Moto News Weekly Wrap
August 18, 2015 by Darren Smart
Proudly brought to you by Dunlop Geomax
Australasian News
Australian Off-Road Championships: The final rounds of the Australian Off-Road Championships was held at Monkerai, in New South Wales last weekend and as you would expect Toby Price took the overall win while Yamaha’s Josh Green and Chris Hollis rounded out the podium.
After 12 hard fought rounds Josh Green won the E1 championship ahead of Tom Kite and Riley Graham while former Pro motocrosser Beau Ralston won the E2 championship ahead of Chris Hollis and Lachlan Stanford. Price completely dominated the E3 class all year and won the title ahead of Daniel Sanders and Glenn Kearney while Tom Mason won the EJ class by a mere five points over Lyndon Snodgrass who only had a five point gap back to third placed Wil Ruprecht. Full Report Here.
And best wishes to Toby Price on his birthday, the likeable central NSW KTM maestro turns 28 years young today.
Townley Ready To Race: Former World Champion Ben Townley has confirmed that he will be lining up for the final two rounds of the MX Nationals at Toowoomba and Coolum despite having to pull out of the Nowra round after crashing during practice a couple of weekend’s ago. If Townley gets through the two MX National rounds he will be off to America for the final round of the World Motocross Championships at Glenn Helen before heading over to France to represent New Zealand in the Motocross of Nations. Let’s cross our fingers that the likeable Kiwi comes through these important races unscathed.
WAMX Senior State Motocross Championships: The Bunbury Motorcycle Club hosted round five of the WAMX Snr State Championships last weekend and MX1 star Dean Porter backed up his Manjimup win with a dominating performance to take the overall win ahead of Paul Humberston and Michael Mahon while Jayden Rykers continued his win streak in the MX2 class ahead of Dyland Heard and Ryan Scarlett.
Round 6 of the series will be held on the 20th of September at Cockburn Road, Henderson while there will be a re-run of the rained out round 3 on the 11th of October at Hendley Park, Byford.
MVMX Senior State Motocross Championships: Round two of the MVMX Senior State Motocross Championships was re-run last weekend and it was Tomas Ravenhorst who won the MX1 class ahead of Matt Van Slooten and James Brown while Dylan Long dominated he opening two motos but a DNF in the final moto put pay to a perfect day.
2015 SEQ Motocross Series: Kilcoy hosted round two of the popular SEQ Motocross Series and Brad Polsoni managed to win the Senior Unlimited class ahead of Jye Zimmermann and Jake Lowe while it was great to see former motocross and supercross superstar from the 1980s James Deakin smoking the over 35s class ahead of Paul Wolfe and Ryan Williams.
Jacob Wright is Back!: CDR Yamaha’s Jacob Wright will be back in action at round nine of the MX Nationals on his home track in Toowoomba this weekend and my contacts tell me with great confidence that he is riding as fast as ever. Jacob is as good a young man that you can meet and I am sure he will do Yamaha and his fans proud over the final two rounds.
American News
INCREDIBLE RUBBER!: There were thirty-eight championships up for grabs at the AMA Amateur National Motocross Championship held at the famous Loretta Lynn Ranch recently and incredibly Dunlop was on every championship winning bike.
This historic sweep included eleven championships won by Dunlop-sponsored Team Dunlop Elite riders and four championships won by Team Dunlop Elite alumni. “Ever since I started with Dunlop, it has been a personal goal of mine to see Dunlop sweep all the classes at Loretta’s,” said Rob Fox, Dunlop’s Amateur Motocross Support Manager. “We are honoured that all the top riders choose Dunlop, and we’re looking forward to the rest of the season.”
- Open Pro Sport – Benny Bloss – Yam
- 250 A – Mitchell Harrison – Kaw – Dunlop Elite alum
- 250 B Limited – Joey Crown – Kaw – Dunlop Elite alum
- 250 B – Austin Forkner – Kaw – Dunlop Elite alum
- 250 C Limited – Sam Franklin – KTM
- 250 C (12-16) Limited – Levi Newby – Yam
- 250 C Limited – Sam Franklin – KTM
- 450 A – Bradley Taft – Yam
- 450 B Limited – Brandon Hartranft – Yam
- 450 B – Jon Ames – Yam
- 450 C – Dylan Gillespie – Yam
- Two-Stroke (16+) – Justin Cooper – Yam
- College B/C (16-24) – Justin Cooper – Yam
- Junior 25+ – Ricky Renner – Hus
- Vet 30+ – Paul Perebijnos – Kaw
- Vet 35+ – Sebastian Tortelli – Yam
- Senior 40+ Douglas Flinner – Kaw
- Senior 45+ -John Grewe – Kaw
- Masters 50+ – Earl May – Kaw
- 51cc (4-6) Special Limited – Emile Lacher – KTM
- 51cc (4-6) Shaft Drive Limited – Canyon Richards – Yam
- 51cc (4-6) Limited – William Canaguier III – Cob
- 51cc (7-8) Limited – Casey Cochran – Cob – Dunlop Elite
- 65cc (7-9) Limited – Ryder DiFrancesco – Kaw – Dunlop Elite
- 65cc (10-11) Limited – Maximus Vohland – KTM – Dunlop Elite
- 65cc (7-11) – Matthew Leblanc – KTM – Dunlop Elite
- 85cc (9-11) Limited – Jett Reynolds – Kaw – Dunlop Elite
- 85cc (9-11) – Jett Reynolds – Kaw – Dunlop Elite
- Mini Sr 1 (12-13) – Carson Mumford – Kaw – Dunlop Elite
- Mini Sr 2 (12-14) – Pierce Brown – KTM – Dunlop Elite
- Super Mini 1 (12-15) – Carson Mumford – Kaw – Dunlop Elite
- Super Mini 2 (13-16) – Garrett Marchbanks – Kaw – Dunlop Elite
- Schoolboy 1 (12-16) B/C – Marco Cannella – Yam
- Schoolboy 2 (13-16) B/C – Austin Forkner – Kaw – Dunlop Elite alum
- Girls (12-16) – Hannah Hodges – Kaw – Dunlop Elite
- Girls Jr (9-13) – Jazzmyn Canfield – Yam
- Women (16+) All-Star – Mackenzie Tricker – Yam
- Women (14+) – Gracie Van Horn – Kaw
Brayton Out with Concussion: BTOSports.com KTM’s Justin Brayton will miss the final two rounds of the Lucas Oil Pro Motocross Championships after a doctor confirmed that he has a mild concussion as a result of a crash in the first moto at Round 8 of Lucas Oil Pro Motocross at Millville on July 18. Brayton is expected to return at the Monster Energy Cup in October.
Mellross Top 20: Hayden Mellross finished a credible 18th outright at the Utah round of the AMA Motocross Championships with 21-15 finishes over the two motos. Mellross now sits 22nd in points and a good showing at the final round could well see the Aussie hit 20th overall in the series. See the full report and results from Utah below.
Aussies at Peoria TT: The Peoria Motorcycle Club in central Illinois hosted the famous Peoria TT last weekend at Thunder Valley and mega-talented Aussie Michael Kirkness managed a very respectable 7th place finish in the GNC1 class main event while fellow Aussie Jace Castles raced the GNC2 class and finished a spectacular 7th in the main event.
Henry Wiles won his 11th straight Peoria TT and this time it was just ahead of 2015 Troy Bayliss Classic winner Jared Mess, and young gun Dominic Colindres.
2015 Vegas to Reno: The team of Francisco Arredondo and Shane Esposito have won this year’s running of the Vegas-To-Reno desert race held near Beatty, Nevada last weekend. The KTM mounted duo completed the run in nine hours, 20 minutes and 29 seconds and finished three minutes ahead of the Nick Burson and Axel Pearson team while Max Eddy Jr., riding solo, crossed the line in an admirable 9:52:17 to round out the podium.
Kenda AMA Tennessee Knockout: Cody Webb has claimed his third-straight TKO win at the star-studded fifth annual Kenda AMA Tennessee Knockout, which this year was awarded AMA National Championship status, making Webb the 2015 USA Extreme Off-road Champion. Webb got the win over Jonny Walker, Taylor Robert and Mike Brown.
Euro News
Darryll King Returns to GPs: Fifty riders have entered the annual FIM Veterans World Cup which will be held as a support event to the MXGP of The Netherlands in Assen on the weekend of August 29th and fresh from winning the Conondale Classic on the Sunshine Coast Darryll King will be on hand competing on a KTM450SX-F. Put your money on DK giving the best Euro riders a hard time all weekend and a win is not out of the question – Go DK!!!!!!!!
Belgian International Motocross: Kevin Strijbos has gone 1-2-1 to win the Sylvain Geboers Trophy at the International Motocross at the Keiheuvel in Mol, Belgium last weekend. Strijbos took out the MX1 class ahead of Shaun Simpson, Filip Bengtsson and Todd Waters while Petar Petrov won the Joel Roelants Trophy for the MX2 class ahead of Harri Kullas and Brent Van Doninck.
British MX Nationals: The promoters of the British MX Nationals are hopeless when it comes to getting the results out to the media so all I can tell you is that Heads & All Threads Suzuki rider Graham Irwin has won the latest round held at the famous Hawkstone Park facility two weekends ago.
Paturel Extends his Contract: The Marnicq Bervoets managed KEMEA Yamaha Yamalube team announced the extension of the contract of Benoit Paturel this week. The French rider, who’s riding his first full MX2 GP season in 2015, has signed for another 2 years with the team and will finish his MX2 career under the KEMEA tent. Along with the confirmation of Benoit, head mechanic Jeremy Fontaine and Paturels mechanic Sam Pittraye will also remain part of the team in the coming years.
Smets to KTM: Five times World Motocross Champion Joel Smets has been appointed KTM Motocross Factory Racing Sports Director, Pit Beirer, KTM Motorsport Director has announced. Smets will be in charge of overseeing general planning and will coordinate and facilitate training schedules and will also be head of the race workshop in Belgium.
Belgian MXoN Team: Julien Lieber (MX2), Jeremy van Horebeek (MX1) and Kevin Strijbos (MX3) will represent Belgium at the 2015 Motocross of Nation being held at Ernee, France in September. For mind, this team is a top five chance at best but my money is on France (Romain Febvre, Gautier Paulin and Marvin Musquin) to take the win.
German ADAC Motocross Masters: Glenn Coldenhoff has wrapped up the MX1 championship after dominating the penultimate round of the German ADAC Motocross Masters held at Lichtenvoorde in Holland last weekend.
Smarty’s Race Reports and Official Results from last Weekend
AMA Motocross Championships – Round 11 – Utah
450 Moto 1
Justin Barcia pulled his 9th holeshot for the series but he had Ken Roczen and Ryan Dungey in tow and Roczen took the lead on the first lap and started to reel off a series of fast laps that left Dungey a six second deficit by the time he got around Barica. At this point Dungey was in a championship-clinching position but that didn’t stop Roger DeCoster’s protégé from slowly chipping away at Roczen’s lead and with a handful of laps to go he was all over the back wheel of Roczen and with four minutes to go Dungey made a move stick and immediately gapped Roczen and went on to take the win and the 2015 450 National Championship.
To everyone’s surprise Broc Tickle caught and passed Justin Barcia for third while Blake Baggett came from almost a dead-last start to finish fourth ahead of Barcia, Jason Anderson, Trey Canard, Josh Grant, Christophe Pourcel and Phil Nicoletti. Weston Peick had a crash and left the track sitting in the back of the Asterisk Medical Mule while Fredrik Noren’s knuckle was hit by a rock putting him out for the day and the final round.
450 Moto 2
The final moto of the day saw a holeshot by Nicoletti but Roczen quickly took over and Dungey and Barcia followed him through but just like in the first moto it was only a matter of time before Dungey sliced his way to the lead and that is exactly what the newly crowned champ did when Roczen made a slight mistake mid moto and Dungey took the lead and disappeared to take his second win on the day ahead of Roczen and Barcia.
Dean Wilson held fourth for the first half of the moto but lost a place to Blake Baggett and Trey Canard but he did manage to not only hold off the hard charging Broc Tickle later in the moto but he also put in a great push to pass Canard back for fifth on the final lap.
So by the time the chequered flag dropped Dungey took the win in from Roczen, Barcia, Baggett, Wilson, Canard, Tickle, Pourcel, Grant and Nicoletti.
Ryan Dungey reflected on the championship to RacerX: “To be a champion is a lot of hard work, a lot of effort, and a lot of years of preparation. You have to have a solid foundation and good group of people around you, from my wife, my family, and the team. Twenty-four motos, that’s a lot of racing, and one little hiccup can cost you a lot of points. Having a good mechanic is key, too. To be able to wrap up the supercross championship was awesome, but to get the national championship in the same year was awesome. The last time I did that was in 2010, and it was an awesome feeling, but this one is even more special. I really feel like we earned it, and we really pushed to be here. The addition of Aldon Baker was a big step forward, and the new bike was great too. There were a lot of good things, and there’s one race left, so we’re going to keep on it.”
Ken Roczen had this to say to RacerX: “In the first moto, I grabbed a decent start and made my way up there pretty quickly and wanted to have a clear track. Ryan [Dungey] and I were fighting the whole time, which was great, and he got me there toward the end. In the second moto, I just wanted to go out there and have fun. The track wasn’t ideal. It was dry in some spots, but they watered so it got a little slippery. It was definitely difficult out there. I grabbed a really good start, shot out of the gate like a rocket, and went in just a little too deep, and Phil Nicoletti got up there. But I got him quickly, and Ryan and I were battling again. I made a little mistake after the sand rollers, and he got by and got a little gap. I saw some of his lines, and I think I should have been taking them the whole time. But we’re improving every weekend, which is good, and I’ve been a lot happier with everything the last couple weekends. We’re doing okay, and we’ve got one more to go, but most importantly, we fought hard.”
Justin Barcia had this to say to RacerX: “That first moto was terrible. I holeshot but was a bit off on my settings. I didn’t really feel very comfortable. I don’t like this track at all, but everybody had to ride it, so that’s just part of it. It was just a tough day, a struggle. The second moto was better. My wonderful team changed the suspension a little, and the second moto was just more me not having the pace, and that’s definitely frustrating.”
450 Overall: 1. Ryan Dungey (KTM) 1-1. 2. Ken Roczen (Suz) 2-2. 3. Justin Barcia (Yam) 5-3. 4. Blake Baggett (Suz) 4-4. 5. Broc Tickle (Suz) 3-7. 6. Trey Canard (Hon) 7-6. 7. Dean Wilson (KTM) 10-5. 8. Josh Grant (Kaw) 8-8. 9. Christophe Pourcel (Hus) 9-9. 10. Phil Nicoletti (Yam) 12-10.
450 points after 11 of 12 Rounds: 1. Ryan Dungey – 500. 2. Justin Barcia – 407. 3. Ken Roczen – 402. 4. Blake Baggett – 333. 5. Christophe Pourcel – 291. 6. Broc Tickle – 287. 7. Jason Anderson – 283. 8. Phil Nicoletti – 229. 9. Weston Peick – 223. 10. Fredrik Noren – 206.
250 Moto 1
Jordon Smith nailed the holeshot with Musquin just outside the top five Jeremy Martin was tangled in a first turn crash and started the moto almost dead last. Cooper Webb also got a terrible start but there was a long way to go at this stage.
Jessy Nelson and RJ Hampshire got around Smith and were battling for the lead but Musquin and Webb were on fire and it wasn’t long before the now familiar Musquin/Webb freight-train were putting on one of the best battles of the season which ended when Webb dropped his Yamaha handing Musquin the moto win.
Martin was slicing his way through the he kept charging and picking off riders until he was well and truly into the top ten. And it was late in the moto when a possible 6th turned into 3rd when first of all teammate Aaron Plessinger pretty much just surrendered fifth to Martin before Nelson crashed out of fourth and with just one corner to go Hampshire crashed thus handing third to Martin. Martin really had lady luck on his side in moto one.
250 Moto 2
Nelson took the holeshot but Martin was right on him and was in the lead in no time while Musquin was just inside the top ten so it looked like Martin;s luck was carrying over to the second moto but a red flag came out when Tevin Tapia had a big crash and the race had to be re-started.
Musquin got the holeshot ahead of Webb in the re-start with Martin was outside the top five but the Yamaha boys went to work with Webb taking the lead away from Musquin on the first lap and Martin was into third and started inching up on Musquin after just a handful of laps.
On the rut infested track Martin was consistently logging fast laps and at just past the halfway point Martin made the pass on Musquin and went after Webb and it didn’t take a rocket scientist to work out that Webb was never going to win this moto with his teammate in second place so Martin simply ride by Webb and went on to take the win and keep the red plate going into the final round next weekend.
Aaron Plessinger earned his second fourth place finish on the day ahead of Zach Osborne, Matt Biscelgia, RJ Hampshire, Alex Martin, Jessy Nelson and Shane McElrath.
So, going into the final round there are only two points separating Martin and Musquin so we are in for some fire works!
Jeremy Martin had this to say to RacerX: “The day started out really good; I was the fastest qualifier in both sessions. The bike setup was on point today, and I felt good going into moto one. I saw the very inside gate, and you could tell the tiller had missed a certain spot. I was like, ‘Yeah, this is going to be my gate; this is going to get me a holeshot’. But I just didn’t quite get the jump and I got pinched off. I was just like, ‘Dude, you have to make it up there’. I did everything I could, and on the last lap I got a gift from RJ Hampshire that gave me third. In moto two, I knew I had to throw it down and get a good start, which I did, but then the red flag came out. I was like, ‘You gotta be kidding me!’ But then I got a top-five start and I saw Marvin [Musquin] and Cooper [Webb] up front, and I was like, ‘You have to beat that KTM’. I was able to get up on him and make the move, and it was nice to get a win like that. And an overall—I haven’t had an overall in a while. It was a good day for Star Racing.”
Marvin Musquin had this to say to RacerX: “First of all, that’s not a track I really like. Two years ago, I think, it was a struggle. It’s hot and really rough, but I was hoping for a good day obviously. That first moto felt really good too. I was battling with Cooper Webb and he went down, so he made it easy on me and I won the first moto. Second moto, we got a restart, and I started in first gear on that second start and got the holeshot. But the two Yamaha guys [Jeremy Martin and Webb], I’m not going to lie, they were faster than me and they got around me. Jeremy was doing really good, so to leave Utah with the same point gap is actually really good.”
250 Overall: 1. Jeremy Martin (Yam) 3-1. 2. Marvin Musquin (KTM) 1-3. 3. Cooper Webb (Yam) 2-2. 4. Aaron Plessinger (Yam) 4-4. 5. Matt Biscelgia (Hon) 6-6. 6. Zach Osborne (Hus) 9-5. 7. R. J. Hampshire (Hon) 7-7. 8. Alex Martin (Yam) 8-8.9. Joey Savatgy (Kaw) 5-11. 10. Jessy Nelson (KTM) 11-9.
250 points after 10 of 12 Rounds: 1. Jeremy Martin – 461. 2. Marvin Musquin – 459. 3. Joey Savatgy – 310. 4. Zach Osborne – 305. 5. Jessy Nelson – 288. 6. Alex Martin – 287. 7. Aaron Plessinger – 264. 8. Shane McElrath – 228. 9. Matt Biscelgia – 225. 10. Cooper Webb – 221.
Canadian Motocross Nationals – Round 10 – Walton Raceway, Walton, Ontario
Local heroes Colton Facciotti and Kaven Benoit have won the MX1 and MX2 classes respectively at the final round of the Canadian Motocross Championships held at Walton Raceway last weekend.
Facciotti’s 1-3 finishes got the defending champion the overall but he fell just six points shy of taking the title from the new champion Matt Goerke who could only manage 2-5 on the day while Aussie Brett Metcalfe put a disappointing campaign behind him by blitzing the final moto to win by a country mile.
Benoit won all but two rounds of the MX2 championship and ended up winning the series by 98 points over Jimmy Decotis.
MX1 Overall: 1. Colton Facciotti 1-3. 2. Cole Thompson 3-2. 3. Brett Metcalfe 5-1. 4. Matt Goerke 2-5. 5. Tyler Medaglia 4-4. 6. Kyle Swanson 6-8. 7. Franklin Nogueras 7-9. 8. Seth Rarick 8-10. 9. Cade Clason 12-7. 10. Jason Burke 11-11.
MX1 Series Standings: 1. Matt Goerke – 527pts. 2. Colton Facciotti – 521pts. 3. Brett Metcalfe – 482pts. 4. Cole Thompson – 462pts. 5. Tyler Medaglia – 438pts. 6. Cade Clason – 342pts. 7. Bobby Kiniry – 342pts. 8. Kyle Keast – 310pts. 9. Dylan Schmoke – 256pts. 10. Teddy Maier – 209pts.
MX2 Overall: 1. Kaven Benoit 2-2. 2. Joey Crown 8-1. 3. Jimmy Decotis 1-9. 4. Shawn Maffenbeier 5-3. 5. Darian Sanayei 4-4. 6. Dylan Wright 3-5. 7. Cole Martinez 6-6. 8. Blake Savage 10-7. 9. Jesse Pettis 9-8. 10. Liam OFarrell 12-11.
MX2 Series Standings: 1. Kaven Benoit – 568pts. 2. Jimmy Decotis – 470pts. 3. Jeremy Medaglia – 451pts. 4. Shawn Maffenbeier – 399pts. 5. Blake Savage – 383pts. 6. Dylan Wright – 365pts. 7. Brad Nauditt – 326pts. 8. Morgan Burger – 320pts. 9. Jesse Pettis – 301pts. 10. Cole Martinez – 259pts.
