Smarty’s Thoughts for Feb 18
Fresh from winning rounds six and seven of the AMA Supercross Championships, James Stewart has signed with Yoshimura Suzuki for the 2015 season. After a rocky few years on the Yamaha YZF450, James has really found a home at Suzuki over the last two seasons so this announcement was no surprise.
Chad Reed tried hard to get through round seven of the AMA Supercross Championship despite several injuries as a result of his crash last weekend but the plucky Aussie had to pull out two laps into the qualifying session as a result of the pain. Whether this puts Chad out for the SX season and he starts getting healthy for the AMA Motocross Championship has yet to be announced.
The 250SX East Coast riders hit the track for the first time at Arlington and there was plenty of interest for us Aussies with Jackson Richardson and Taylor Potter both on deck punting CRF250R Hondas. Richardson qualified to the night program with the 25th fastest time while Potter made it through with the 35th fastest time. There were 73 riders vying for the top 40 spots so 25th and 35th for our boys is more than impressive.
Richardson managed to sneak into the main event with a third in the LCQ while Potter struggled with starts all night and despite posting good lap times will have to wait till next week for another chance to get onto the main event start gate. See the full report and results below.
Todd Waters and Luke Style raced at the GP Star riddled final round of the Italian Motocross Championship last weekend and both took away solid results over their two motos. Waters finished sixth in the MX1 Moto and seventh in the Elite Moto to finish third outright in both championships while Styke’s first outing in Europe garnered a sensational fifth place in the MX2 Moto and a come from behind 20th in the Elite Moto. Waters and Styke will now head to the UK to race the Hawkstone Park International this weekend before they pack up their gear and head to Qatar for the opening round of the World Motocross Championship on March 1.
Daniel McCoy managed fifth place in the final at round six of the 2014 Garmin Arenacross Championship held in Sheffield last weekend. Unfortunately it will be a long shot for McCoy to take the championship as he now has a 24-point deficit to championship leader Fabien Izoird with just one round remaining.
The annual WA Summercross was held last Saturday night at Coastal Parl, Henderson and despite a great start to the night, Dean Porter crashed hard in the whoop section and at the time of writing is in a Perth hospital awaiting the results from x-rays on his back. Porter has a suspected fracture of the L4 and L5.
“Ahh the pain is nothing compared to the disappointment,” said Porter from his hospital bed. “Thanks for all the messages guys. I was having great fun last night and to win the first moto of both classes was a good start. Just made a mistake in the woops and paid the price, I will be back again.”
Louis Calvin took out the MX1 win from Daniel Kreppold and Carson Bascombe while David Birch was the MX2 class winner.
This week we have the race reports and results from:
– Round 7 of the AMA Supercross being held at Arlington, Texas
– Round 7 of the Amsoil Arenacross Series held at Nampa, Idaho
– Round 5 of the Garmin Arenacross Series held at Newcastle, UK
– Round 3 of the Italian Motocross Championship being held Montevarchi
– Round 2 of the 2014 KTM Australian Enduro-X Championship held at Parramatta Speedway
– 2014 Hell’s Gate Hard Enduro held in Tuscany, Italy
2014 KTM Australian Enduro-X Championship – Round 2 – Parramatta Speedway
Over the three finals that made up round two of the KTM Australian Enduro-X Championships, off-road legend Mike Brown shared race wins with local speedsters Chris Hollis and Toby Price but is was Hollis’ more consistent 2-1-2 finishes that gave the Yamaha pilot the overall win and championship lead while Price scored second overall with his 3-3-1 finishes against Brown’s 1-6-4.
Pro motocrosser Beau Ralston turned up and managed a podium in one of the finals for fourth outright while Peter Boyle also grabbed one podium for fifth outright but Hollis now has a 13 point lead over Price leading into the final round to be held at Victoria’s Calder Park on March the 2nd.
“What a crazy night,” Hollis said. “It had been threatening to rain all day then it starts when the shootout is lining up. The rain certainly made the course tricky and meant that all out aggression wasn’t the way to get around, I just focused on getting good starts to keep clear vision and making no mistakes as you can never go as fast after you have crashed in the mud. I made plenty of mistakes but was able to keep it on two wheels and finish in a good place every race.”
“The YZ250F was again perfect in these conditions and I really enjoy riding the 205F in these Enduro X events. We have one round to go in Melbourne at the end of the month so myself and the CDR Yamaha team will keep working as anything can happen at these races,” Hollis enthused.
Toby Price isn’t satisfied with his results. “It’s a bit frustrating tonight. I got a couple of heat wins and was the fastest guy in the qualifier but then there was a light shower and compared to my bigger bike the 250 guys seemed to get a bit more drive off the start. It’s frustrating because I’m putting in the hard work, but we know it’s just around the corner. It’s a little bit hard to get a championship win now, but we’ll see how the last round plays out.”
Mike Brown enjoyed the event. “The track was nice, just a little slippery when the rain came in, then I tried a little too hard I think, and made a few more mistakes than it was worth! But it was a good fun night on a great track, and it was good racing with the guys. The track was awesome, more like an X-games track you know, a little faster, not so many obstacles and a bit more spread apart. I enjoyed the competition, shoot yeah, everyone was super good, especially when the rain came down, the track slowed down and you had to show a bit more throttle control – which I wasn’t sometimes. It was good to get Husky up there; that was the main focus. The goal was to win and that we’ll shoot for that next time. I’m super-excited – I had a really good time and looking forward to the next one.”
Round 2 Pro Class Overall (Top Ten): 1. Chris Hollis – 69. 2. Toby Price – 65. 3. Mike Brown – 58. 4. Beau Ralston – 53. 5. Peter Boyle – 52. 6. Daniel Milner – 47. 7. Tom McCormack – 45. 8. Scott Keegan – 37. 9. Glenn Kearney – 34. 10. Lachlan Stanford – 32. 11. Jack Field – 23. 12. John Day – 12.
Pro Class Points after 2 of 3 rounds (Top Ten): 1. Chris Hollis – 138. 2. Toby Price – 125. 3. Daniel Milner 112. 4. Peter Boyle – 106. 5. Tom McCormack – 92. 6. Mike Brown – 58. 7. Beau Ralston – 53. 8. Stefan Granquist – 48. 9. Brodie Waugh – 42. 10. Scott Keegan – 37.
2014 Monster Energy AMA Supercross Championship – Round 7 – Aarlington, Texas
450 Race Report: Ryan Dungey managed his second holeshot for the year to lead James Stewart, Justin Barcia, Justin Brayton, Ken Roczen and Ryan Villopoto for the first lap.
The track was hard and slippery forcing riders to fight for traction but that didn’t stop Stewart from passing Dungey on lap three while Barcia lost a place to Brayton and was soon after almost passed by Roczen but the Honda rider returned fire by ripping a whip on the next triple and looking back at Roczen in defiance.
Barcia’s whip was the source of some rumblings in the pits after the race with Roczen letting his thoughts known by saying, “I don’t know what’s the matter with Barcia. He almost killed both of us over the triple. He’s not the brightest light in the room.”
Holding on to that position proved fruitful for Barcia as he managed to move up to Brayton and pass the Yamaha rider for third place which in turn put a buffer between himself and the Roczen/Villopoto freight train that was closing in on the final podium position.
With Stewart a couple of seconds in front of Dungey who in turn had a fair gap back to Barcia all eyes were on Brayton, Roczen and Villopoto to see who if there were any last lap dramas like there was last weekend but as he does so often Villopoto made the right moves to get by Roczen then Brayton to minimise the point damage and in fact increase his championship lead over Roczen to 12 points.
Stewart’s win was the first back-to-back 450SX win for 2014 reducing his deficit to Villopoto to just 14 points with plenty of racing left in the season. As a footnote, Stewart now moves to within one victory of tying Ricky Carmichael for second on the all-time 450SX Class wins list.
“I’m so happy,” exclaimed Stewart. “I thought we needed to be better for the Main Event and we were. The track was really difficult and I knew I had to get myself to a certain point in order to make a pass and control the race. The championship doesn’t matter right now. We just need to keep riding like we are. If we do that, then we’ll be good.”
“We had a little bit of ups and downs since Phoenix,” said Dungey. “But it’s been good, we had a good week and we got a good start tonight and it would have been nice to keep going with that win, but at the same time I thought it was really good.”
For the Weston Peick fans the race did not go to plan but the stocky Suzuki privateer was making ground into the serious points late in the race only to land on JGR Yamaha’s fill in rider Phil Nicoletti late in the race to end up in 20th.
Heat 1 (Top Four to Main): 1. J. Stewart. 2. J. Barcia. 3. W. Peick. 4. R. Dungey. 5. E. Tomac. 6. B. Tickle. 7. C. Blose. 8. K. Chisholm. 9. K. Rusk. 10. D. Meynet.
Heat 2 (Top Four to Main): 1. K. Roczen. 2. R. Villopoto. 3. J. Hill. 4. M. Alessi. 5. J. Brayton. 6. W. Hahn. 7. I. Tedesco. 8. M. Goerke. 9. A. Short. 10. N. Wey.
Semi 1 (Top Five to Main): 1. W. Hahn. 2. B. Tickle. 3. J. Albertson. 4. K. Chisholm. 5. P. Nicoletti. 6. N. Wey. 7. M. Goerke. 8. A. Enticknap. 9. J. Oswald. 10. D. Meynet.
Semi 2 (Top Five to Main): 1. J. Brayton. 2. A. Short. 3. C. Blose. 4. T. Parks. 5. E. Tomac. 6. I. Tedesco. 7. J. Sipes. 8. R. Stewart. 9. N. Schmidt. 10. K. Rusk
LCQ: 1 (Top Four to Main): 1. J. Sipes. 2. M. Goerke. 3. N. Wey. 4. I. Tedesco. 5. K. Rusk. 6. N. Schmidt. 7. J. Oswald. 8. A. Enticknap. 9. R. Stewart. 10. D. Raper.
Main Event: 1. J. Stewart. 2. R. Dungey. 3. J. Barcia. 4. R. Villopoto. 5. J. Brayton. 6. K. Roczen. 7. B. Tickle. 8. W. Hahn. 9. J. Hill. 10. A. Short. 11. E. Tomac. 12. I. Tedesco. 13. K. Chisholm. 14. N. Wey. 15. M. Goerke. 16. J. Sipes. 17. C. Blose. 18. J. Albertson. 19. M. Alessi. 20. W. Peick.
450SX Championship Standings After Round 7 of 17: 1. Ryan Villopoto 144pts Kaw. 2. Ken Roczen 132pts KTM. 3. James Stewart 130pts Suz. 4. Ryan Dungey 116pts KTM. 5. Justin Brayton 114pts Yam. 6. Chad Reed 111pts Kaw. 7. Justin Barcia 109pts Hon. 8. Andrew Short 83pts KTM. 9. Wil Hahn 65pts Hon. 10. Broc Tickle 63pts Suz. 11. Ivan Tedesco 55pts KTM. 12. Weston Peick 54pts Suz. 13. Jake Weimer 50pts Kaw. 14. Nick Wey 39pts Kaw. 15. Josh Hill 38pts Suz. 16. Josh Grant 35pts Yam. 17. Mike Alessi 34pts Suz. 18. Matt Goerke 32pts KTM. 19. Matt Moss 28pts Suz. 20. Vince Friese 28pts Hon.
250 Race Report: It was an all green affair going through the first turn with teen sensation Adam Cianciarulo leading the field ahead of his Monster Energy/Pro Circuit Kawasaki teammates Martin Davalos and Blake Baggett. Davalos had been the fastest rider on track all day and that speed saw the class veteran take the lead from Cianciarulo going through the second turn.
Davalos held the lead for the next three laps before losing the front end and high-siding as he swept into a slick left hander so for the second time Cianciarulo held the lead with Baggett holding second ahead of Gavin Faith and Anthony Rodriguez but Faith went missing at the half way point while Rodriguez went down hard in the same corner as Davalos and was taken from the track via the Asterisk Medical team. Davalos came back from his crash to now sits in third place.
On lap nine Baggett sliced under Cianciarulo for the lead but Cianciarulo wasn’t about to let the opportunity for the win to pass by and shot back to the lead on the very next straight and from there stretched his lead to take the win in his first Pro supercross race ahead of Baggett and Davalos for an all-Monster Energy/Pro Circuit Kawasaki podium.
“I couldn’t be more pumped,” said Cianciarulo. “This is for everyone who has stuck behind me through all the good times and bad. It’s taken a lot of good days and a lot of bad days to get to this point. I cannot believe it, all these fans cheering for me and giving me the support. I just can’t believe it. We did it.”
Jackson Richardson was caught up in a first corner crash and struggled to make ground on the slippery track and finished in 17th place. Look for Jackson to rebound next week and get among the serious points.
Heat 1 (Top 9 to Main): 1. A. Cianciarulo. 2. B. Baggett. 3. A. Rodriguez. 4. M. Lemoine. 5. C. Thompson. 6. V. Friese. 7. M. Oldenburg. 8. D. Herrlein. 9. G. Audette. 10. A. Catanzaro.
Heat 2 (Top 9 to Main): 1. M. Davalos. 2. B. Wharton. 3. G. Faith. 4. J. Decotis. 5. M. Biscelgia. 6. K. Cunningham. 7. K. Peters. 8. A. Martin. 9. L. Kilbarger. 10. J. Bogle. 11. J. Owen. 12. J. Richardson. 17. T. Potter.
LCQ (Top 4 to Main): 1. J. Bogle. 2. A. Catanzaro. 3. J. Richardson. 4. J. Wentland. 5. J. Owen. 6. N. Myers. 7. J. Martin. 8. A. Lopes. 9. O. Barbaree. 10. J. Craft. 13. T. Potter.
Main Event: 1. A. Cianciarulo. 2. B. Baggett. 3. M. Davalos. 4. V. Friese. 5. J. Bogle. 6. C. Thompson. 7. B. Wharton. 8. K. Cunningham. 9. A. Martin. 10. M. Oldenburg. 11. K. Peters. 12. L. Kilbarger. 13. A. Catanzaro. 14. J. Wentland. 15. J. Decotis. 16. G. Audette. 17. J. Richardson. 18. D. Herrlein. 19. M. Bisceglia. 20. G. Faith.
250SX East Regional Championship Standings After Round 1 of 9: 1. Adam Cianciarulo 25pts Kaw. 2. Blake Baggett 22pts Kaw. 3. Martin Davalos 20pts Kaw. 4. Vince Friese 18pts Hon. 5. Justin Bogle 16pts Hon. 6. Cole Thompson 15pts KTM. 7. Blake Wharton 14pts Hon. 8. Kyle Cunningham 13pts Hon. 9. Alex Martin 12pts Yam. 10. Mitchell Oldenburg 11pts Hon. 11. Kyle Peters 10pts Hon. 12. Levi Kilbarger 9pts Hon. 13. AJ Catanzaro 8pts Hon. 14. Jesse Wentland 7pts Hon. 15. Jimmy Decotis 6pts Hon. 16. Gannon Audette 5pts Kaw. 17. Jackson Richardson 4pts Hon. 18. Daniel Herrlein 3pts Hon. 19. Matt Bisceglia 2pts Hon. 20. Gavin Faith 1pt Hon.
250SX West Regional Championship Standings After Round 6 of 9: 1. Jason Anderson Rio – 131. 2. Cole Seely – 127. 3. Justin Hill – 107. 4. Dean Wilson – 98. 5. Cooper Webb – 92. 6. Malcolm Stewart – 89. 7. Jessy Nelson – 76. 8. Shane Mcelrath – 71. 9. Zach Osborne – 69. 10. Dean Ferris – 63. 11. Michael Leib – 51. 12. Dakota Tedder – 50. 13. Jake Canada – 46. 14. Scott Champion – 46. 15. Valentin Teillet – 28. 16. Cole Martinez – 24. 17. Darryn Durham – 21. 18. Topher Ingalls – 19. 19. Preston Mull – 17. 20. Chris Plouffe – 13.
2014 Monster Energy AMA Supercross Series an FIM World Championship
Rd 8: February 22 – Georgia Dome – Atlanta
Rd 9: March 1 – Lucas Oil Stadium – Indianapolis
Rd 10: March 8 – Daytona International Speedway – Daytona Beach, Fla.
Rd 11: March 15 – Ford Field – Detroit
Rd 12: March 22 – Rogers Centre – Toronto
Rd 13: March 29 – Edward Jones Dome – St. Louis
Rd 14: April 5 – Reliant Stadium – Houston
Rd 15: April 12 – Century Link Field – Seattle
Rd 16: April 26 – MetLife Stadium – East Rutherford, N.J.
Rd 17: May 3 – Sam Boyd Stadium – Las Vegas
Amsoil Arenacross – Nampa, Idaho
Zach Ames continues to lead the Amsoil Arenacross Championships ahead of arch rival Tyler Bowers by the narrowest of margins after two nights of hard racing at Nampa, Idaho last weekend.
Bowers and Ames actually tied on points on Friday but Bowers won the overall after he was credited with a point from his win in the Head-To-Head competition held earlier in the night and on the second night Bowers 2-3 moto finishes just outpointed Ames 1-5 finishes leaving Ames with a three point lead going into the Reno, Nevada round next week.
In the West Region Lites class Daniel Blair came away from Nampa as the championship leader after a solid second place to Steven Mages on Friday night then backing that up with a win on Saturday night. Blair has a three point lead over Mages and a four point lead over Gray Davenport at this early stage of the championships.
Friday Arenacross Overall: 1. Tyler Bowers (3-1) Kaw. 2. Zach Ames (1-2) Kaw. 3. Kyle Regal (5-3) Hon. 4. Gared Steinke (4-5) Kaw. 5. Cory Green (7-6) Suz. 6. Colt Nichols (9-7) Kaw. 7. Nathan Skaggs (6-9) Kaw. 8. Mike McDade (2-14) Kaw. 9. Travis Sewell (8-8) KTM. 10. Steven Mages (15-4) Kaw
Saturday Arenacross Overall: 1. Jacob Hayes (3-1) Hon. 2. Tyler Bowers (2-3) Kaw. 3. Zach Ames (1-5) Kaw. 4. Kelly Smith (6-4) KTM. 5. Gared Steinke (4-6) Kaw. 6. Kyle Regal (8-2) Hon. 7. Travis Sewell (7-7) KTM. 8. Colt Nichols (5-9) Kaw. 9. Cory Green (9-10) Suz. 10. Nathan Skaggs (12-8) Kaw.
Arenacross Point Standings: 1. Zach Ames – 301. 2. Tyler Bowers – 298. 3. Jacob Hayes – 229. 4. Kyle Regal – 201. 5. Michael McDade – 196. 6. Cory Green – 189. 7. Willy Browning – 189. 8. Travis Sewell – 185. 9. Colt Nichols – 178. 10. Gared Steinke – 169.
Friday West Region Lites Overall: 1. Steven Mages Kaw. 2. Daniel Blair KTM. 3. Gared Steinke KTM. 4. Gray Davenport Kaw. 5. Kyle White Hon. 6. Brandon Glenn KTM. 7. Brian Alquist KTM. 8. Jeremy Pronovost KTM. 9. Lane Staley KTM. 10. Josh Diercks Hon
Saturday West Region Lites Overall: 1. Daniel Blair KTM. 2. Maxx Malatia Hon. 3. Gray Davenport Kaw. 4. Kyle White Hon. 5. Dave Ginolfi KTM. 6. Brian Alquist KTM. 7. Brandon Glenn KTM. 8. Lane Staley KTM. 9. Steven Mages Kaw. 10. Jeremy Pronovst KTM.
West Region Lites Point Standings: 1. Daniel Blair – 42. 2. Steven Mages – 39. 3. Kyle White – 38. 4. Gray Davenport – 34. 5. Dave Ginolfi – 27. 6. Lane Staley – 26. 7. Maxx Malatia – 25. 8. Brian Alquist – 21. 9. Ryan Breece – 14. 10. Josh Diercks – 12
East Region Lites Point Standings: 1. Tony Archer – 101. 2. Brandon Glenn – 70. 3. Steve Roman – 69. 4. Jacob Williamson – 65. 5. Michael Lang – 41. 6. Scott Zont – 36. 7. Keith Tucker – 33. 8. Fredrik Noren – 28. 9. Chad Wages – 28. 10. Josh Struebig – 27.
2014 AMSOIL Arenacross Championships
Rd8 – February 21-23 – Reno, NV
Rd9 – March 1-2 – Tulsa, OK
Rd10 – March 7-9 – Albuquerque, NM
Rd11 – March 14-16 – Hidalgo, TX
Rd12 – March 29-30 – Salt Lake City, UT
Garmin Arenacross Series – Round 6 – Sheffield
Fabiend Izoird will take an almost insurmountable lead of 24 points over Australian Daniel McCoy going into the final round of the Garmin Arenacross Series to be held in London on the 1st of March.
Izoird dominated proceeding at round six held at Sheffield last weekend to take the main event win and maximum points ahead of Angelo Pellegrini and Loic Rombaut while McCoy battled back from a poor start to finish a distant fifth place.
“It has been a great night for me and I am delighted,” says Fabien. “I won both heats and got a really, really good start in the Main Event. I knew the starts were very, very important today and I tried to give my best for the first lap and push very hard with no mistakes to pull out a good gap.”
Pro Main Overall: 1. Fabien Izoird. 2. Angelo Pellegrini. 3. Loic Rombaut. 4. Cyrille Coulon. 5. Daniel McCoy.
Championship Standings After Round 6 of 7: 1. Fabien Izoird – 121. 2. Daniel McCoy – 97. 3. Cyrille Coulon – 93. 4. Loic Rombaut – 84. 5. Steven Clarke – 76.
Round 7 – March 1 – London
Italian Motocross Championships – Round 3 – Montevarchi
Factory Kawasaki rider Gautier Paulin has won the MX1 and Elite Motos at the final round of the Italian Motocross Chasmpionships held in Montevarchi last weekend while the big news came from Antonio Cairoli who crashed in the MX1 race and did not finish dues to a swollen ankle but the Italian did bounce back for a fourth in the Elite moto to claim that championship.
Belgian Jeremy Van Horebeek won the Italian MX1 Championship thanks to Cairoli’s DNF in the MX1 moto, Cairoli won the Elite Italian Championship and Yamaha’s Christophe Charlier won the Italian MX2 Championship.
“It was a good day, good weather and good racing,” said Van Horebeek. “Tony didn’t finish the first moto and I don’t know why but it meant that we got the points we needed. I’m stoked for the team. This Italian championship is important for them and for me it is a great end to all the hard work we have done this winter and through all three races in three weeks.”
“This was my last race before the GPs start and I feel ready,” he added. “I’ll head home now and do some more training this week. A few more hours working out will be good. I need to work on that last 10% but overall I feel really good, the bike is awesome and we are in a very decent place for the start of the season proper.”
“I felt fast and confident on the bike and the track today and maybe pushed a bit too much in the first moto,” said Charlier. “Anyway we got the job done and we were working for this.”
Todd Waters finished third outright in the MX1 and Elite classes after solid rides throughout the three round championship while Luke Styke showed that he will be on the pace against the GP regulars with a solid fifth in the MX2 moto.
Luke Styke seems disappointed with his result. “It was a good race to see where we’re at. To be honest I expected a little better. I felt good on the track in the beginning but as it got rougher I wasn’t comfortable anymore on the bike. With that I didn’t take any risks and just tried to get as much rhythm as possible. This week we’re going to the South to do some testing with the team. I hope we can find some adjustments to improve the feeling on the bike and then we’re ready for the first GP.”
MX1 Moto: 1. Gautier Paulin. 2. Jeremy Van Horebeek. 3. Steven Frossard. 4. Max Nagl. 5. Tommy Searle. 6. Todd Waters. 7. Tyla Rattray. 8. Samuele Bernardini. 9. Herjan Brakke. 10. David Philippaerts.
MX2 Moto: 1. Arnaud Tonus. 2. Dylan Ferrandis. 3. Christophe Charlier. 4. Tim Gajser. 5. Luke Styke. 6. Petar Petrov. 7. Alessandro Lupino. 8. Pauls Jonass. 9. Ivo Monticelli. 10. Juilen Lieber.
Elite (MX1 + MX2) Moto: 1. Gautier Paulin. 2. Steven Frossard. 3. Jeremy Van Horebeek. 4. Antonio Cairoli. 5. David Philippaerts. 6. Max Nagl. 7. Todd Waters. 8. Dylan Ferrandis. 9. Alessandro Lupino. 10. Petar Petrov. 20. Luke Styke.
MX1 Point Standings: 1.Jeremy Van Horebeek 280pts. 2. Antonio Cairoli 240pts. 3. Todd Waters 190pts. 4. Tyla Rattray 175pts. 5. David Philippaerts 161pts.
MX2 Point Standings: 1. Christophe Charlier 280pts. 2. Arnaud Tonus 240pts. 3. Jordi Tixier 185pts. 4. Pauls Jonass 180pts. 5. Alessandro Lupio 166pts
Elite Point Standings: 1. Antonio Cairoli 240pts. 2. Jeremy Van Horebeek 200pts. 3. Todd Waters 130pts. 4. Tyla Rattray 125pts. 5. David Philippaerts 115pts.
2014 Hells Gate Hard Enduro
Despite his closest rival Jonny Walker pulling the holeshot and leading for most of the first lap, Husqvarna TE300 mounted Graham Jarvis has won his fourth Hells Gate Hard Enduro ahead of Walker and American Cody Webb.
“It’s great to get a fourth win here at Hell’s Gate. I’ve raced here so many times over the years that I know what to expect, but this year’s race was definitely one of the toughest. I was pleased with second in the morning enduro – it gave me a good starting position and all I wanted to do was get around the first few corners without any mistakes. We went off the start almost directly into a massive water hole. I took it easy there, but it didn’t take too long before I was back into the top three. Andreas Lettenbichler and Cody Webb both made mistakes and then I got around Jonny Walker, and then just put my head down. I moved into the lead about half way around the first lap. I was expecting things to be easier this year with no ice and snow, but the rocks were really slippery. The extra, fifth, lap made it hard. We rode close to two laps in the dark, but apart from a few falls I didn’t have any problems. It’s great to win by a good margin and give Husqvarna their first Hell’s Gate win.”
Hell’s Gate Final: 1.Graham Jarvis, GBR Husqvarna. 2, Jonny Walker, GBR, KTM. 3. Cody Webb, USA, Beta. 4. Andreas Lettenbichler , GER, KTM. 5, Diego Nicoletti, ITA, Suzuki.
Next Week’s Moto Wrap will feature:
– Round 8 of the AMA Supercross being held at the Georgia Dome, Atlanta
– Round 8 of the Amsoil Arenacross Series held at Reno, Nevada
– Round 2 of the New Zealand Motocross Championship held at Tokoroa
– 2014 Hawkstone International
Catchya next week. Smarty #97
