Debut win for Mosig at Swan Hill
DPH Motorsport rider Kade Mosig has had a fairytale weekend at the sixth round of the Monster Energy MX Nationals, topping off his first Open race win by taking the overall round honours at Swan Hill.
After he comprehensively won the opening race of the day, Mosig held his nerve in the second moto to finish in third position, and take the overall win ahead of KTM Motocross Race Team’s Kirk Gibbs and Team Motul Pirelli Suzuki’s Matt Moss.
Another huge crowd turned out to witness the best racing in Australia, with the ice-cold temperature off the track tempered by the hot action that took place on it.
In the opening moto of the day, it was Mosig who took the holeshot ahead of CDR Yamaha’s Billy Mackenzie and Matt Moss.
It wasn’t such a great start for CDR Yamaha’s Jay Marmont who came down at the first corner and was playing catch-up from that point on, while Moss’ closest championship rival Gibbs settled into seventh position.
Jake Moss (National Pump Monster Energy Kawasaki) had worked his way into fourth position, and as Mosig streamed clear of the field it was all eyes on the battle for minor placings.
Matt Moss managed to pass Mackenzie into second spot on the 11th lap – a position he didn’t relinquish throughout the remainder of the race.
Brother Jake had a less memorable 11th lap, laying his bike down and falling back to seventh. As he tried to push to make up the lost time, he came down again a lap later and had to settle for 11th overall.
Mackenzie had issues of his own towards the end of the moto, and had to settle for sixth place while Gibbs managed to significant ground throughout the race – moving from the slow start off the line to finish the race in third.
Adam Monea (National Pump Monster Energy Kawasaki) and Rhys Carter (Team Motul Suzuki) finished the race in fourth and fifth places respectively.
But out in front, it was Mosig who turned heads with a wonderful ride – the Victorian streeting the field to record a hard-fought, well-earned, memorable race win.
It was not only his first ever win in the Open class, but the first win of the season claimed by a rider not aligned to a major race team.
In the second race, it was Mackenzie’s turn to take the holeshot and skip to a decent lead ahead of Matt Moss, Gibbs, Mosig and Jake Moss.
On the second lap of the race, Mackenzie stalled his bike, and the CDR pilot had to settle for sixth place when the chequered flag was raised.
Matt Moss held the lead from that point until lap seven, when brother Jake pulled two impressive moves – first passing Gibbs into second and then Matt to move into first. From that point he was never challenged, and he held on for an impressive race win.
On lap 13 Matt Moss stalled his bike and dropped back to fourth, and a couple of laps later got into further trouble which saw him fall back to fifth.
It was a patient Mosig who was the beneficiary of Moss’ misfortune – having been fourth for most of the race he slipped into third handing him his debut round win.
In the overall championship standings, Matt Moss had his lead cut back by three, to be 19 points ahead of Gibbs and a further 26 points ahead of brother Jake.
The series now heads to Conondale in Queensland for round seven, which takes place on 13 July.
MX1 Superpole:
- Jake Moss 1:40.159 (5 points)
- Jacob Wright 1:40.234 (4 points)
- Adam Monea 1:40.692 (3 points)
- Billy Mackenzie 1:41.073 (2 points)
- Matt Moss 1:41.640 (1 point)
MX1 Round Results:
- Kade Mosig 65 (35, 30)
- Kirk Gibbs 62 (30, 32)
- Matt Moss 58 (32, 26)
- Jake Moss 55 (20, 35)
- Adam Monea 52 (28, 24)
- Billy Mackenzie 50 (25, 25)
- Jacob Wright 46 (18, 28)
- Broc Winston 45 (24, 21)
- Lewis Woods 43 (21, 22)
- Sam Martin 43 (23, 20)
Overall Championship Standings:
- Matt Moss 448
- Kirk Gibbs 429
- Jake Moss 403
- Adam Monea 396
- Billy Mackenzie 390
- Kade Mosig 330
- Jacob Wright 304
- Hayden Mellross 294
- Jay Marmont 290
- Sam Martin 287
MX2
Wildcard Husqvarna rider Nathan Crawford stunned all onlookers at the sixth round of the 2014 Monster Energy MX Nationals at Swan Hill, taking the outright honours in the Monster MX2 class.
Crawford, who has been riding in the MXD class at selected rounds of the series, was given a wildcard entry into the MX2 class and grasped the opportunity with both hands.
After claiming second place in the opening moto of the day, the 16 year old rode the perfect race in moto 2, to take the race win and with it the round win ahead of Luke Arbon (SD3 Husqvarna) and Luke Clout (Serco Yamaha).
It is the first time that a 16-year-old has stepped into the class and won the overall round since Troy Carroll did it in 1996.
The opening MX2 race for the round was fiercely contested, with a number of riders looking to put a dent into series front-runner Clout’s lead.
Serco Yamah rider Jay Wilson managed to get the holeshot, ahead of Arbon and Serco teammate Clout.
Round five winner Caleb Ward had an issue on the opening lap of the race and finished the first lap a fair way behind in last place.
There were a number of changes to the lead throughout the race with Wilson unable to maintain his early momentum, and he slowly drifted back through the pack as the race progressed (he finished in eighth).
Clout found himself with a share of the lead 11 laps into the race, but just two laps later he went down before resuming back in fourth place.
Husqvarna and wildcard rider Egan Mastin was hovering around the top-four for much of the race but registered a DNF after withdrawing from the race on the lap 11.
With riders struggling to take advantage of the friendly Swan Hill conditions, it was Arbon who flew into the lead and gained the full 35 points on offer.
Crawford built on a solid start, progressing from seventh place early to finish in second. The youngster is establishing himself as a real star of the future in the Australian motocross scene.
Third place went to CMR KTM Redbull Motorex rider Hamish Harwood, with Clout finishing in fourth and privateer Errol Willis finishing fifth.
Ward did well to finish in a respectable 16th.
In the second race of the day, Crawford got out to a strong early lead ahead of Willis, Arbon, Clout and Wilson.
It wasn’t long before Arbon moved into second position – and despite his best efforts to challenge Crawford in the first half of the race, he had to settle for second place.
Luke Clout passed Willis on the eighth lap of the race to move into third and claim a podium finish, while Wilson and Ward finished the moto in fourth and fifth respectively.
In the outright championship standings, Clout holds a 14 point lead ahead of Harwood with Arbon a further 10 points behind.
The series now heads to Conondale in Queensland for round seven, which takes place on 13 July.
MX2Â Round Results:
- Nathan Crawford 67 (32, 35)
- Luke Arbon 67 (35, 32)
- Luke Clout 58 (28, 30)
- Hamish Harwood 54 (30, 24)
- Jay Wilson 51 (23, 28)
- Errol Willis 51 (26, 25)
- Kale Makeham 47 (24, 23)
- Josh Cachia 44 (22, 22)
- Kayne Lamont 44 (25, 19)
- Caleb Ward 41 (15, 260
MX2 Championship Standings:
- Luke Clout 384
- Hamish Harwood 370
- Luke Arbon 360
- Brenden Harrison 334
- Kale Makeham 334
- Kayne Lamont 333
- Jay Wilson 320
- Caleb Ward 313
- Errol Willis 240
- Ryan Marmont 234
