Moto News Weekly Wrap for July 7, 2015 with Darren Smart
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Australasian News
Predictable: KTM has gone 1-2 at the 2015 Hattah Desert Race with the predictable winner being Toby Price who took the lead from the out-set and was never challenged while his teammate and former motocross champion Tye Simmonds finished three minutes shy of Price but a solid two minutes in front of Yamaha’s Josh Green.
Predictable 2: Over in NZ, Ben Townley took his CRF450 to victory in the Tarawera 100 cross-country marathon ahead of Brad Groombridge and Hadleigh Knight. The victory is Townley’s third straight win of the 100 mile event.
American News
Cianciarulo OUT: Monster Energy/Pro Circuit Kawasaki’s Adam Cianciarulo missed Red Bud after sustaining a shoulder injury leading up the race.
Craig IN: GEICO Honda announced they have signed Christian Craig for the remainder of the 2015 season and the entire 2016 season. Craig is the son of former pro racer Michael Craig.
Tricker Third: Aussie Mackenzie Tricker went 3-3 at the AMA WMX Championship round held at Red Budd last weekend.
Euro News
More Injuries in World MX: Following on from their respective ankle and shoulder injuries sustained at round 10 of the 2015 FIM Motocross World Championship held in Germany on June 21, Husqvarna Motorcycles confirms that former MX1 championship leader Max Nagl will be out of action for the next two GPs while MX2 GP race winner Aleksandr Tonkov will be sidelined for the rest of the 2015 season.
Tixier Replaces Villopoto: Current MX2 FIM World Champion Jordi Tixier will remain faithful to Kawasaki for his move to the MXGP class in 2016 after signing with the Monster Energy Kawasaki Racing Team.
For his transfer to the MXGP class as he will turn 23 in November Jordi Tixier will continue his successfull career in Green. Moving to the Kawasaki MX2 Racing Team last winter after claiming the world title in 2014, the likeable Frenchman battled the heat in the early rounds of the series, but then rebounded dramatically to claim a succession of podiums to haul himself back to the top of the class. Now in contention for another top three series ranking in his final season racing the MX2 World Championship, Jordi will commit himself to this goal without any distraction during the last seven rounds of the series as he has already secured his future after signing with KRT for next season.
Coma Retires: Marc Coma has confirmed that he will not race the 2016 edition of the Dakar Rally after taking on a roll to assist with the events organisation. After racing the famous Dakar event 12 times with 5 victories along the way, Coma has been called upon to assist Etienne Lavigne as sporting director of the event. The Spaniard will be devoting his passion for the Dakar to helping the organisers, starting this week: he will be spending part of July carrying out reconnoitring for the 2016 edition.
It was a big decision for the rider who won the race in 2015 but the Spaniard is looking forward to focusing on the task at hand. “My first reaction was ‘wow’… I was in shock! Winning the Dakar five times was already a dream for me, but now I realise just how lucky I am being part of the organising team, with this level of responsibility is an opportunity for me to put back into the rally everything that the Dakar has given me”. Coma commented via the official Dakar website. “I still feel a bit like a competitor, but since I’ve started working, I get the feeling that I will be looking at the race from different angles. I know that it’s the right time for me. My goal is to put all my energy into ensuring that the Dakar remains the greatest rally in the world and my philosophy is to give priority to a sense of adventure”.
USA Out of World Junior Motocross Championships: The American Motorcyclist Association has announced that due to scheduling incompatibility, a U.S. team will be unable to defend the team championship it captured at last year’s World Junior Motocross Championship.
“Unfortunately, the July 19 date for the FIM Jr. Motocross World Championship in El Moral, Spain, is too close to the July 29 start of the AMA Amateur Motocross National Championship at Loretta Lynn’s for us to participate in both,” said AMA Motocross Manager Kip Bigelow. “It would be unreasonable to ask our motocross families, which invest significant resources into the national program, to also travel to Spain within a 10-day period.”
Raga Wins Again: For the second GP in a row Adam Raga has defeated the defending FIM Trials World Champion Toni Bou. This time it was at the GP of Andorra and with three GPs to go Raga has narrowed Bou’s points lead down to 2.
Chris Holder Back in Form: Chris Holder took four wins from seven rides at the Cardiff round of the Speedway World championships last weekend scoring a massive 18 points launching the former World Champion up into sixth place in the championships.
Niels-Kristian Iversen was the overall winner at the British Speedway GP from Holder and Kildemand.
Jason Doyle finished the night in tenth place on seven points while Troy Batchelor won one of the heat races before crashing out of the proceeding in the very next heat.
Tai Woffinden finished fourth in Cardiff but still leads the championship by 12 points over Nicki Pedersen who was disqualified for dirty riding (again).
Smarty’s Race Reports and Official Results from last Weekend
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FIM World Motocross Championship – Round 11 – Sweden
MX1 Race Report: With most of the serious championship contenders out of the series (Villopoto, Desalle, Nagl) along with Antonio Cairoli struggling on despite his injury this championship is Romain Febvre’s to loose and despite having to battle Kevin Strijbos in the second moto the young Frenchman dominated the Swedisg GP to score maximum points and extend his championship lead to 39 points.
“The weekend was really great. I had won three in a row coming here but had not gone 1-1, so to do that is so good,” said Febvre after the second moto. “The start was important to be able to reach the lead, ride safe and find good lines. In the second race I had the holeshot but because I went a little bit wide Kevin came inside. I knew it would be difficult to pass him because we had a nice battle on Saturday. I made a couple of mistakes and in my mind I was thinking second was enough to win the GP but after two laps I was again on his rear wheel so I decided again to try and pass and made it happen with three laps to go. The start is getting very important every race and we all have the same speed. We had some testing last week and we improved a lot our performance for the starts and also on the track. We will see…this weekend went pretty good so we can be happy with the job we did.”
Febvre’s teammate Jeremy Van Horebeek put together a second and a fifth on the day for second outright giving the Belgian his first podium finish since the MXGP of Czech Republic last year where he took his first MXGP class overall. “It has been a while! There was a lot of pressure at the beginning of the season but then I broke my foot and it was difficult to come back from that and I was struggling mentally and thinking ‘why is this happening to me?’. I regrouped and have been working really hard and it has been starting to pay off in the last weeks. I am still not totally satisfied however, I know I can do better.”
Kevin Strijbos is one of the most experienced riders in the MX1 field and after winning the qualifying race on Saturday was in reality the only rider who could have taken the win from Febvre but a mistake in the opening moto put pay to a possible win. “A podium is good! I wasn’t too happy with the first race though. I made a small mistake on the second corner and got pushed wide and dropped back to 15th. I made another mistake by myself and it was tough to pass. You needed a good start and that’s what I did in the second moto. I got into a fight with Febvre and it was tough because he was so fast in some places. I was trying to hold on and got some cramps in my legs by the end, which meant I was pushing the limit.”
Dean Ferris has overcome some early season injuries and is now 100% fit and ready to do battle with the front runners and if he keeps up the lightning starts we are sure to see a podium finish in the bear future. Here is what he said about his fourth place in Sweden, “It’s hard to fault this weekend. Getting my best overall result of the season here in Uddevalla for Husqvarna is brilliant. I would love to have got onto the podium – that’s my goal every time I race – but to end this MXGP just two points shy of it is very pleasing. I feel like I’ve got my starts dialled in now – I was top three both races – and that was a massive help on a tricky track like this. I rode great in race two and had a long battle with Antonio Cairoli while holding off pressure from behind. So overall it’s been good and I’m already keen to get to Latvia for next weekend.”
Like Ferris, Todd Waters is in great form and looking more and more comfortable battling with the best riders in the world and here is what he had to say of his day in Sweden, “I definitely feel like the confidence is building every time I’m out on track. The team has been working hard and with a few things we’ve changed and stepped up in training the results are coming more consistently. Race one was real good. My start wasn’t perfect but I was picking good lines and riding a smart race to work my way forward. Coming from about seventh or eighth to fourth on a difficult track like this was good. I wanted the same in race two but the watering of the track made it like an ice rink in places and the early laps were a bit sketchy. Once things settled down I wasn’t able to gain any ground and had to settle for seventh. But top five overall is a good positive to bring into Latvia.”
MXGP Race 1 Top Ten: 1. Romain Febvre (FRA, Yamaha), 34:28.955; 2. Jeremy Van Horebeek (BEL, Yamaha), +0:14.107; 3. Shaun Simpson (GBR, KTM), +0:18.097; 4. Todd Waters (AUS, Husqvarna), +0:18.528; 5. Gautier Paulin (FRA, Honda), +0:20.159; 6. Dean Ferris (AUS, Husqvarna), +0:25.268; 7. David Philippaerts (ITA, Yamaha), +0:31.278; 8. Kevin Strijbos (BEL, Suzuki), +0:32.398; 9. Glenn Coldenhoff (NED, Suzuki), +0:35.198; 10. Christophe Charlier (FRA, Honda), +0:43.540
MXGP Race 2 Top Ten: 1. Romain Febvre (FRA, Yamaha), 35:12.538; 2. Kevin Strijbos (BEL, Suzuki), +0:01.295; 3. Antonio Cairoli (ITA, KTM), +0:31.708; 4. Dean Ferris (AUS, Husqvarna), +0:33.610; 5. Jeremy Van Horebeek (BEL, Yamaha), +0:40.109; 6. Glenn Coldenhoff (NED, Suzuki), +0:42.819; 7. Todd Waters (AUS, Husqvarna), +0:45.235; 8. Evgeny Bobryshev (RUS, Honda), +0:48.698; 9. David Philippaerts (ITA, Yamaha), +1:01.555; 10. Gautier Paulin (FRA, Honda), +1:01.775
MXGP Overall Top Ten: 1. Romain Febvre (FRA, YAM), 50 points; 2. Jeremy Van Horebeek (BEL, YAM), 38 p.; 3. Kevin Strijbos (BEL, SUZ), 35 p.; 4. Dean Ferris (AUS, HUS), 33 p.; 5. Todd Waters (AUS, HUS), 32 p.; 6. Shaun Simpson (GBR, KTM), 30 p.; 7. Antonio Cairoli (ITA, KTM), 28 p.; 8. Glenn Coldenhoff (NED, SUZ), 27 p.; 9. Gautier Paulin (FRA, HON), 27 p.; 10. David Philippaerts (ITA, YAM), 26 p
MXGP Championship Top Ten: 1. Romain Febvre (FRA, YAM), 419 points; 2. Antonio Cairoli (ITA, KTM), 380 p.; 3. Maximilian Nagl (GER, HUS), 360 p.; 4. Gautier Paulin (FRA, HON), 351 p.; 5. Evgeny Bobryshev (RUS, HON), 319 p.; 6. Clement Desalle (BEL, SUZ), 291 p.; 7. Shaun Simpson (GBR, KTM), 257 p.; 8. Jeremy Van Horebeek (BEL, YAM), 232 p.; 9. Todd Waters (AUS, HUS), 224 p.; 10. Glenn Coldenhoff (NED, SUZ), 196 p. 13. Dean Ferris (AUS, HUS), 164 p.
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MX2 Race Report
After Jeffrey Herlings took the win in the opening moto it was business as usual for all of the MX2 riders who have lived in the shadow of Herlings for years now. Herlings is lucky to even be racing after breaking his collarbone at the German GP and having nine screws and a plate put in place in a bid to keep racing but in the early part of the second moto the Dutchman slid put, crashed and severely gashed one of his fingers thus not scoring any points. Herlings still leads the championship by 78 points.
Tim Gajser is the form riders in the MX2 series and almost passed Herlings in the opening moto before settling for second place but in the second moto there was no stopping the Honda rider. “I am really happy with the weekend. I felt good all weekend and it was awesome on the track. In the first race I made many mistakes, but in the second I got a good start, although I nearly went down when Jeffrey crashed, but I was able to keep it on two weeks and get the win.”
Despite having two poor starts and collecting Herlings during his second moto crash Valentin Guillod was one of the fastest guys on the track and managed third and fourth for second overall. “Herlings went down in front of me and I hit him and bent my gear shifter so I had to ride changing gears with my heel. On the first laps I had to learn to use it like that so it took me some time to figure out how to do it”, Guillod said after race two.
Swiss rider Jeremy Seewer’s second place in moto two was the best race result of his career and thanks to a hard fought seventh in the opening moto he scored his third podium finish of the season. “The second race was really good, with my second holeshot of the year, and was vital on that track and with that much water. I struggled a bit with my pace and was riding too conservative. I led, but Tim was too strong. I passed Jordi and finished second even though he was pushing hard at the end. It feels great to finish second and I wasn’t expecting a podium because of my small mistake in the first race. It is amazing to be ‘on it’ again and with fifth place in the first moto my result could have been even better but I’m happy.”
Defending champion Jordi Tixier was forced out of the opening moto with a broken header pipe while sitting in fifth place then bounced back for third in the second for 9th outright on the day while Paul Jonass led the opening moto before being shoved back to fourth by Herling, Gasjer and Guillod but the Latvian crashed heavily in the second moto with what can only be described as a scrub gone wrong. When will they learn….
MX2 Race 1 Top Ten: 1. Jeffrey Herlings (NED, KTM), 35:10.178; 2. Tim Gajser (SLO, Honda), +0:07.770; 3. Valentin Guillod (SUI, Yamaha), +0:14.010; 4. Pauls Jonass (LAT, KTM), +0:21.869; 5. Vsevolod Brylyakov (RUS, Honda), +0:23.943; 6. Brent Van doninck (BEL, Yamaha), +0:25.324; 7. Jeremy Seewer (SUI, Suzuki), +0:26.261; 8. Brian Bogers (NED, KTM), +0:52.897; 9. Ivo Monticelli (ITA, KTM), +0:57.424; 10. Jorge Zaragoza (ESP, Honda), +1:03.012
MX2 Race 2 Top Ten: 1. Tim Gajser (SLO, Honda), 34:10.850; 2. Jeremy Seewer (SUI, Suzuki), +0:02.097; 3. Jordi Tixier (FRA, Kawasaki), +0:02.758; 4. Valentin Guillod (SUI, Yamaha), +0:18.776; 5. Vsevolod Brylyakov (RUS, Honda), +0:19.725; 6. Julien Lieber (BEL, Yamaha), +0:22.466; 7. Max Anstie (GBR, Kawasaki), +0:38.816; 8. Brian Bogers (NED, KTM), +0:40.653; 9. Roberts Justs (LAT, KTM), +0:48.374; 10. Benoit Paturel (FRA, Yamaha), +0:49.537
MX2 Overall Top Ten: 1. Tim Gajser (SLO, HON), 47 points; 2. Valentin Guillod (SUI, YAM), 38 p.; 3. Jeremy Seewer (SUI, SUZ), 36 p.; 4. Vsevolod Brylyakov (RUS, HON), 32 p.; 5. Brian Bogers (NED, KTM), 26 p.; 6. Brent Van doninck (BEL, YAM), 25 p.; 7. Jeffrey Herlings (NED, KTM), 25 p.; 8. Roberts Justs (LAT, KTM), 22 p.; 9. Jordi Tixier (FRA, KAW), 20 p.; 10. Benoit Paturel (FRA, YAM), 20 p.
MX2 Championship Top Ten: 1. Jeffrey Herlings (NED, KTM), 423 points; 2. Tim Gajser (SLO, HON), 345 p.; 3. Valentin Guillod (SUI, YAM), 335 p.; 4. Jeremy Seewer (SUI, SUZ), 311 p.; 5. Pauls Jonass (LAT, KTM), 307 p.; 6. Jordi Tixier (FRA, KAW), 306 p.; 7. Max Anstie (GBR, KAW), 262 p.; 8. Julien Lieber (BEL, YAM), 259 p.; 9. Aleksandr Tonkov (RUS, HUS), 256 p.; 10. Dylan Ferrandis (FRA, KAW), 205 p
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AMA Motocross Championships – Round 6 – Red Budd
450 Race Report
Justin Barcia has two things going for him right now. The first being his starts, JB is hot out of the gate and the most committed through the first corner and second is belief, Barcia really believes his is the best rider out there and is willing to put it all on the line to prove that points.
Barcia’s 2-1 moto finished scored the Yamaha rider his second overall win in a row. “In the first moto I got the holeshot, but Ryan [Dungey] closed in and made the pass. I closed back in but then some lappers got in the way and separated us a bit, but I was feeling confident and happy with the result,” said Barcia. “I won last week in the mud and I knew people would think that I won because of [the conditions], so I really wanted to win in dry [conditions] and show I’m able to fight for the win every weekend. Ryan kept me honest in that last moto. He was on me the whole time. It was unbelievable. For me, it was just hammer down the whole time. This is a bigger win for me [than last week] because RedBud is such a challenging track.”
For Ryan Dungey the day could have been much better with 1-2 finishes but his end goal of the championship win was bolstered by gaining a few more points on Ken Roczen and now leads the series by 44 points. “I think we had a great day. We got second in both starts, but if there was anything it’d be there and being able to take the lead on that opening lap,” said Dungey. “Overall the day was good and I’m happy with that. The track got rough and it made trying to push forward that much more challenging. I try to win every race, but you still have to be smart and make the right choices. Sometimes you just have to realize it’s not always worth pushing it too much.”
As for Roczen the day was spent coming through from mediocre starts to finish 3-3 on the day for third overall, one position in front of his teammate Broc Tickle.
Red Budd 450 Overall: 1. Justin Barcia (Yam) 2-1. 2. Ryan Dungey (KTM) 1-2. 3. Ken Roczen (Suz) 3-3. 4. Broc Tickle (Suz) 4-7. 5. Weston Peick (Yam) 5-6. 6. Christophe Pourcel (Hus) 10-4. 7. Fredrik Noren (Hon) 7-8. 8. Blake Baggett (Suz) 6-9. 9. Justin Brayton (KTM) 9-10. 10. Tommy Hahn (Kaw) 8-12.
450 Points (After 7 of 12 Rounds): 1. Ryan Dungey – 303. 2. Ken Roczen – 259. 3. Justin Barcia – 240. 4. Blake Baggett – 212. 5. Jason Anderson – 197. 6. Broc Tickle – 190. 7. Christophe Pourcel – 186. 8. Weston Peick – 171. 9. Phil Nicoletti – 151. 10. Fredrik Noren – 132.
250 Race Report
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Jeremy Martin put together a pair of wins at Red Budd but he did it the hard way. In moto one Martin dropped back to fourth behind Christian Craig, Cooper Web and Marvin Musquin before finding the speed to rip through to the lead on the final lap then in the second moto Martin was sitting in third behind Webb and Craig when Webb crashed and baulked Craig thus handing the win to Martin who now has the red plate and a seven point lead over Musquin.
Martin had this to say to RacerX. “Yeah, I got off to two really good starts. Was actually leading the first moto there for a little bit and then my arms got rock solid. I made a mistake with the suspension between the last practice and the first moto. Really struggled for a while and those guys passed me. I was like, oh man, here we go. But I was able to turn around and get back up there.”
Zach Osborne snuck in two very good riders for second overall ahead of Webb who had it in the bag until he got caught out in a deep rut a fell.
Marvin Musquin did the best he could under the circumstances, I will let MM explain: “It was not good. It could have been a lot worse because I hurt my wrist again this week. So since Lakewood I’ve been dealing with a stretched ligament and a bruise on the bone. It’s been tough in practice. I’ve had good days at practice and then bad days every time I would tweak the wrist. But I’ve been dealing with it and on race day it’s been really good. But this week I hurt it again and it’s been painful. I thought it was going to be okay and actually beginning of the motos I was actually happy and I had strength on my hand but then it was getting worse and worse, especially on those downhills. Every time off the gas I put pressure on my hand and then it would hurt the bone on top. Acceleration, pulling, doing wheelie off the rollers, it was actually good. But every time I was off the gas, I couldn’t really do whatever I want with the handlebar, put the bike wherever I want. So it was so frustrating and mentally it was tough. It was painful. It was hard to get passed by riders and also knowing Jeremy did good today. But it’s not the end of the world. We try our best every time and we’re going to try to get better.”
Aussie Hayden Mellross definitely has the pace to be a consistent top 20 rider but he always seems to have one bad moto on any given day – here is what he had to say of his day. “Tough weekend at redbudd! Crashed twice in Moto 1 and finished 26th. Moto 2 was better, I didn’t get a great start but found some good lines and kept it consistent all Moto to finished 19th.”
Red Budd 250 Overall: 1. Jeremy Martin (Yam) 1-1. 2. Zach Osborne (Hus) 3-2. 3. Cooper Webb (Yam) 2-5. 4. Christian Craig (Hon) 6-3. 5. Alex Martin (Yam) 5-4. 6. Marvin Musquin (KTM) 4-6. 7. Aaron Plessinger (Yam) 9-9. 8. Chris Alldredge (Kaw) 8-10. 9. Jessy Nelson (KTM) 7-11. 10. R.J. Hampshire (Hon) 14-8. 21. Hayden Mellross (Hon) 26-19.
250 Points (After 7 of 12 Rounds): 1. Jeremy Martin – 298. 2. Marvin Musquin – 291. 3. Zach Osborne – 207. 4. Joey Savatgy – 191. 5. Alex Martin – 188. 6. Jessy Nelson – 188. 7. Adam Cianciarulo – 178. 8. Matt Biscelgia – 142. 9. Aaron Plessinger – 142. 10. Chris Alldredge – 137.
Australian MX Nationals – Round 6 – Raymond Terrace
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MX1
It was a welcome return to speed and form for Matt Moss at Raymond Terrace with the defending champion taking Superpole and a win in the opening moto. Kirk Gibbs scored the holeshot in the opening moto but was eventually chased down by Moss who then managed to pull away from the KTM rider and win the opening bout.
Kirk Gibbs had to come from behind and overhaul Luke Styke before going on to take moto two victory ahead of his teammate, with Dan Reardon taking third ahead of Moss and Adam Monea.
Kirk Gibbs 1st: “It was a good day, like I said beforehand, Raymond Terrace hasn’t been the best for me, so to turn it around and have some good luck is a bit of a weight off my shoulders to finally get a win here. First moto I pulled a ripper start, but I just struggled a little bit and just didn’t feel 100% confident in the bike, so after that first moto I sat down with a team, Danny did some changes to the suspension and we went 100% in the right direction. It was such a blessing to ride in that second moto. I just had a lot of fun, I was third with a start, and Reardon got past me in the first couple of laps while I was gelling with the bike, and then I started ticking off laps and went into the lead.”
Matt Moss 2nd: “It was good to get my first superpole win of the season that was for sure, “ Moss commented. “Obviously the first couple of rounds did not go to plan and to start the day at Raymond Terrace with a Superpole win was a big help to my confidence. Leading into the round I felt confident, we worked hard during the mid-season break and I am starting to find my feet again. It was definitely a good round to figure out where I am with everything and make sure things were working well. To land back on the podium was a great feeling, the bike felt great all day and the team was behind me 100% , it was a huge step towards getting back onto that top step overall and to remind everyone what we are capable off and why we have this number one plate on our bike.”
Luke Styke 3rd: “It was a good weekend, I feel like it was a good rebound from the last two rounds before the break. I found a bit of form towards the end of that first race and put a good charge in, I had good pace and it was a good feeling to catch Mossy and Gibbsy up front. That last Moto I got the holeshot and that helps, you know? It’s not real nice getting 450 roost in the face, so that made my race a lot easier. But I made a little mistake over the back of the track and Gibbs snuck up the inside of me. He’s riding good at the moment, so it was good to have a battle with him and have similar pace.”
MX1 Overall: 1. Kirk Gibbs – 67pts. 2. – Matt Moss – 63pts. 3. – Luke Styke – 62pts. 4. Dan Reardon – 52pts. 5. Adam Monea – 51pts. 6. Dylan Long – 50pts. 7. Kade Mosig – 49pts. 8. Cody Cooper – 48pts. 9. Jesse Dobson – 43pts. 10. Ford Dale – 43pts. 11. Kale Makeham – 41pts. 12. Lawson Bopping – 36pts.
MX1 Series Standings: 1. Kirk Gibbs – 411pts. 2. Luke Styke – 351pts. 3. Adam Monea – 334pts. 4. Kade Mosig – 331pts. 5. Lawson Bopping – 320pts. 6. Dan Reardon – 286pts. 7. Dylan Long – 284pts. 8. Jesse Dobson – 283pts. 9. Cody Cooper – 267pts. 10. Kale Makeham – 221pts.
MX2
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Be it on soft or hard surfaces there is no stopping Caleb Ward right now. The Queenslander took second place to local rider Dylan Willis in the opening moto but in the second moto Ward simply blitzed the entire MX2 field.
As far as the championship goes Jay Wilson scored second overall at Raymond Terrace to take the championship lead by five points over Luke Clout who managed fourth overall wile Takeshi Katsuya had his worst round with ninth overall but keeps third place in the championship points.
Caleb Ward 1st: “It was a good day, I got a reasonable start and I knew it was a 30-minute so I didn’t panic and just made my way through. Dylan had about seven seconds on me and was riding really well – but I made a few little mistakes at the end and he managed to get the win. I actually hit neutral in one of the corners at the end and tipped over, so that was one of those random things but second was still decent. Race two I got a perfect start and pretty much checked out, and just kept pulling away every lap. Last year I copped it a little bit for riding the two-stroke and winning in the sand, so it’s good to come down here on a 4-stroke and win on hard pack.”
Takeshi Katsuya 9th: “I was running in about 4th place around the first turn of the second moto until I got tangled with another rider. I got pushed forward and my body hit the handlebars but I managed to push myself to finish the race and get some points. Overall I was hoping to do better but it was a good result considering the crash in moto two.”
MX2 Overall: 1. Caleb Ward – 67pts. 2. Jay Wilson – 62pts. 3. Dylan Wills – 53pts. 4. Luke Clout – 52pts. 5. Luke Arbon – 51pts. 6. Jed Beaton – 50pts. 7. Joel Wightman – 47pts. 8. Wade Hunter – 42pts. 9. Takeshi Katsuya – 42pts. 10. Matt Ryan – 41pts.
MX2 Series Standings: 1. Jay Wilson – 343pts. 2. Luke Clout – 338pts. 3. Takeshi Katsuya – 323pts. 4. Jed Beaton – 300pts. 5. Wade Hunter – 288pts. 6. Luke Arbon – 279pts. 7. Caleb Ward – 249pts. 8. Geran Stapleton – 243pts. 9. Nathan Crawford – 234pts. 10. Hamish Harwood – 225pts.
