The Australian MX Nationals recently got underway and ONE riders are off to a great start after the first round of racing. Here is a report from our friends down under.
After the Lites and Under 19's classes ran in perfect sunshine the heavens unleashed for the four back to back Pro Open motos and turning the class event into a lottery at times.
Moto one of the Pro Open class saw Billy Mackenzie take the win but not after JDR Motorex KTM's Ryan Marmont made a huge charger through the filed and almost caught the Monster Energy Kawasaki Racing Team rider on the line. Mackenzie ended up winning by just over 2 seconds. There were some dramas with the favourites with pole position winner Josh Coppins crashing in the first lap and having his fuel cap ripped off, The CDR Rockstar Yamaha rallied to finish 12th. Second fastest qualifier Cody Cooper also came unstuck, or rather stuck, on a steep hill and lost a lot of time before also fighting his way back to 7th. Dean Ferris, Lawson Bopping, Michael Phillips and defending champion Jay Marmont all battled through the atrocious conditions to finish in the top ten.
Moto two saw the conditions worsen, if that was possible, with the rain getting heavier and heavier. Pro Lites graduate Lawson Bopping took it to the his more experienced counterparts in his Open class debut and streaked away from the field to record a 12 second win in what was an impressive display of balls out mud riding. Mackenzie remained consistent with second while Coppins fared better with third. Cheyne Boyd, Daniel Reardon and Ryan Marmont all posted good points on the board as they competed the top six.
With conditions getting worse, the 8 lap races where dropped to 6 as the field readied for the third moto. Rockstar Motul Suzuki's Cody Cooper was the man to get it all together this moto as the Kiwi revealed in the conditions. Cooper went on to record a 6 second win ahead of the very impressive Lawson Bopping who had his Raceline Pirelli Suzuki RMZ450 singing. Mackenzie and Boyd kept their hopes alive with 3rd and 4th with Mackenzie sowing the seeds of a round win. Dean Ferris finished 5th and had speed all day, but for a few mistakes he may very well have been closer to his Monster Energy Kawasaki Racing team-mate Mackenzie in the points. Whilst others where having a very inconsistent day Josh Coppins and Ryan Marmont were keeping their podium chances alive with 6th and 8th respectively.
The intense storm had blown over by the final moto but there was still rain and the conditions had not improved at all. Cooper was finding his stride though and rode it like it was a rental in the final moto for a good win. All the drama was behind Cooper though.
Young gun Lawson Bopping ran in second for the first four laps and had he remained in the position would have tied the day with Billy Mackenzie and won on count back. It was not to be though as two laps from home he copped a puncture and dropped back through the field. With Mackenzie inheriting Boppings second place all the Scotsman had to do was maintain the position to take the overall win, and that's exactly what happened. Bopping eventually dropped as far back as 16th. In a smart move he waited for Cooper to lap him 10 meters before the finish line and assure himself of the place, enough to finish third with a single point advantage over 4th overall Cheyne Boyd.
In the end Mackenzie won the day with an 18 point advantage, behind him it was close with Cooper taking the runner up spot by a point over Bopping, with Bopping edging Carlton Dry Honda Racing Team's Cheyne Boyd off the podium by a point and Ryan Marmont finishing a point away from Boyd in 5th. "It's a great start to the season for me," Mackenzie said. "I hoped for better conditions, but these technical conditions suit my style. I've been training hard over the summer and I feel ready for the year ahead. Hopefully we have better conditions next time so we can all push and see what everyone's got in the dry." Cody Cooper's start was better than 2010 and he was happy with the result at the end of the day.
"I finished up second today which is a good result for me, last year I had a horrible start to the season and although a first would have been great today," Cooper said. "With one of my races being terrible with no visibility and running off the track into some PVC Piping and then having trouble remounting the bike and getting going I am happy to still manage to finish the day in 2nd overall." "Those good starts helped out a lot and I want to get a few more of them this season, I will keep doing a lot of practice on them and getting in sync off the line," he concluded.
For Lawson Bopping it was the one that got away but the Raceline Suzuki rider was still pretty stoked. "I pretty much had the round win today, I was sitting in second during the final moto and was settled knowing that would give me the round win, I headed up an uphill section and the back wheel started spinning. At first I thought I had done a clutch because it smelt so bad, but it just ended up being the back wheel spinning on the rim. That is racing and there is nothing I can do about it and I still finished the day in 3rd"
"The Raceline Suzuki team I am riding for this year is a legit team and they continue to get bigger and bigger every year, we have some great people and sponsors onboard and I'm pumped to be onboard," he said.
The story of the Pro Lite class was the JDR Motorex KTM clean sweep with Matt Moss, Brenden Harrison and 2010 Under 19's champion Josh Cachia finishing 1,2,3 and unlike the Open class in perfect sunny conditions.
While Serco Yoshimura Yamaha's Ford Dale set the fastest qualifying time it was the JDR trio that owned the track. Moss, Cachia and Harrison took the first three spots in the opener with Team 07 Axis Honda's Cody Mackie, Ford Dale and Rockstar Motul Suzuki's Daniel McCoy hanging in there for 4th, 5th and 6th. Kirk Gibbs was the early leader but was stung by a slick piece of track at the end of the first lap and ended up on his head.
Ford Dale threw a spanner in the JDR spokes when he blitzed the second moto, recording a nine second win over Moss and GYTR Yamaha's Luke Styke. Monster Energy Kawasaki's American recruit Phil Nicoletti showed some speed with fourth after a disastrous start in moto one when he crashed and had to battle through the field from dead last. Brenden Harrison finished 5th ahead of Kiwi debutant Kayne LaMont. The second moto was Cachia's worst and most likely cost him any shot at a round win when he crashed and could only salvage 17th.
Cachia rebounded well in the third moto and fought a tooth and nail battle with team-mate Matt Moss all the way to the line with Cachia recording the win by under a second. Kirk Gibbs rounded out the top three with Nicoletti in 4th. Brenden Harrison sewed the seeds of the JDR whitewash with 5th place.
In the final moto Matt Moss dismissed any doubt he was fasts man on the day with a good 6 second win over a battered, sore and sorry Kirk Gibbs. Moss's win giving him 94 points for the day out of a possible 100.
"Today felt really good, I have traditionally had bad luck at round one, I have blown a bike up and broken a wrist in previous years, I came into this round a bit nervous with a new team, I just told myself to get points, we have something like 36 races this year," Moss explained.
"I went out there today and done what I had to do, hopefully at the next round I will be faster and start winning consistently and put it down for the KTM Motorex team.
"I came into this season a little quieter, I didn't do any races and just spent time developing with the team. The team has been really good and I don't feel any pressure from them, they have done a great job with the bike, they are very professional and everything is there for me so I can focus 100% coming into the races, It was my first win for the new team and my first ever win at a first round, I have the red plate and now don't want to ever give it up," Moss concluded.
Brenden Harrison finished behind Gibbs in third and in so doing assured himself the days runner up spot with 72 points.
"I'm ecstatic with my results today, I got really good starts all day," Harrison said. "I was really looking forward to this season and having the opportunity to ride for a team like this JDR KTM outfit ". "The team has put in so much work over the last few months, they have been working endless hours and I cannot thank them enough, My mechanic Sando has been great. The whole team all the mechanics have been great and I am so grateful for that, I am glad I could get a decent result for them and just can't wait to get to the next round."
"To have this team behind me is just amazing, I just wish we could race these races back to back and race week in week out I am enjoying racing that much," he concluded.
Josh Cachia had speed all day but a few crashes cost him a real shot at the win, still third in his debut in class was a top effort.
"I came away with third today, I could have done a little better if I kept the wheels on the ground, I had a crash in that second moto but hey what do you do that is part of racing," Cachia said.
"I done pretty well in that third moto and came away with a win so I'm stoked, I know that I can win now and hopefully I can be up the pointed end of the field all the time
"I picked up a fair bit of confidence racing and beating a bunch of the Pro Lites riders during SuperX last year, I had a bit of confidence coming into this season and confidence is half the battle, I have it bit of it now, hopefully it works in my favor and I can keep charging," he added.
The Under 19's always throws up a few new faces as the field is annually stacked with hot new talent. Today though it was the more experienced Luke Arbon that finally delivered what he has always been capable of, an outright win. Old guards, well as old as they can be, Errol Willis and Shaun Redhead rounded out the podium.
Arbon was simply to good today with the South Australian taking 2 wins and 2 second places for his 94 points. Wills took a win and a second place with a 5th and 4th being the only small chink in his amour. Still in his second year to be running second in the series after round one is a good start and he will feature throughout the season. Redhead's highest finish for the day was third which went to show the depth of the field. Jacob Mcleod finished 4th with recent Honda signing Jacob Wright 5th. Wright was the only other rider to take a win on the day.
For Arbon it was the perfect start after last year when he got the worst possible start.
"It feels great to come away with the win, my off season was not to bad I had been spending a lot of time riding a 450 and feeling awesome on the bike, I spent a bit of time riding with Mackie and also Marmont and I was feeling really good on the bike," Arbon explained.
"Coming into the season I had a couple of back injuries then I got back on the bike for some testing and had a big off and had nearly a month off riding, I only got back on the bike two weeks ago so I am really happy with the win
"This year I am having a lot more fun with my riding and not putting so much pressure on myself and just doing what I have to do to win, I felt good out there today and was really comfortable, my fitness was not 100% there this weekend but I did what I had to and came away with the win," he concluded.
Errol Willis was in wining form late last season and his second place today is sure to give him the confidence to go on with it.
"Today was great, the whole team has been working really hard and have been putting in the hours, testing went really well and we came out here today and proved we are heading in the right direction," Willis said.
"I won a moto today , I know I can win I just have to be up there in every race, that is what it is all about, putting in during every race and being there for the points every time, it is just a matter of getting that start dialed and being there every time." he concluded.
Shaun Redhead was the quite achiever of the day. "I am pumped with today's result, I really could not have asked for much better, hopefully the rest of the season continues like this, The GYTR Yamaha bike is great and handled so well out there today," he said.
The championship continues in Sydney at the Appin circuit in New South Wales for round two on 3 April. Visitwww.mxnationals.com.au on the web for complete series and round information on the 2011 season.
Pro Open Results
1 Billy Mackenzie*
2 Cody Cooper**
3 Lawson Bopping**
4 Cheyne Boyd
5 Ryan Marmont
6 Dean Ferris*
7 Josh Coppins*
8 Louis Calvin*
9 Jay Marmont*
10 Michael Phillips
Motul Pro Lites Results
1 Matt Moss
2 Brenden Harrison
3 Josh Cachia
4 Cody Mackie
5 Phil Nicoletti*
6 Kirk Gibbs
7 Daniel McCoy**
8 Kade Mosig
9 Ford Dale
10 Luke Styke
Pirelli Under 19's Results
1 Luke Arbon
2 Errol Willis**
3 Shaun Redhead
4 Jacob Mcleod
5 Jacob Wright
6 Kale Makeham
7 Jake Emanuelli
8 Geran Stapleton
9 Dylan Peterson
10 Kyle McKeddie
*ONE Industries graphics
**ONE Industries graphics/Racewear & Helmets
