Victorian Adam Monea secured his maiden MX1 overall victory at third round of the 2014 Monster Energy MX Nationals held in Wonthaggi, Victoria on Sunday the 27th of April.
Under clear blue skies and in front of a vocal home town crowd NPS / Monster Energy Kawasaki’s Monea raced to a 3-3 result to finish the day on equal points with Motul Suzuki’s Matt Moss 4-2 and Motorex KTM’s Kirk Gibbs 1-6, with all three riders scoring 60 points for the day.
Monea had every opportunity to claim a clear points win for the round after working his way to the lead in the opening moto after chasing down Matt Moss and passing him for the lead just after the mid way point in the race.
Unfortunately for the 25 year old a crash not long after taking the lead handed the number one spot to Gibbs who had also made his way around the current points leader, with Gibbs holding on for his first moto win of the year and his second MX1 race win of career. Matt Moss came home in second place with Monea recovering for 3rd.
Monea once again raced forward in moto two. After a top five start, he was able to pilot his Kawasaki around both Penrite Honda’s Cody Cooper and Matt Moss to move his way into third position but could do nothing about CDR Yamaha’s Billy Mackenzie who fired out of the gate leading from start to finish to take the moto win and also his own team mate Jake Moss who bounced back from a luckless race one where he finished 17th to finish second in race two.
At the end of the day Monea’s higher moto two result was enough to give him the nod over Matt Moss and Gibbs to the delight of the crowd.
“Today is almost a dream come true,” Monea commented from the top step of the podium. “To get my first 450 round win in front of my friends and my family means a lot, I don’t know what to say. To finally get this number one plate it means a lot.
“The confidence is good, I feel as though I have been riding strong and training hard. It is not a surprise to me; I know where I believe I should be. I would have loved to do it (win the overall) by getting a win, but I went 3-3 and ill take it.
“It is time to knuckle down into some sand, blow some clutches and make sure I am ready Murray Bridge and Wanneroo, I can’t wait.” Monea concluded.
While Monea may have won the day, Matt Moss was able to extend his championship points lead over both Monea who sits in third place in the championship and second placed Gibbs by virtue of his GoPro Superpole victory in qualifying.
“I feel pretty good with today’s result actually.” Moss admitted. “I was not feeling the best all day.
“You get angry when you don’t win when you feel like you are the best man on the day, but today Adam rode really good and deserved the win. It is good to see someone get their first win.
“We will keep going the way we are going, I still gained more points in the championship adding another three and I could not have done it without the Motul Suzuki team and all our sponsors.”
For race one winner Kirk Gibbs the day was about what could have been after missing the overall win by millimeters. A bad start in the second moto, followed by a second half race charge put Gibbs in a position to try and pounce on both Cooper and Matt Moss on the final lap of the race.
A desperate move to try and pass Cooper on the final two corners saw Gibbs bounce off track before finishing right on the rear wheel of the kiwi. Gibbs will now focus on finishing higher up on the podium at round four when the series moves to his home state in South Australia in three weeks time, after finishing on the third step of the podium at every round to date this year.
“To win the first race felt good, that is why we come to the races.” Gibbs stated. “It has been awhile, it was Toowoomba last year when I won my first MX1 race and today was only my second race win in the 450 class.
“I am pretty excited, obviously I don’t get to spend to much time with the family anymore and ride at places that I know. It will be good to go back home and ride some different tracks I am really looking forward to it.”
Mackenzie finished the day in fourth position thanks to his 10-1 results for the day, with DPH Motorsports Yamaha rider Kade Mosig rounding out the top ten off the back of his 4th place finish in the opening race of the day.
New Zealand’s Rhys Carter had a consistent day out finishing 6th for the round, two points ahead of Jake Moss in 7th with Cody Cooper and Raceline Supported Suzuki privateer Hayden Mellross finishing 8th and 9th respectively, both on 45 points. DPH Motorsport Yamaha’s Sam Martin finished 10th.
In the MX2 class it was another battle between the 250 two strokes and 250 four strokes, with the Raceline Suzuki 250 four-strokes drawing first blood as Geran Stapleton pulled the opening moto hole-shot just ahead of team-mate Ryan Marmont.
Unfortunately for Marmont his time near the front of the field was short lived with a big high-side early in the race leaving him bruised and battered, as he became one of a number of riders that hit the deck hard during the first race of the day.
Things were looking better for his team mate as Stapleton opened up his lead and despite advances from Championship leader Luke Clout who worked his way though the field on his Serco Yamaha, was looking good for the race win as he extended his lead last in the race.
However with one and half laps to go, Stapleton made a mistake and crashed handing the lead and subsequent win to Clout, with Husqvarna’s Kayne Lamont also taking advantage of the situation to sneak through for second position. Stapleton was able to recover to hold onto third.
Race two in the MX2 class became a bit of a procession out front on a heavily watered and very slick track. Lamont fired his Husqvarna 250 two-stroke to the hole-shot and was followed through the first turn by fellow Kiwi Hamish Harwood, and the South Australian privateer duo of Daniel Banks aboard his KTM and Luke Arbon on his SD3 Husqvarna.
Lamont checked out, opening up a sizeable gap on Harwood early, who likewise opened up a comfortable gap back to Arbon in third place who worked his way around Banks, with the three riders holding strong up front all race.
Back in the pack Errol Willis worked his way up to fourth place while Luke Clout once again worked his way through he field, but this time from much deeper in the back to eventually finish 5th.
At the end of the day Lamont’s 2-1 result was enough for his second overall win for year after he clean up at the opening round at Broadford four weeks ago.
“Our bike is working great, I got a good start in the last race, kept it smooth and stayed upright and came home with the win, so I am pretty stoked with that. ” Lamont stated.
“Today has been a pretty positive result for me, we closed the points in on the series lead, so it felt good to come back after last round and get a better result.
Clout finished second overall for the round and will carry a handy 13 point lead into round four of the MX2 championship.
“Everyone out there is riding awesome, basically anyone out there could be a top runner.” Clout admitted. “All the boys are riding awesome, especially Kayne and Hamish which keeps me on my toes.
“I have to go home and do some work and come out at Murray Bridge and try to get back on the top step,” Clout added.
Rounding out the podium was Harwood who put his result down to his much improved starts this weekend.
“I done myself some favors today and got some good starts, kept it upright and got some good results.” Harwood reflected.
“I am really looking forward to Murray Bridge, I really like that track I can’t wait.”
Luke Arbon finished the day fourth overall on the back of his 10-3 result, edging out Willis by virtue of finishing in front of him in moto two as the two riders ended the round on 51 points each.
In the MXD class the day belonged to Jack Simpson taking the round win and the championship lead after another solid performance. The KTM mounted Simpson won the opening moto after a last lap pass on Craig Anderson Racing’s Egan Mastin.
He then followed up with a second place finish to GYTR Yamaha’s Jed Beaton in race two to secure his first round win of the year and the converted championship leaders Red Plate which he held onto for the majority of last year, before losing it at the final rounds.
“I definitely don’t want to do what I did last year,” Simpson stated. “I want to hang onto it, ride smooth and hard for the rest of the season and see how we go.
“I like the sand, we have been working hard with Tune Tech Suspension and my mechanic beside me has been doing some good engine work, we definitely have the bike on track and we are looking forward to the upcoming rounds and the rest of the season.”
Jed Beaton who held the points lead coming into the round by a single point finished the day second overall, equal on points with Mastin who rounded out the MXD podium.
Round four of the 2014 Monster Energy MX Nationals will take place at Murray Bridge in South Australia on Sunday the 18th of May.
MX1 CLASS: Round Results:
- Adam Monea 60 (30, 30)
- Matt Moss 60 (32, 28)
- Kirk Gibbs 60 (35, 25)
- Billy Mackenzie 56 (21, 35)
- Kade Mosig 49 (28, 21)
- Rhys Carter 48 (25, 23)
- Jake Moss 46 (14, 32)
- Cody Cooper 45 (19, 26)
- Hayden Mellross 45 (26, 19)
- Sam Martin 44 (22, 22)
Overall MX1 Championship Standings:
- Matt Moss 238
- Kirk Gibbs 216
- Adam Monea 202
- Jake Moss 186
- Billy Mackenzie 181
- Kade Mosig 169
- Rhys Carter 168
- Hayden Mellross 159
- Jay Marmont 156
- Jacob Wright 142
MX2 CLASS: Round Results:
- Kayne Lamont 67 (32, 35)
- Luke Clout 61 (35, 26)
- Hamish Harwood 60 (28, 32)
- Luke Arbon 51 (21, 30)
- Errol Willis 51 (23, 38)
- Brenden Harrison 50 (25, 25)
- Kale Makeham 46 (22, 24)
- Jay Wilson 45 (24, 21)
- Geran Stapleton 44 (30, 14)
- Jake Emanualli 42 (19, 23)
MX2 Championship Standings:
- Luke Clout 207
- Kayne Lamont 194
- Hamish Harwood 192
- Brenden Harrison 180
- Kale Makeham 167
- Jay Wilson 149
- Errol Willis 140
- Wade Hunter 140
- Luke Arbon 137
- Ryan Marmont 135
MXD CLASS: Round Results:
- Jack Simpson 67 (35, 32)
- Jed Beaton 60 (25, 35)
- Egan Mastin 60 (32, 28)
- Kyle Webster 56 (26, 30)
- Wayde Carter 55 (30, 25)
- Nathan Crawford 50 (24, 26)
- Jayden Rykers 47 (23, 24)
- Wilson Todd 45 (28, 17)
- Dylan Wilson 43 (21, 22)
- Robert Lovett 42 (22, 20)
MXD Overall Championship Standings:
- Jack Simpson 219
- Jed Beaton 216
- Egan Mastin 215
- Nathan Crawford 195
- Wilson Todd 170
- Jayden Rykers 153
- Kyle Webster 146
- Brock McLeary 138
- Wayde Carter 132
- Jesse McNally 128
