Smarty’s Moto Wrap for July 22, 2014
The big news coming through early this morning is that Jeffrey Herlings has crashed heavily while riding a KTM85SX in a novelty race during the annual Stefan Everts and Friends Charity Event. It appears that Herlings lost control of the 85 cresting a jump and caught his leg while trying to correct the bike and in the ensuing crash has injured his hip and upper leg, perhaps even breaking his femur.
Just take a look at the line-up at Everts’ annual event. Jeffrey Herlings, Jordi Tixier, Kevin Strijbos, Jeremy Hore Van Beek, De Dycker, James Dobb, Brian Jorgensen, Ricky Carmichael, Jeff Stanton, Jeff Emig, Heikki Mikkola, Andre Vromans, Marc Velkeneers, Dave King, Jean Jacques Bruno, Jan Blancquaert, Erwin Gabriel and Benoit Pauwels. That would be one hell of an event to get to one day.
TLD’s Malcolm Stewart was forced to sit out of round eight at Spring Creek MX due to severe dehydration that has taken a toll on his kidney and liver function. Although he has been fighting through and hoping to feel better, the symptoms have proved too severe. On the advice of a medical professional, the only 450 rider on the TLD squad will be taking a break in order to recover.
Yoshimura Suzuki has to finally admit that their one rider strategy is a failure. One rider does not make a ‘team’ and since signing James Stewart the team has not won a championship, in fact, they haven’t even finished a championship and after last weekend’s mysterious second moto no-show we can expect that trend to continue.
Every team runs two riders, in some case three riders by season’s end if their main rider(s) get injured but Yoshimura Suzuki sacked Brett Metcalfe to go with their ‘Bubba only’ program and what is there to show? Absolutely nothing!!
Having two riders also gives the team technicians double the input when it comes to developing the bike and if you get to watch Millville, Stewart’s Suzuki looked decidedly unsettled on the rough downhill sections compared to the rest of the front runners.
Just to ram the point home, Red Bull KTM are holding down the first two positions in the 450 championships with Roczen and Dungey while Yamalube/Star Racing Yamaha is doing the same in the 250 class with Martin and Webb.
While on the subject of the AMA Motocross, what about Eli Tomac? We have spent the majority of the year gob-smacked at the speed of championship leaders Ken Roczen and Ryan Dungey then along comes Tomac to stomp the KTM duo at Millville. I mean, he came from behind in moto one to win by a mile then holeshot moto two to win by an extra mile, onya Eli!!
In the 250 class we expected Jeremy Martin to win both motos at the track that his mum and dad own and he would have if it wasn’t for his team mate and ‘not the best of friend’ Cooper Webb who took out the second moto. Martin did win the overall with 1-2 finishes to extend his championship lead to 43 points with just four rounds and eight motos remaining.
While we are talking about sensational performances, Toby Price blitzed the Kyogle rounds of the 2014 AORC and now sits in the box seat to take out his fourth AORC title. When you consider what has happened in his life over the last 18 months you have to take your hat off to the KTM star, he has basically won everything he has entered this year.
The French team for this year’s Motocross of Nations was announced this week with Gautier Paulin (MXGP), Steven Frossard (Open), and Dylan Ferrandis (MX2) making it an all-Kawasaki riding team.
The MX2 decision must have been the toughest with Ferrandis, Romain Febvre, and Jordi Tixier, Marvin Musquin and Christophe Pourcel all potential candidates and for whatever reason they went with Ferrandis.
While talking about Motocross Of Nations, who do we pick for the Australian team? Todd Waters and Luke Styke won’t be considered for obvious reasons, Chad Reed and Brett Metcalfe are arguably our fastest 450 riders right now BUT if I was picking the team I would be sending Luke Clout (MX2), Kirk Gibbs (Open) and Matt Moss (MXGP) with Jake Moss as the reserve (he can ride a 250 or 450 very fast). If they all ride to their full potential without mechanical problems or crashes that is a top five team.
Ok, let’s get serious. Here are the facts, if you decide to pay the money to watch a round of the 2014 MX Nationals the chances are that you will get to watch a few former and current national champions BUT if you head to the 2014 Maxima Racing Oils Conondale Classic over the weekend of the 9th and 10th of August you will definitely get to see a former World Motocross Champion, multiple Australian Motocross and Supercross Champions AND an absolute gaggle of ‘would be if they could be’ motocrossers that were dramatically faster in their ‘wonder years’ than the rest of us remember.
That’s right, the biggest Post Classic Motocross event is coming up and 1996 World Motocross Champion Shayne King will spearhead a plethora of former stars of our sport on a fire breathing, Ohlins suspended 1989 CR500R. “This is my third year at the Conondale Classic and I have been working with Brad Van Barello on a very special machine in a bid to take my first win in this event,” said King about his trip across ‘the pond’.
Former nationals motocross and supercross stars James Deakin, Glen Bell and Dave Armstrong have all taken moto wins at the Conondale classic and are keen to stop the flying Kiwi from taking the coveted Pro-Open trophy home while former state and national Pro rider Nathan Crawford (no, not THAT Nathan Crawford) will join Steve Freiberg, Steve Wastell, Andrew Bailey, Brad Van Barello, Gary Armstrong, Christian and Peter Horwood and several hundred other lunatics on machinery dating from the 1960s right through to the late 1980s. See the flyer at the bottom of the wrap for more information, this is one event that you shouldn’t miss.
Moto Wrap for the weekend of July 19/20 includes:
- – Rounds 9 and 10 of the Australian Of-Road Championship at Kyogle, NSW
- – Round 8 of the AMA Motocross Championships (Spring Creek National) at Millville, Minn.
- – Round 6 of the CMCR Canadian Motocross Championships at Sand Del Lee
- – Round 6 of the British Motocross Championships at FatCat, Doncaster
- – Round 5 of the Red Bull X-Fighters in Munich
- – Round 5 of the All-Japan National Championship at Fujisawa, Japan
- – Red Bull Romaniacs 11th Edition
Australian Of-Road Championship – Rounds 9 and 10 – Kyogle, NSW
Call it a ‘purple patch’! Call it amazing! Either way, the fact is that Toby Price is absolutely blitzing everything he enters these days and his double win at the Kyogle round of the 2014 AORC potentially sets the KTM star up for his fourth championship win in Australia’s most prestigious off-road series.
Price now has a 28-point lead over Glenn Kearney with two rounds remaining in the championship, the final will be staged at Heathcote, Victoria, September 6/7.
Outright Championship Points after Round 10:
Outright Championship: 1. Toby Price (E2) 213. 2. Glenn Kearney (E3) 185. 3. Josh Green (E2) 182. 4. Chris Hollis (E2) 176. 5. Daniel Milner (E2) 173. 6. Lachlan Stanford (E2) 132. 7. Daniel Sanders (19U) 129. 8. Tom McCormack (E1) 126. 9. Jarrod Bewley (E3) 118. 10. Beau Ralston (E2) 114.
E2 Championship: 1. Toby Price 188. 2. Josh Green 178. 3. Chris Hollis 172. 4. Daniel Milner 160. 5. Lachlan Stanford 147.
E3 Championship: 1. Glenn Kearney 222. 2. Stefan Granqvist 182. 3. Jarrod Bewley 177.
E1 Championship: 1. Tom McCormack 216. 2. Scott Keegan 187. 3. Peter Boyle 180. 4. Tom Kite 157. 5. Nic Tomlinson 131.
Womens Championship: 1. Jess Gardiner 219. 2. Tayla Jones 200. 3. Emelie Karlsson 176. 4. Jemma Wilson 116. 5. Sophie Coldiutt 112.
Masters Championship: 1. Trent Lean 204. 2. Ian Jenner 155. 3. Geoff Ballard 152. 4. Mike Shearer 130. 5. Craig Treasure 103.
Vets Championship: 1. Damian Smith 222. 2. Kirk Hutton 197. 3. Rowan Pumpa 187. 4. Anthony Greene 97. 5. Michael Widdison 76.
AMA Motocross Championships – Round 8 – (Spring Creek National) Millville, Minn.
Eli Tomac was simply amazing at Millville, he absolutely stomped championship leader Ken Roczen and his teammate Ryan Dungey. It is obvious that Eli and the team have been working hard to get to this point and you can expect the Geico Honda pilot to continue to give the KTM duo a hard time from this point on.
Brett Metcalfe continues his consistent performances with a pair of sixth places at Millville to hold down fifth overall in the championship while Chad Reed’s move to Pirelli tyres didn’t have the desired effect with a pair of 14th places to sit tenth in points.
With four rounds remaining Dungey sits 24 points behind Roczen so the championship is far from over.
In the 250 class there was your usual hard core racing but Jeremy Martin could not be happier with the outcome with championship challengers Blake Baggett and Cooper Webb both having one good and one bad moto thus handing the Yamaha pilot a more than handy 43 point lead.
Webb crashed into the back of Justin Bogle in moto one and ended the moto in a distant ninth but for the second time this season bounced back to win moto two while Baggett went from the back of the pack to fourth in the opening moto before grabbing the early lead in the second moto but the Pro-Circuit Kawasaki rider crashed and damaged his radiator which eventually caused a DNF.
As a point of interest, Queenslander Jackson Richardson only did the opening three rounds yet he still sits 20th outright in the points so let’s hope that Jackson gets to do the whole series next year.
450MX Overall: 1. Eli Tomac 1-1 Hon. 2. Ryan Dungey 3-2 KTM. 3. Ken Roczen 2-4 KTM. 4. Trey Canard 4-3 Hon. 5. Josh Grant 5-5 Yam. 6. Brett Metcalfe 6-6 Kaw. 7. Andrew Short 9-7 KTM. 8. Weston Peick 8-8 Suz. 9. Fredrik Noren 11-10 Hon. 10. Matthew Goerke 12-11 KTM. 11. Justin Brayton 10-15 Yam. 12. Christian Craig 19-9 Hon. 13. Mitchell Oldenburg 16-12 Hon. 14. Ben LaMay 15-13 Yam.15. Chad Reed 14-14 Hon.
450MX Point Standings After 8 of 12 Rounds: 1. Ken Roczen 367 KTM. 2. Ryan Dungey 343 KTM. 3. Trey Canard 302 Hon. 4. James Stewart 226 Suz. 5. Brett Metcalfe 222 Kaw. 6. Josh Grant 218 Yam. 7. Weston Peick 188 Suz. 8. Andrew Short 187 KTM. 9. Eli Tomac 168 Hon. 10. Chad Reed 146 Kaw.
250MX Overall: 1. Jeremy Martin 1-2 Yam. 2. Marvin Musquin 2-4 KTM. 3. Cooper Webb 9-1 Yam. 4. Christophe Pourcel 3-6 Yam. 5. Dean Wilson 5-5 Kaw. 6. Jason Anderson 11-3 KTM. 7. Joey Savatgy 8-9 KTM. 8. Alex Martin 12-7 Yam. 9. Cole Seely 7-13 Hon. 10. Jessy Nelson 14-8 Hon. 11. Zach Bel 10-12 Hon. 12. Anthony Rodriguez 13-10 Yam. 13. Blake Baggett 4-33 Kaw. 14. Matt Bisceglia 16-11 Hon. 15. Justin Bogle 6-32 Hon.
250MX Point Standings after 8 of 12 Rounds: 1. Jeremy Martin 341 Yam. 2. Cooper Webb 298 Yam. 3. Blake Baggett 285 Kaw. 4. Christophe Pourcel 246 Yam. 5. Marvin Musquin 241 KTM. 6. Justin Bogle 240 Hon. 7. Jason Anderson 236 KTM. 8. Cole Seely 188 Hon. 9. Jessy Nelson 164 Hon. 10. Justin Hill 150 Kaw. 11. Alex Martin 136 Yam. 20. Jackson Richardson 26 Hon
Rockstar Energy Drink Canadian Motocross Nationals – Round 6 – Sand Del Lee
Hmm, Mike Alessi is not finding it that easy at the Canadian Motocross Championship and after swapping moto wins with championship leader Colton Facciotti the controversial yank sits 28 points back with four rounds remaining while Kaven Benoit did his championship no harm by putting a halt to American Vince Fiese’s win streak with the overall win in the MX2 class at Sand Le Lee.
MX1 Overall: 1. Colton Facciotti 2-1 Hon. 2. Mike Alessi 1-2 Suz. 3. Tyler Medaglia 3-4 KTM. 4. Josh Hill 5-3 Kaw. 5. Teddy Maier 4-6 Kaw. 6. Dylan Kaelin 7-7 Yam. 7. Kyle Chisholm 10-5 Yam. 8. Mike Brown 6-9 Hus. 9. Tim Tremblay 9-8 Yam. 10. Nathan Bles 8-11 KTM. 14. Bobby Kiniry DNF-10 Yam.
MX1 Point Standings: 1. Colton Facciott1 206. 2. Mike Alessi 178 . 3. Tyler Medaglia 157. 4. Teddy Maier 150. 5. Kyle Chisholm 147. 6. Josh Hill 146. 7. Bobby Kiniry 140. 8. Morgan Burger 96. 9. Dylan Kaelin 94. 10. David Gassin 68.
MX2 Overall: 1. Kaven Benoit 2-1 KTM. 2. Vince Friese 4-2 Hon. 3. Austin Poiltelli 1-7 Kaw. 4. Jesse Wentland 6-4 Yam. 5. Shawn Maffenbeier 9-3 Yam. 6. Topher Ingalls 8-6 KTM. 7. Jesse Pierce 7-8 Hon. 8. Seth Rarick 16-5 KTM. 9. Sylvain Le Gad 13-9 Yam. 10. Jeremy Medaflia 3-DNF Kaw.
MX2 Point Standings: 1. Kaven Benoit 174. 2. Vince Friese 166. 3. Shawn Mafenbeier 159. 4. Jesse Wentland 153. 5. Topher Ingalls 130. 6. Austin Polietelli 125. 7. Jeremy Medaglia 118. 8. Seth Rarick 97. 9. Dylan Schmoke 86. 10. Dylan Wright 78.
British Motocross Championships – Round 6 – FatCat, Doncaster
MXGP stars Shaun Simpson and Tommy Searle have gone 1-2 at round six of the British Motocross Championship held in Doncaster last weekend and in doing so Simpson extended his championship points lead to over 100 points to defending champion Kristian Whatley.
In the MX2 class it was another GP regular in Matiss Karro who took the round win over Ben Watson and now leads Mel Pocock in the championship by 23 points with third placed Neville Bradshaw over 100 points back.
MX1 Overall: 1. Shaun Simpson (Hitachi Construction Equipment UK KTM) 75. 2. Tommy Searle (Team CLS Kawasaki Monster Energy) 66. 3. Nathan Watson (Dantec Husqvarna) 58. 4. Kristian Whatley (MBO Sport Yamaha) 51. 5. Brad Anderson (Buildbase Honda Racing) 45. 6. Gert Krestinov (Apico LPE Kawasaki Racing) 41. 7. Priit Rätsep (Oakleaf Kawasaki) 40. 8. Yentel Martens (Talon Kawasaki) 37. 9. Graeme Irwin (Heads & All Threads Suzuki) 36. 10. Alfie Smith (Lanes Honda) 33
MX1 Championship Points: 1. Shaun Simpson (Hitachi Construction Equipment UK KTM) 352. 2. Kristian Whatley (MBO Sport Yamaha) 234. 3. Jake Nicholls (Wilvo Forkrent KTM) 216. 4. Brad Anderson (Buildbase Honda Racing) 209. 5. Graeme Irwin (Heads & All Threads Suzuki) 202. 6. Gert Krestinov (Apico LPE Kawasaki Racing) 198. 7. Nathan Watson (Dantec Husqvarna) 197. 8. Alex Snow (Phoenix Tools Rocket Honda) 161. 9. Priit Rätsep (Oakleaf Kawasaki) 149. 10. Tommy Searle (Team CLS Kawasaki Monster Energy) 141.
MX2 Overall: 1. Matiss Karro (Wilvo Forkrent KTM) 75. 2. Ben Watson (Hitachi Construction Equipment UK KTM) 60. 3. Adam Sterry (Wilvo Forkrent KTM) 60. 4. Mel Pocock (Hitachi Construction Equipment UK KTM) 49. 5. Neville Bradshaw (Putoline Apico Honda) 46. 6. Michael Eccles (Silver Action KTM) 44. 7. Bryan Mackenzie (Pendrich Height Services Kawasaki) 44. 8. Steve Lenoir (Dantec Husqvarna UK) 38. 9. Steven Clarke (Dyer & Butler KTM) 36. 10. Lewis Tombs (JAR Honda) 26.
MX2 Championship Points: 1. Matiss Karro (Wilvo Forkrent KTM) 327. 2. Mel Pocock (Hitachi Construction Equipment UK KTM) 304. 3. Neville Bradshaw (Putoline Apico Honda) 242. 4. Adam Sterry (Wilvo Forkrent KTM) 240. 5. Bryan Mackenzie (Pendrich Height Services Kawasaki) 215. 6. Ben Watson (Hitachi Construction Equipment UK KTM) 209. 7. Steven Lenoir (Dantec Husqvarna UK) 187. 8. Steve Clarke (Dyer & Butler KTM) 180. 9. Michael Eccles (Silver Action KTM) 159. 10. Lewis Tombs (JAR Honda) 122.
2014 Red Bull X-Fighters World Series – Round four – Munich, Germany
In front of 18,000 fans Western Australian Josh Sheehan double bac- flipped his way to score maximum points at the Munich rounds of the Red Bull X-Fighers and in doing so has got himself to just five points back from championship leader, 22-year-old Levi Sherwood from New Zealand, with just one round remaining.
The layout for the Munich round was in the middle of a small lake so any rider who slipped up ended up wet.
Overall results: 1. Josh Sheehan. 2. Taka Higashino. 3. Levi Sherwood. 4. Luc Ackermann. 5. Thomas Pagès. 6. Dany Torres. 7. Rob Adelberg (AUS). 8. Clinton Moore (AUS). 9. Adam Jones. 10. Rémi Bizouard.
Championship standings: 1. Levi Sherwood 265. 2. Josh Sheehan 260. 3. Thomas Pagès 190. 4. Dany Torres 185. 5. Taka Higashino 150. 6. Rob Adelberg 120. 7. Rémi Bizouard 110. 8. Adam Jones 75. 9. Mat Rebeaud 70. 10. Maikel Melero 60.
Red Bull Romaniacs 11th Edition
I don’t know what it is about the poms but they just eat up this hard core off-road racing and that was evident at the 11th annual Red Bull Romaniacs when after the prologue and four days of off-road competition Johnny Walker edged out fellow Brit Graham Jarvis for the outright win.
Overall Results: 1, Jonny Walker, GBR, KTM. 2, Graham Jarvis, GBR, Husqvarna. 3, Wade Young, RSA, KTM. 4, Paul Bolton, GBR, KTM. 5, Andreas Lettenbichler GER, KTM.
Moto Wrap for the weekend of July 26/27 will include:
- Round 14 of the FIM World Motocross Championships in the Czech Republic
- Round 9 of the AMA National Championship at Washougal, WA
- Round 7 of the Canadian Motocross Championships at Deschambault
- Round 4 of the AMA Supermoto Championships at Salt Lake City, UT
- Round 1 of the 2014 Monster Energy FIM Speedway World Cup at King’s Lynn, Great Britain
- Loretta Lynn National Amateur at Hurricane Mills, TN
