Smarty’s Thoughts for Feb 4
Not in our wildest dreams could we have expected to see Chad Reed pass Ryan Villopoto for the lead on the opening lap at Anaheim, then fend off all comers for the next 20 laps to take his second main event win after just five rounds of the 2014 AMA Supercross Championships. Well, that is exactly what our most celebrated moto export did last Saturday night at Anaheim and in doing so Chad equalled Jeremy McGrath, James Stewart and Ricky Carmichael with the most Anaheim wins in the history of the 40-year-old AMA supercross series.
Funnily enough, it wasn’t Villopoto who chased Reed all of the way to the finish line, it was in fact the German superstar Ken Roczen who move by Villopoto to take up the chase for the lead but Chad had the speed through the critical parts of the track to keep Roczen at bay. See my full report and results below.
Matt Moss looked to be riding well all night after a tough night last week. Moss was right with the leader during his heat and just missed out on qualifying from his Semi-final but a wire-to-wire win in the LCQ score the Aussie Champ a final berth where he spent more of the night battling the likes of Jake Weimer, Nick Wey and Wil Hahn to finish in 15th place. San Diego will be Moss’ last ride in the States before he heads home to get ready to defend his two Australian titles.
Lawson Bopping had a shocker and didn’t even look like making the main event.
Todd Waters had his first outing in Europe for the Red Bull Ice One Racing Husqvarna team at the opening round of the Italian Motocross Championships held at Sardina last weekend. Todd found himself in a heated battle in the opening moto with his teammate Tyla Rattray and former World Champion David Philippaerts to finish up in sixth place before the Aussie backed that up with a eighth place in the combined MX1 and MX2 Elite Moto which was riddled with GP stars.
Antonio Cairoli is arguably the best sand rider in the world and I find it interesting that after the Italian has more or less dominated the World Motocross Championships for the best part of a decade that many of the riders are finally taking to the sand for their testing and training. The Yamaha and Husqvarna teams have been in Italy testing and training and the fact that many of the GP riders were in attendance for the opening round of the Italian Motocross Championship, held in the deep sand of Sardina, backs up the fact that to beat the best you need to put in the hard yard on the toughest tracks, just like Cairoli does every year. See my full report and results below.
Daniel McCoy and Luke Arbon both made it to the main event for round four of the UK based Garmin Arenacross Series and once again McCoy scored a solid second place while Arbon is finally getting his feet and logged a solid fifth in the main event. There was a lot of controversy in the main event with Elliot Banks-Brown and championship leader Fabien Izoird getting into a heated battle that ended with Izoird cartwheeling down the track. McCoy was able to take advantage and now sits just six points back from Izoird with three rounds of the championship remaining. See my full report and results below.
Round one of the East Coast MX Series kicks off at ‘The Lakes’ circuit near Lake Macquarie, NSW this weekend and Serco Yamaha rider Luke Clout is the hot favourite to take out the Pro Lites class. Clout is contesting the opening rounds of the series in the hope of honing his skills in readiness for the opening round of the MX Nationals to be held at
This week we have a heap of news as well as the race reports and results from:
– Round 5 of the AMA Supercross being held at Anaheim
– Round 5 of the Amsoil Arenacross Series being held at Milwaukie
– Round 4 of the Garmin Arenacross Series being held at Liverpool
– Round 1 of the Australian Endurocross Series being held at Archerfield Speedway, Brisbane
– Round 1 of the Italian Motocross Championship being held at Sardina
– 2014 King of the Moto – North America
– 2014 Sucker Punch Extreme Enduro – Llandrillo Forest, North Wales.
Australian Endurocross Series – Round 1 – Archerfield Speedway, Brisbane
The opening round of the Australian Endurocross Series was held in the Archerfield Speedway last Sunday and it was the Yamaha pairing of Chris Hollis and Daniel Milner who took out first and second place ahead of Toby Price who returned to the racing scene for the first time here in Australia after a potential career ending injury last year.
Pro- Shootout: The Pro-Shootout winner would walk away with a cool $500 for the fastest single sprint lap with the top-ten starting order based on a reverse of the day’s fastest laps. Ultimately, Toby Price would log the fastest time ahead of the Milner and Hollis.
Main Event One: As the gate dropped on the first final Daniel Milner launched into the first corner with a massive holeshot on his YZ250F but KTM mounted Peter Boyle quickly worked his way to the front, where he would stay for the remainder of the race. Crossing the line less than a second behind was a hard charging Chris Hollis while shootout winner Price would hang on for third. Despite a fall, Milner collected himself and pushed through for a solid fourth.
Main Event Two: The second of three finals provided a classic display of Enduro-X unpredictability as final one winner Peter Boyle ran into trouble mid-race and could only muster a sixth place finish.
This left the door open for a flying Daniel Milner who would again collect the holeshot, this time however holding on for an impressive victory ahead of Hollis and Price which meant the overall would ultimately come down to the third and final race.
Main Event Three: The third and final main event saw yet another Daniel Milner holeshot and an absolute nail biter of a battle for first place between Milner, Hollis and Price.
Hollis and Milner etched out a lead over Price and battled hard for the lead, running literally side by side in several sections of the track.
Hollis managed to take the win over Milner and Price with his 2-2-1 score enough to earn Hollis the overall and championship lead going into the second of three rounds.
Overall Results: 1. Chris Hollis – 69. 2. Daniel Milner – 65. 3. Toby Price – 60. 4. Peter Boyle – 54. 5. Stefan Granquist – 48. 6. Tom McCormack – 47. 7. Brodie Waugh – 42. 8. Kristian Sprenger – 35. 9. Kye Anderson – 34. 10. Kasey Winston – 31.
Round two will be held at Valvoline Raceway, Parramatta on the 15th of February.
2014 Monster Energy AMA Supercross Championship – Round 5 – Anaheim
450 Race Report: James Stewart and Ryan Villopoto came out of the first corner in the main event side by side but Villopoto jumped to the inside of the next right hand sweeper forcing Stewart wide allowing Chad Reed and Ken Roczen to slip into second and third respectively.
Reed charged through the whoops and got to the inside of Villopoto to take the lead on the first lap while Stewart lost another spot to Mike Alessi. Stewart had Justin Brayton, Ryan Dungey, Justin Barcia, Andrew Short and Weston Peick right behind him and all vying to move forward. But Stewart quickly got back by Alessi and started gaining on the top three.
To everyone’s surprise, Roczen was able to get by Villopoto in the same spot as Reed did two laps earlier so by the end of lap four the running order is Reed, Roczen, Villopoto, Stewart, Dungey, Barcia, Brayton, Short, Peick and Eli Tomac who was having his first ride back from injury. Matt Moss at this stage was back in 14th place and battling with the likes of Jake Weimer and Wil Hahn.
The running order stayed more or less the same but all eyes were on Stewart, Dungey and Justin Barcia who were making time by jumping a triple/triple/single section in two leaps (Triple/Quad) and by mid race the top six riders were more or less running nose to tail with Reed leading Roczen, Villopoto, Stewart, Dungey and Barcia.
On lap 11 Dungey slid into the side of Stewart in a 90-degree right-hander and took Stewart down and just as it looked like Dungey was on the move the number five KTM riders crashed as he exited the long whoop section. The crash resulted in a broken clutch lever and a last place finish for one of the true championship contenders.
Villopoto wasn’t comfortable at the pace Reed and Roczen were running and settled into third place well ahead of Barcia and Weston Peick who was having his best race so far this season.
Roczen closed in on Reed with two laps to go and the race to the finish line was enthralling with both riders on the absolute limit and the drama heightened when Reed struggled to get by lapper Jimmy Albertson (who was obviously riding with his head up his bum) through the last few corners. Thankfully, Reed took his second win of the season with Roczen and Villopoto rounding out the podium followed by Barcia, Peick, Brayton, Stewart, Weimer, Short, Tedesco, Tickle, Hahn, Wey and Moss.
“It was a tough racetrack tonight,” said Reed through a huge grin. “It was about making smart choices and putting yourself in a good position to ride 20 solid laps. This win means more to me than the last one where I came from behind because it’s tougher to go out there and lead all 20 laps. We had our bike dialled in tonight and it was one of those nights where it felt one with me.”
“I tried to make one last push on the last lap but a lapper got in the way. I don’t know if it would have mattered because Reed was riding well,” said Roczen. “It was a fun race and I’m glad to come out in second. The track was really hard in the end, but it made for great racing.”
“The track was super tough,” said Villopoto. “I got a great start but Chad was able to get by me. Ken was running similar lap times and was able to get by as well, but to end up on the podium is always a good thing.”
Heat 1 (Top Four to Main): 1. K. Roczen. 2. J. Brayton. 3. W. Peick. 4. E. Tomac. 5. B. Tickle. 6. M. Moss. 7. M. Goerke. 8. K. Chisholm. 9. J. Barcia. 10. A. Short.
Heat 2 (Top Four to Main): 1. J. Stewart. 2. R. Villopoto. 3. R. Dungey. 4. C. Reed. 5. J. Weimer. 6. I. Tedesco. 7. J. Grant. 8. J. Albertson. 9. J. Decotis. 10. N. Wey. 11. M. Alessi. 12. L. Bopping. 13. W. Hahn.
Semi 1 (Top Five to Main): 1. J. Albertson. 2. A. Short. 3. N. Wey. 4. I. Tedesco. 5. C. Blose. 6. M. Moss. 7. R. Stewart. 8. K. Rusk. 9. D. Herrlein. 10. T. Parks. 15. L. Bopping.
Semi 2 (Top Five to Main): 1. J. Barcia. 2. B. Tickle. 3. M. Alessi. 4. W. Hahn. 5. V. Friese. 6. M. Goerke. 7. J. Grant. 8. N. Schmidt. 9. J. Weimer. 10. K. Peters.
LCQ: 1 (Top Four to Main): 1. M. Moss. 2. J. Grant. 3. J. Weimer. 4. M. Goerke. 5. N. Schmidt. 6. J. Decotis. 7. R. Stewart. 8. A. Enticknap. 9. T. Parks. 10. K. Peters. 21. L. Bopping.
Main Event: 1. C. Reed. 2. K. Roczen. 3. R. Villopoto. 4. J. Barcia. 5. W. Peick. 6. J. Brayton. 7. J. Stewart. 8. J. Weimer. 9. A. Short. 10. I. Tedesco. 11. B. Tickle. 12. W. Hahn. 13. N. Wey. 14. M. Moss. 15. J. Albertson. 16. V. Friese. 17. J. Grant. 18. M. Goerke. 19. C. Blose. 20. R. Dungey. 21. E. Tomac. 22. M. Alessi.
450SX Championship Standings After Round 5 of 17: 1. Ryan Villopoto 104pts Kaw. 2. Chad Reed 102pts Kaw. 3. Ken Roczen 97pts KTM. 4. Justin Brayton 86pts Yam. 5.James Stewart 80pts Suz. 6. Ryan Dungey 76pts KTM. 7. Justin Barcia 74pts Hon. 8. Andrew Short 61pts KTM. 9. Wil Hahn 52pts Hon. 10. Jake Weimer 50pts Kaw. 11. Ivan Tedesco 38pts KTM. 12. Weston Peick 37pts Suz. 13. Broc Tickle 36pts Suz. 14. Josh Grant 35pts Yam. 15. Nick Wey 28pts Kaw. 16. Matt Moss 27pts Suz. 17. Mike Alessi 25pts Suz. 18. Vince Friese 23pts Hon. 19. Matt Goerke 20pts KTM. 20. Josh Hill 16pts Suz.
250 Race Report: The 15 lap main event holeshot went to Cole Seely with Dean Wilson, Dakota Tedder, Jake Canada, Jessie Nelson, Justin Hill, Jason Anderson and Malcolm Stewart in tow.
By the end of lap one Seely held a slim margin over Wilson, Canada, Stewart, Anderson, Cooper Web, Tedder and Hill. Dean Ferris was pushed wide out of the first corner and sat back in 11th place at this stage.
On the third lap Anderson blitzed the whoops and sliced up the inside of Stewart for fourth place but on the very next right hander Stewart and Anderson came together with Anderson hitting the deck and Stewart losing several places as he tried to get his Honda back on the track. Webb slipped by and took over fourth place.
With Anderson finishing lap four in 11th place and his arch rival Seely out front it looked like the championship was blown wide open but this is Supercross and anything can happen.
As Anderson ripped through the pack, Canada held onto third until lap nine before succumbing to the pace of Cooper Webb while Wilson slowly worked his lines and started catching Seely and just as it looked like we were going to have a battle to the finish Seely low-sided in the right-hander after the whoops handing the lead and eventual win to Wilson.
Seely remounted for second and Webb took third ahead of Hill, Anderson, Stewart, Canada, Shane McElrath, Nelson, Tedder and Ferris. Seely and Anderson are now tied on points heading to San Diego next weekend.
“This win really means a lot to me,” said Wilson. “The race was shaping up to be exciting during those last few laps, but I received a break. This is really emotional for me. I gained some good points and we still have some races left. I am going to come out and do my best at those races.”
Heat 1 (Top 9 to Main): 1. M. Stewart. 2. J. Anderson. 3. C. Seely. 4. V. Teillet. 5. D. Ferris. 6. S. McElrath. 7. J. Canada. 8. B. Scharer. 9. S. Champion. 10. C. Howell.
Heat 2 (Top 9 to Main): 1. D. Wilson. 2. C. Webb. 3. J. Nelson. 4. D. Tedder. 5. J. Hill. 6. S. Rhinehart. 7. T. Ingalls. 8. P. Mull. 9. B. Rangel. 10. C. Proscelle
LCQ (Top 4 to Main): 1. C. Elliott. 2. J. Dalzell. 3. C. Howell. 4. J. Marrone. 5. B. Burns. 6. R. Alanis. 7. A. Roman. 8. R. Fitch. 9. C. Keeling. 10. J. Mohnike.
Main Event: 1. D. Wilson. 2. C. Seely. 3. C. Webb. 4. J. Hill. 5. J. Anderson. 6. M. Stewart. 7. J. Canada. 8. S. McElrath. 9. J. Nelson. 10. D. Tedder. 11. D. Ferris. 12. S. Champion. 13. T. Ingalls. 14. P. Mull. 15. V. Teillet. 16. B. Scharer. 17. C. Howell. 18. S. Rhinehart. 19. J. Marrone. 20. J. Dalzell. 21. B. Rangel. 22. C. Elliott.
250SX West Regional Championship Standings After Round 5 of 9: 1. Jason Anderson 109pts KTM. 2. Cole Seely 109pts Hon. 3. Dean Wilson 97pts Kaw. 4. Cooper Webb 85pts Yam. 5. Justin Hill 82pts Kaw. 6. Zach Osborne 69pts Hon. 7. Malcolm Stewart 69pts Hon. 8. Jessy Nelson 61pts Hon. 9. Shane McElrath 55pts Hon. 10. Dean Ferris 52pts KTM. 11. Dakota Tedder 40pts Kaw. 12. Michael Leib 37pts Hon. 13. Jake Canada 34pts Hon. 14. Scott Champion 33pts Yam. 15. Cole Martinez 24pts Kaw. 16. Valentin Teillet 23pts Kaw. 17. Darryn Durham 21pts Kaw. 18. Topher Ingalls 15pts Hon. 19. Chris Plouffe 13pts Hon. 20. Austin Politelli 11pts Yam.
Amsoil Arenacross – Milwaukee, WI
Zach Ames and Tyler Bowers continued their battle for the 2014 Amsoil Arenacross Championship after sharing round wins over the two nights of racing at Milwaukee while KX250F mounted Tony Archer has been crowned the Eastern Lites Championship despite a sixth and a fifth at Milwaukie.
In the 450 class there were three different moto winners over the two nights with Tyler Bowers and Steve Mages sharing the spoils on Friday night and on Saturday night we saw Kyle Regal and Bowers taking a win each.
Ames now has a narrow six point lead over the defending champion Bowers with 11 rounds still remaining so there is plenty of racing to go before the winner is declared.
In the 250 class the racing was tight but on Friday night we saw Daniel Blair take the win ahead of Steven Mages and Maxx Malatia while Saturday night saw Malatia take the win from Gared Steinke and Kyle White.
With just one round remaining, the new champion Archer sits on 101 points, 31 clear of Brandon Glenn with Steve Roman just one point further back.
Arenacross Class Friday Night Results
1. Tyler Bowers, Danville, Ky., Kawasaki (1-3)
2. Zach Ames, Prospect, Ohio, Kawasaki (2-5)
3. Jeff Gibson, Pataskala, Ohio, Honda (9-4)
4. Jacob Hayes, Greensboro, N.C., Kawasaki (4-10)
5. Cory Green, Nowata, Okla., Suzuki (3-11)
6. Dave Ginolfi, Boston, N.J., KTM (13-2)
7. Kyle Regal, Grand Prairie, Texas, Honda (8-9)
8. Steven Mages, Sardinia, Ohio, Kawasaki (16-1)
9. Travis Sewell, Westville, Ind., KTM (5-13)
10. Kelly Smith, Ludington, Mich., KTM (12-6)
Arenacross Class Saturday Night Results
1. Zach Ames, Prospect, Ohio, Kawasaki (2-3)
2. Kyle Regal, Grand Prairie, Texas, Honda (1-7)
3. Tyler Bowers, Danville, Ky., Kawasaki (10-1)
4. Jeff Gibson, Pataskala, Ohio, Honda (7-6)
5. Cory Green, Nowata, Okla., Suzuki (5-8)
6. Nathan Skaggs, Chillicothe, Ohio, Kawasaki (4-10)
7. Travis Sewell, Westville, Ind., KTM (3-11)
8. Gared Steinke, Woodland, Calif., Kawasaki (11-4)
9. Colt Nichols, S. Muskogee, Okla., Kawasaki (6-9)
10. Jacob Hayes, Greensboro, N.C., Kawasaki (15-2)
Arenacross Class Points (After Race 8 of 19)
1. Zach Ames, Prospect, Ohio, Kawasaki – 208
2. Tyler Bowers, Danville, Ky., Kawasaki – 202
3. Jacob Hayes, Greensboro, N.C., Kawasaki – 177
4. Michael McDade, McDonald, Ohio, Kawasaki – 168
5. Willy Browning, Pleasantville, Ohio, KTM – 148
6. Cory Green, Nowata, Okla., Suzuki – 133
7. Kyle Regal, Grand Prairie, Texas, Honda – 123
8. Colt Nichols, S. Muskogee, Okla., Kawasaki – 122
9. Travis Sewell, Westville, Ind., KTM – 121
10. Kelly Smith, Ludington, Mich., KTM – 116
Eastern Regional Arenacross Lites Class – Friday Reslts
1. Daniel Blair, Lodi, Calif., KTM
2. Steven Mages, Sardinia, Ohio, Kawasaki
3. Maxx Malatia, Itasca, Ill., Honda
4. Kyle White, Freeport, Ill., Honda
5. Dave Ginolfi, Boston, N.J., KTM
6. Tony Archer, Waldorf, Md., Kawasaki
7. Brandon Glenn, Mesquite, Texas, KTM
8. Tanner Moore, Auburn, Kan., KTM
9. Josh Struebig, Crown Point, Ind., KTM
10. Justin Kelly, Lamoille, Ill., Honda
Eastern Regional Arenacross Lites Class –Saturday Results
1. Maxx Malatia, Itasca, Ill., Honda
2. Gared Steinke, Woodland, Calif., KTM
3. Kyle White, Freeport, Ill., Honda
4. Steve Roman, Apollo, Pa., Suzuki
5. Tony Archer, Waldorf, Md., Kawasaki
6. Dave Ginolfi, Boston, N.J., KTM
7. Jacob Williamson, Swartz Creek, Mich., Yamaha
8. Brandon Glenn, Mesquite, Texas, KTM
9. Tanner Moore, Auburn, Kan., KTM
10. Jeremy Pronovost, St. Philippe, Quebec, KTM
Eastern Regional Arenacross Lites Class Points (After Race 8 of 9)
1. Tony Archer, Waldorf, Md., Kawasaki – 101
2. Brandon Glenn, Mesquite, Texas, KTM – 70
3. Steve Roman, Apollo, Pa., Suzuki – 69
4. Jacob Williamson, Swartz Creek, Mich., Yamaha – 65
5. Michael Lang, Saugerties, N.Y., Honda – 41
6. Scott Zont, Algonquin, Ill., KTM – 36
7. Keith Tucker, Furgacy-Varina, N.C., Yamaha – 33
8. Fredrik Noren, Sweden, KTM – 28
9. Chad Wages, Frederick, Md., KTM – 28
10. Josh Struebig, Crown Point, Ind., KTM – 27
Garmin Arenacross Series – Round 4 – Liverpool
Elliott Banks-Browne has won a physical main event ahead of Aussie Daniel McCoy and Jason Dougan at round four of the Garmin Arenacross held in Liverpool last Sunday.
Points wise there was a major shake-up with Kristian Whatley and round one winner Steven Clarke both failed to transfer to the main event after their heat races and the LCQ.
Banks-Brown won both his heat races and took the holeshot in the main event with championship leader Fabien Izoird in hot pursuit. Izoird actually passed Banks-Browne for the lead but lost the lead in the very next corner after an aggressive pass by the Banks-Brown.
Izoird pulled alongside Banks-Brown into the whoops and once again Banks-Brown pushed the Frenchman wide and then in a desperate move Izoird flew into the rhythm section right beside the race leader only to end up flying through the air without his Kawasaki under him.
While Izoird picked himself up, Banks-Brown continued to put in solid laps to take the race win from Daniel McCoy, Dougan, Nev Bradshaw and another Aussie in Luke Arbon. “That was awesome,” says Banks-Brown. “The day started good and I just felt great on the track. We’ve dialled the starts and I’ve managed to get out of the gate which I haven’t done for the last few weeks.”
“I had an awesome race with Fabien, we came together at the end but I don’t really know what happened. He didn’t look too happy with me but I don’t know if I did anything too wrong, we were just racing hard. When he passed me we hit each other and he clipped my shoulder but I managed to keep on and pass him back.”
“I am okay, I am lucky,” Izoird after his tenth place finish. “It was a big crash but there is nothing wrong with me, just pain. But I’m very disappointed because I had a chance to win.”
“I tried a pass on Banks-Browne and found a way past and in the corner after he came to kill me and touched my front wheel,” continued Izoird. “I didn’t crash but it was very close, when I went wide to find another solution at the end of a corner he changed line at the last moment so I needed to change also. The take-off was soft and my footpeg dug into the ground and I went over the bars, it’s very bad for the points, for the team and for the championship after we’ve worked so hard but I’m very excited to be in Newcastle next weekend.”
Luke Arbon finally showed his full potential. “This weekend was good for me, the track was good although it had a few rocks in it which made it technical. I managed to qualify in sixth which gave me good gate picks all night long. In the Main I started well but was a bit reserved in the opening laps which left me in fifth at the finish. Making the Main event this week was a step in the right direction and now I look to next weekend to improve and hopefully get on that podium.”
With three rounds remaining Izoird is leading the championship by six points from Aussie McCoy while third place is held down by another Frenchman, Cyrille Coulon, who’s a further 14 points adrift.
Round Four Main Event Results: 1. Elliott Banks-Browne. 2. Daniel McCoy. 3. Jason Dougan. 4. Nev Bradshaw. 5. Luke Arbon. 6. Angelo Pellegrini. 7. Cyrille Coulon. 8. Carl Nunn. 9. James Harrison. 10. Fabien Izoird. 11. Loic Rombaut. 12. Jamie Law.
Points After Round 4 of 7: 1. Fabien Izoird – 77. 2. Daniel McCoy – 71. 3. Cyrille Coulon – 57. 4. Loic Rombaut – 55. 5. Steven Clarke – 54. 6. Elliott Banks-Browne – 52. 7. Nev Bradshaw – 50. 8. Kristian Whatley – 43. 9. Brad Anderson – 32. 10. Angelo Pellegrini – 29.
Italian Motocross Championships – Round 1 – Sardina
Red Bull KTM Factory rider Antonio Cairoli and Monster Energy CLS Kawasaki’s Arnaud Tonus have won the MX1 and MX2 classes respectively at the opening round of the Italian Motocross Championship held at Sardina last Sunday.
MX1 Moto 1: On a loose and sandy track Cairoli took an early lead in the opening moto ahead of the hard charging pack of Evgeny Bobryshev, Jeremy Van Horebeek, Samuele Bernardini, David Philippaerts, Max Nagl, Tyla Rattray and Todd Waters.
As Cairoli pulled two seconds per lap ahead of Bobryshev, the Husqvarna freight train of Rattray and Waters moved by Nagl and started making ground on Philippaerts and after first six laps of the 2014 Euro season Cairoli held a sizeable gap over Bobryshev, Van Horebeek, Philippaerts, Rattray, Waters, Nagl, Guarneri, Bernardini and DeBortoli.
Waters got around Rattray and started to look for a way past Philippaerts but late in the race Rattray passed Waters back for fifth place and that was more or less the final pass for any of the major places so at moto end Cairoli took the win by 32 seconds ahead of Bobryshev, Van Horebeek, Philippaerts, Rattray, Waters, Nagl, Klemen Gercar, De Bortoli and Samuele Bernardini rounding out the top ten.
Tony Cairoli was wrapped with his start to 2014. “I really like this track and I am confident to ride in the sand. This seems to be getting better and better for me every year, so even though the track was difficult we had a good start to the season.”
Results MX Moto 1: 1. Cairoli. 2. Bobryshev. 3. Van Horebeek. 4. Philippaerts. 5. Rattray. 6. Waters. 7. Nagl. 8. Gercar. 9. De Bortoli. 10. Bernardini.
MX2 Moto 1: Husqvarna mounted Alexsandr Tonkov took the early lead ahead of Arnaud Tonus, Ivo Monticelli, Pauls Jonass and Christophe Charlier while race favourite’s Jordi Tixier, Alessandro Lupino and Romain Febvre were buried in the pack.
41 year old triple World 125cc Motocross Champion Alessio Chiodi was also coming back from a poor start and found himself losing a spot to Tixier as the young factory KTM star made his way towards the front of the pack.
As Tonkov etched out a four second lead, Tonus was passed by Monticelli and Charlier while Febvre, Tixier and Lupino crept into the top ten.
Charlier finally found a way around Monticelli and immediately started to make ground on the leader Tonkov and just a few laps later took the lead while Tonus found pace to also get by Tonkov for second place just as the flying Febvre moved up to 6th and Tixier moved into 7th.
Charlier held Tonus at bay until the 14th lap with Jonass in third followed by Tonkov, Febvre, Tixier, Monticelli, Van Berkel, Fors and Lupino. Just a lap later Tixier moved into fourth place leaving the two Husqvarna riders Tonkov and Febvre to battle over 5th position.
As Tonus charged towards the win ahead of Charlier, Jonass and Tixier, local star Monticelli surprised everyone with a late moto charge to blast by Febvre and Tonkov to secure fifth place. Kevin Fors, Lars Van Berkel and Lupino rounded out the top ten while Chiodi managed to get up to 13th by race end.
“The Italian Championship has good riders in both MX1 and MX2 this year so the races are useful for us at this stage,” commented Team Manager Mino Raspanti. “Everything has been going in a good line. Jeremy has been working hard here for some weeks and has followed our lead. Christophe is also looking quick and although he had some arm-pump in that first moto he was in good form. Overall I’m really happy with last weekend and the previous weeks.”
MX2 Moto 1: 1. Tonus. 2. Charlier. 3. Jonass. 4. Tixier. 5. Monticelli. 6. Febvre. 7. Tonkov. 8. Kevin Fors 9. Lars Van Berkel. 10. Lupino. 13. Chiodi.
Elite Moto (MX1 and MX2 Top 20 Combined): With the track looking decidedly well-worn the gate dropped for the 15 lap, MX1 and MX2 combined Elite Moto and once again it was Cairoli out front with Bobryshev, Nagl, Philippaerts, Rattray, Van Horebeek, Guarneri and Waters in pursuit.
Cairoli reeled off a series of 1 minute, 52 second lap times that quickly saw the multi World Champion gap the field by 10 seconds while Bobryshev held on to second place with Nagl, Rattray and Philippaerts all scrapping over the final podium position.
Water moved up to sixth place as Van Horebeek showed his speed in the sand to move up to the three way battle between Nagl, Rattray and Philippaerts. By mid moto some of the top MX2 rider started slotting into the top ten positions with the best being Arnaud Tonus who swept by Waters and Philippaerts to eventually claim sixth on track and first MX2.
With Cairoli thirty plus seconds out front, Van Horebeek used his superior corner speed to blow by Nagl, Rattray and Bobryshev to end up in second place by moto end. Bobryshev hung on to third ahead of Rattray, Nagl, Tonus, Philippaerts, Waters, Febvre and Davide Guarneri.
“Having almost one month in Sardinia and in the sand was really good, even if I was a bit tired by the end of the weekend,” Van Horebeek said. “I was really stoked with the 3-2 results because the sand was very heavy. It was a good day and helped clarify that we have a decent base setting.”
“I’m at home now and will have a small break but then we’ll be back for the second round this coming weekend,” he added. “We’ll have one more week of testing and then we’ll start the packing for Qatar. I feel like our work has gone well and with regards to our set-up for the season then we are pretty much done. I feel really good on the bike and I’m happy with the choices we have made.”
Elite Moto: 1. Cairoli. 2. Van Horebeek. 3. Bobryshev. 4. Rattray. 5. Nagl. 6. Tonus. 7. Philippaerts. 8. Waters. 9. Febvre 10. Guarneri. 11. Tixier. 12. Jonass. 13. Moticelli. 14. Lupino 15. Van Berkell.
2014 King of the Moto
Beta’s Cody Webb conquered the toughest extreme enduro in North America for a second straight year. The King of the Motos changed up the format for 2014 to include a day of qualifying and two separately timed loops on race day, the second being even more difficult than the first.
Webb’s win was by far not a cake walk as Taylor Robert bested Webb’s time on the first loop by over a minute, but on loop two, Webb was able to stretch out to an early lead while Robert, Colton Haaker, Graham Jarvis, and Kyle Redmond swapped the runner-up spot the entire time. Haaker was docked for missing a check during the first loop and was not scored in the overall. The final order based on the combined quickest time on both loops was Webb followed by Robert and extreme enduro legend Graham Jarvis.
Of the 80 riders that started the day, just over half finished the entire course during the allotted checkpoint closing times. Only two sportsman riders and one team finished the entire course before the 5pm finish line closing time.
2014 King of the Motos Top Ten: 1. Cody Webb. 2. Taylor Robert. 3. Graham Jarvis. 4. Kyle Redmond. 5. Noah Kepple. 6. Mitch Carvolth. 7. Kale Elworthy. 8. Ty Tremaine. 9. Travis Coy. 10. Peter Weiss.
2014 Sucker Punch Enduro
As part of his preparations for the upcoming Hell’s Gate event in Italy on February 15th, Jonny Walker recently took part in the first running of the WOR Events Sucker Punch Extreme Enduro, held in the Llandrillio Forest, North Wales.
Returning to competition on a 300cc two-stroke following recent participation in the SuperEnduro World Championship on a 250cc four-stroke machine, Jonny comfortably topped the morning qualifying event, giving him a front row start for the main afternoon race.
Immediately taking the race lead Jonny made light work of the demanding course and reached the finish first having been unchallenged throughout the race. Awarded the race win, after the event Jonny was informed that his route card only had four ‘punches’ and not the required five. Jonny was subsequently removed from the results, with Ben Hemingway awarded the victory.
Jonny Walker: “It’s a weird one this, as I have no idea where or how I missed check point two. I guess I’ll never know. It would have been cool to have won, but it’s not the end of the world. I guess I know how Graham Jarvis feels now, well kind of. It was great to be back out on the 300cc two-stroke again – it’s been a while as I’ve been racing my 250f all the time recently. I felt really good, so to get some quality bike time in ahead of Hell’s gate was great. It was cool to get some forestry riding done again. The track was good, and I felt like I was riding well. I only stopped once, on one of the hills, the rest of the time I was pretty much feet up and pushing on with a good pace. Apart from the result it was a really good day.”
2014 Sucker Punch Enduro Result: 1. Scott Austin. 2. Owain Humphreys. 3. Paul Bolton. 4. R. Davies. 5. Ben Hemingway. 6. Tim Forman. 7. Lee Sealey. 8. A. Criq. 9. Alun Jones. 10. Gary Jenkins.
Dalby Moto For Sale
Ph: (07) 4662 1211 for details.
Next Week’s Moto Wrap for Feb 4 will Feature:
– Round 6 of the AMA Supercross being held at San Diego
– Round 6 of the Amsoil Arenacross Series
– Round 5 of the Garmin Arenacross Series
– Round 5 of the FIM World SuperEnduro Championships held in Spain
– Round 2 of the Italian Motocross Championship being held at
– Round 1 of the East Coast Motocross Championships at Lake Macquarie
Catchya next week. Smarty #97
