Australian Motocross Championship – Round Two – Horsham (Victoria)
ANDERSON TOPS CHAMPIONSHIP IN HORSHAM
Woodstock Honda Thor Racing hero Craig Anderson made a welcome return to the winner’s circle, today as he claimed both the round win and the series lead in round two of the Australian Motocross Pro Open Championship in Horsham (VIC), today.
On the way to his first round win since 2006, 12-time Australian Champion, Anderson set the fastest qualifying lap for the second consecutive event with a time of 1:51.261m laid down on his very first flying lap.
Anderson carried his speed through to the opening race where he scored the holeshot and was untouchable; heading the field for the entire 30-minute moto to claim a resounding win.
The day’s final race again saw Anderson charge to the first corner to claim the second holeshot and pull away from the pack, until a crash on the fourth lap dropped him back to third place when he rejoined the action.
Closing in on the leaders, a second crash further ruined his chase for the lead and left the Honda racing for third place, until Luke Burkhart also suffered crash to gift Anderson with second place and the overall round win.
Anderson’s brilliant performance also launched him into the series lead and will now see the coveted red series-leader’s number plate on the #100 Woodstock Honda CRF450R in round three at Conondale (QLD).
The veteran racer’s Woodstock Honda Thor team mate, Daniel McCoy also enjoyed strong results and climbed up the championship order into the top five, today.
McCoy struggled in the early stages of the morning practice and qualifying session until a change of front tyre choice gave him better feel and confidence and he posted the tenth fastest qualifying time.
Staying out of trouble throughout both Pro Open motos, McCoy enjoyed an incident free run which allowed him to deliver a string of fast and extremely consistent laps, to finish in sixth and fifth places respectively.
Fifth overall for the round and fifth in the series, McCoy’s sights are now trained on reeling in the sixteen points to fourth place.
Round three of the 2008 Australian Motocross Nationals will be battled out on Sunday 4 May as the country’s top riders descend on Green Park, Conondale (QLD).
CRAIG ANDERSON:
“This has been a long time coming; my last race win was in Toowoomba in 2006.
“The top five guys all rode really well today, so it was great for me to get two good holeshots and run up the front from the start of both motos – I was pretty pumped with that.
“The Horsham track is really tough; it’s got so many jumps and takes so much energy out of you when you’re going up and down that much.
“I had a clean run in race one, but in the second moto, I crashed on lap four and went back to third, and then I got up and I started catching the leaders again and then on about lap seven I crashed again and I figured I was out of it then.
“I thought ‘that’s over now and I’ve just got to keep riding for third place’ and then with three laps to go Burkhart crashed which gave me second, so I guess you create your own luck.
“It’s great to have the series lead and go to the next round with the red plate on my bike, but it’s a long championship; there’s so many guys who are going so fast that it’s going to be tough all year.
“I’d rather have a four-point advantage than be behind chasing points, but to be honest, the only time it really matters who has the championship lead is at the end of the last race at the end of the season and that’s where we want to be.”
DANIEL McCOY:
“I wasn’t entirely happy with the initial bike set up that we had today and I was disappointed with my qualifying time, but the changes we made to the bike made a huge difference.
“In the first moto, I got a good jump and came out sixth and basically just rode my own race, stayed consistent and produced roughly the same lap times on every lap.
“After the first race we made some more adjustments and, with my bike set up feeling much better in the second race, I was able to push harder and we got some good title points and now I’m looking forward to doing better at Conondale.”
BRAD McALPINE, TEAM MANAGER:
“We came into this event five points adrift of the series lead and we’re leaving here with a four point advantage, so it’s good to have the points margin in our favour as we head to Queensland for round three.
“Conondale is a great circuit that is a favourite of a lot of the riders and will deliver some top racing.”
AUSTRALIAN MOTOCROSS CHAMPIONSHIP – PRO OPEN
RESULTS – OVERALL ROUND 2
1 Craig Anderson
2 Jay Marmont
3 Luke Burkhart
4 Daryl Hurley
5 Daniel McCoy
6 Troy Carroll
7 Cheyne Boyd
8 Nathan Crawford
9 Dean Porter
10 Toby Price
CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS
1 Craig Anderson 89
2 Jay Marmont 85
3 Daryl Hurley 85
4 Luke Burkhart 76
5 Daniel McCoy 60
6 Cheyne Boyd 51
7 Troy Carroll 43
8 Nathan Crawford 43
9 Cameron Taylor 40
10 Michael Addison 38
Pro Lites
Woodstock Honda Thor Racing’s Kade Mosig was a class above his Pro Lites rivals as he delivered the fledgling team’s first Australian Motocross Championship round win in Horsham (VIC), today.
Throwing down the gauntlet, a lightning fast opening lap in Pro Lites qualifying saw Mosig set the fastest lap of the day (1:50.922m) – even outpacing the Open class 450cc machines.
A disastrous start to the first of two 30-minute motos saw Mosig round out the first lap in 20th place, but powered the #118 CRF250R into eighth place by lap two.
Continuing the charge, Mosig was up into a podium position within a handful of laps and took on the round one winner to steal second place before setting after the race lead.
Running out of laps, Mosig was unable to complete the inevitable pass for the race win and had to settle for second place.
Mosig’s moto two start was a vastly different story as he took the holeshot and stormed of into the distance and was never challenged throughout the race duration.
Running out front from start to finish, Mosig set the fastest lap of the moto as he lapped the field up to 12th place and crossed the finish line 14.319 seconds ahead of his nearest rival to take the overall victory.
Mosig’s team mate Dean Ferris also delivered a brilliant fight back from a tough start in the opening race, with the rookie showing his star potential coming through from the rear of the pack to finish strongly in fifth place.
Race two saw Ferris with his work cut out for him as he again experienced difficulties at the start, but he produced a tenacious ride, steadily carving through the field to come home in fourth place to seal fourth overall for the round.
Entering the round just one point off the championship lead, Ferris now sits in third place in the series, while Mosig’s victory elevates him from seventh to fourth place.
With a three-week break in the racing calendar, Woodstock Honda Thor Racing will now prepare for round three of the 2008 Australian Motocross Nationals at Conondale (QLD), on Sunday 4 May.
KADE MOSIG:
“I’ve been training really hard and put everything I could into this; I was prepared both mentally and physically and my mechanic Luke did a fantastic job prepping my Honda to get the results today.
“I’m just going to keep chipping away at the series points lead and get myself up where I can battle for championship at the end of the season.”
DEAN FERRIS:
“I had some problems with starts and it probably wasn’t the best gate pick for moto one, and I had my work cut out for me, but I managed to fight back into fifth by the end.
“Not getting a good start makes your day so much harder and I messed up the start in race two and had to work my through again and got up to fourth.
“I’m not anxious about the championship; I’m only three points off the lead and I know I can work on my weaknesses then I’ll be getting a lot better results… I’ll be practicing my starts ahead of the next round.
“I’m really looking forward to going to Conondale for the next round – I’ve only ridden there once, but it is exactly the sort of track that I grew up riding, so I think we should go really well.”
BRAD McALPINE, TEAM MANAGER:
“We got off to a strong start, today… Kade set the fastest qualifying time for the second round in a row, and it was a pretty impressive time because he was the only rider to lap within the 1minute 50second bracket across Lites and Open classes all day.
“Start’s were our only weakness today, but both riders recovered brilliantly and showed just how strong the bikes are as they worked their way through the field to bring home some excellent results.
“While we are very happy with the package of the Woodstock Honda CRF250’s, we know there is still more to come as we continue our testing and development.
“As a new team, Kade’s round win is hugely rewarding and will give the whole team a boost as we head into the next round in Conondale.”
AUSTRALIAN MOTOCROSS CHAMPIONSHIP – PRO LITES
RESULTS – OVERALL ROUND 2
1 Kade Mosig
2 Adam Monea
3 Kirk Gibbs
4 Luke George
5 Dean Ferris
6 Lewis Woods
7 Lewis Stewart
8 Todd Waters
9 Ryan Marmont
10 Jayden Jessup
CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS
1 Luke George 80
2 Kirk Gibbs 78
3 Dean Ferris 77
4 Kade Mosig 72
5 Todd Waters 61
6 Adam Monea 57
7 Ryan Marmont 56
8 Damien King 46
9 Lewis Woods 41
10 Matt Ryan 39
