was the championship’s pressure cooker: Wil found form that looked unbeatable on the day; DM31’s class control held; and the maths said Gympie would be a knife fight between Wil’s sprint speed and Milner’s season-long bank balance.

Reynders’ first national title – earned the hard way

Zoom out from individual rounds and Jonte’s year becomes one of the championship’s defining arcs. He started Kempsey two weeks post-op with plates and screws in his foot, later nursed a thumb injury from Hattah, still dominated E1 when it mattered, and – crucially – added outright relevance with P2 Pro Enduro performances at Rawson and Kyogle. He sealed the E1 championship on the Saturday at Gympie, then won again Sunday for emphasis. After back-to-back seasons of runner-up frustration, his 2025 title wasn’t just overdue; it was emphatic proof he belongs in every outright conversation.

McMahon’s 500-powered breakthrough

Korey McMahon’s season is the blueprint for a big-bore done right. Early on, he used the KTM 500 EXC-F’s torque to control E3, snagging Pro Enduro podiums along the way. In the middle third, he rode through a knee scare and still stacked class wins. At Gympie he was sublime: winning both E3 rounds and taking P2 outright on Sunday – just six seconds shy of the overall. It was his first senior class title and his first Pro Enduro outright podium weekend. More than a trophy, it’s validation that he can carry E3 pace into outright win territory in 2026.

Gympie: the coronation – and the cautionary tale

Gympie wrapped the storylines with cinematic symmetry. Ruprecht crushed both days outright and E2, proving his late-season level was title-winning pace – just not for long enough. Milner, nursing ISDE hangover and playing percentages, did exactly enough: P2 Saturday, P3 Sunday, locking the Pro Enduro Outright and E2 championships and etching his sixth Outright crown to pass Toby Price on the all-time domestic list. Reynders sealed E1, McMahon sealed E3, and KTM DM31 executed the clean-sweep. The cautionary note? Wil’s form says 2026 could swing blue if he stitches the middle rounds together.

The women and juniors kept the throttle down

While the outright circus grabbed the spotlight, the EW and junior classes delivered season-defining performances that matter to the sport’s health. Jess Gardiner fended off an impressive first senior year from Madi Simpson – often by seconds, not minutes – making every sprint count and raising the division’s bar. In the junior ranks, Lorna Lock’s dominance, Marcus Nowland’s clutch rides under pressure, and Harley Hutton’s breakout J3 win on the YZ125 at Kyogle marked the next wave arriving at speed.

Why these moments mattered

Taken together, these inflection points explain the ladder of 2025. The new Pro Enduro Outright table forced teams to chase outright pace every weekend; Kempsey and Rawson proved Milner’s bank-first strategy still wins seasons; Tintinara and Kyogle showed how quickly one rider’s form swing (Dickson, then Ruprecht) can tilt the narrative; Gympie sealed a historic KTM sweep while warning that the outright speed order is anything but settled.

Overlay Reynders’ first title and McMahon’s graduation into an outright threat, plus genuine knife-edge battles in EW and juniors, and you’ve got a championship that didn’t just crown winners – it set the stakes for an even bigger fight in 2026.

Stats That Defined a Season

6 – Outright Titles for Daniel Milner
Milner’s sixth crown makes him the most successful domestic off-road racer in Australian history, surpassing Toby Price’s record of five.

3 – KTM DM31 Class Titles
KTM DM31 Racing Team pulled off the rare clean-sweep:

  • E1: Jonte Reynders (KTM 250 XC-F)
  • E2: Daniel Milner (KTM 450 XC-F)
  • E3: Korey McMahon (KTM 500 EXC-F)

4 – Outright Wins for Wil Ruprecht
The returning world champion on the ShopYamaha WR450F dominated the back half of the season, winning four of the final six rounds and finishing runner-up overall.

1 – Beta’s Historic Outright Win
Jye Dickson delivered Beta’s first-ever Pro Enduro Outright victory at Tintinara aboard the RR 480 RACE, marking a milestone for the Italian brand in Australia.

90% – Milner’s Podium Rate

Across 12 rounds, Milner finished on the outright podium in 10 of them – a consistency unmatched across the field.

3 – Women’s & Junior Titles for Yamaha
Jess Gardiner (EW), Marcus Nowland (J4), and Lorna Lock (JG) all flew the bLU cRU flag to national titles, continuing Yamaha’s dominance in the development classes.

1,000+ km of Tests
Riders completed more than a thousand competitive kilometres across the season – ranging from sprint loops under five minutes to three-hour cross-country marathons.

2 Seconds
The slimmest class-winning margin of the year – Jye Dickson’s two-second heartbreak at Kyogle – proof that the new Pro Enduro format leaves no room for errors.