ONE Australia riders win both classes at a wet day at Toowoomba. Check out the full report from Australia:
The day started under a mist of rain which had been falling from late evening on the eve of the event and only ceased just before the day's proceedings got underway, however the damage had already been done and the riders were greeted by a wet, sloppy race track that was going to put them to the test just to finish races let alone push for consistent top results.
Monster Energy Kawasaki riders Dean Ferris and Billy Mackenzie put their local knowledge to great use as the home town duo qualified 1st and 2nd respectively a whopping five seconds ahead of the third fastest rider in Rockstar Motul Suzuki's Cody Cooper. Cooper got his revenge when it mattered most winning two of the four moto's before rounding out the last two of the 4 moto's contested with a second and third finishes to give him 92 points for the day and his first overall round win for the season. Mackenzie and Ferris rode strong all day and were always in the hunt for moto wins in every moto with Mackenzie just holding off a fast finishing Ferris in the final moto for the race win, which along with his moto two race win helped him to the second spot on the podium for the day just ahead of his team-mate. Cheyne Boyd was unlucky to miss the Podium for the round finishing just a few points back from Ferris while behind him it was a mixed bag of results for most riders with the CDR Rockstar Yamaha riders eventually filling out 5th and 6th place with Josh Coppins and Jay Marmont with Boyd's Carlton Dry Thor Honda racing team mate Michael Phillip finishing 7th just ahead of the rounds leading Privateer Matthew Phillips. After a couple of rounds on the mend after a crash at Appin that left him with his first ever broken bone when he broke a few ribs, Cooper was able to put all the pain and lack of bike time behind him and was more than happy with today's result. "Today was Awesome, after crashing and all the drama of the injuries and no riding. I have never had an injury like that before; I had never broken a bone until then, now I can say I have broken a bone." said the Kiwi with small laugh. "I am real happy with my result considering how rough the track was and how poor my fitness is, and to come away with the win at the end of the day it was awesome I am pumped for sure. Now I will just go away and put a lot of time on the bike, just do a lot of bike riding. "Today it wasn't quite me out there, I was able to push hard at the start in move from about 7th to 2nd in the first lap in a couple of moto's, I really pushed it in the first lap which I need to do a lot more when I don't get a great start," he concluded.
Billy Mackenzie was happy to string two podium rounds together in a row and moves himself closer to the championship lead with his second place finish on his home track. "It feels good to get back on the podium again, I had a rough start to the season with some crashes and bad results, but I came out here today wanting to win but Cody was to consistent and the conditions were really bad," Mackenzie said.
Mackenzie went on to say, "I had to make sure I stayed on and get some championship points which I did; I closed the gap on Dean and got closer to the championship lead which is my main goal. Now I just have to try and keep it running from here." Mackenzie's Monster Energy team mate Dean Ferris was just as happy with his days results on a tough and demanding Toowoomba hill side.
"It's great to be up on the podium for the fourth round in a row, to have the points lead is always great I love the colour of red on my bike like I have said before." said Ferris. "Billy closed in a lot on me today, but I was glad just to get through it, this track could bite you so easily today, it was really tough and rutty and I ran off the track a few times with my blurry eye. Overall I a am really happy with the day, I got my first pole today with the fastest lap time in qualifying, it's something I need to keep doing, I have not had the best gate picks at the last few rounds but today with first choice I always had confidence with my gate choice." Ferris finished by commenting on the tough track conditions that greeted the riders today. "The track was tough today, it was not too bad in practice as it was just sloppy so you could shut your eyes and pin it but by the end of the day the ruts were so deep you needed to take both feet of even through the turns. I do practice in these conditions as there is always at least one race a year held in these conditions," he concluded.
The first round of Pro Lites racing was cut short due to the tough early conditions, with the racing being paired back from two by seven lap moto's back to back to a single seven lap moto for the morning session of racing.
Codie Mackie took the holeshot in moto one before a mistake saw Josh Cachia ride past and hold on to the lead for the entire race in a superb display of mud riding, while behind Cachia four riders battled it out with Daniel McCoy holding on for a strong second place finish followed by the Moss Twins of Jake and Matt 3rd and 4th respectivly and JDR Motorex KTM's Brendan Harrison coming home in 5th, Kirk Gibbs who was second in points coming into the round fell foul of the conditions and carded a DNF for moto one.
With slightly better conditions after lunch the Pro Lites class returned back to the now traditional back to back format though the racers were shortened to six laps each.
Jake Moss showed he was getting back to his top form in the final two moto's along with McCoy with both posting top results in the first two moto's and headed into the third and final moto of the day tied on points. Monster Energy rider and American Import Phil Nicoletti was the rider showing the way though in the final two moto's checking out early in both and leading all the way to the finish.
Behind Nicoletti in the final moto the battle was being played out for not only the top spot on the podium but also the final podium spot with three riders all battling for the final spot on the box, though none of them where near each other on the track. A mistake by Jake Moss saw McCoy slide comfortably into second place and go on to take his first overall round win since a Supercross round back in 2007. Jake Moss would re group and finish the moto in seventh leaving him in second spot for the day. Heading into the final lap all attention was on the battle for third overall, Nicoletti had done all he could possibley do winning the moto and leaving himself with 50 points for the day, Luke Styke headed into the final lap in 4th position and need to make up just the one spot to steal third from Nicoletti however he was unable to do this and finished the day out in 5th spot. That still left Josh Cachia in with a chance of third as he entered the final lap back in 11th spot though he would need to make up two positions in the final lap, Josh put his head down and went to work and when he crossed the line at the end of the lap had worked his way up to 9th place and had stolen third overall by just the solitary point.
However the day belonged to McCoy who now finds himself just fifty two points back from the championship lead after both Matt Moss and Kirk Gibbs who are running first and second in the championship had days they would rather forget. McCoy was happy to be back on top of the box for the first time in four years. "It is really good to be back up on top, it has been awhile since I have had an overall, I think the last one was in 2007 in Supercross, it feels good to get up there for the team and all the hard work they have been putting, in all season," he said. "The track was real tough, I'm pumped with winning on what is probably going to be the toughest track we race all year, everything went really well today, I got some ok starts and went from there. "I made up 34 points on Mossy and 20 something on Gibbs which is good there is still something like 425 points up for grabs this season, it is still anyone's championship and I will continue having fun and trying to get first," he concluded.
Jake Moss continued his fine form on his road to recovery from a shoulder injury that saw him miss the first round of the season and was able to get back on the podium for the second round in succession.
"I am feeling really good after today, I had two good moto's to begin with and I was feeling really good in that last one until I made a mistake, I ended up with mud all over my gloves and could not turn the throttle and stalled it a couple of times," explained Moss. "I still managed to get second overall and got some more confidence, I got a couple of great starts and was close with the holeshot a couple of times so really happy with the weekend. He concluded by saying, "This is the second round in a row on the podium and I feel I should be there; it has been frustrating in the past few weeks watching people pass me that I have beaten my whole life; finally I am getting back past them and just need keep it going." The final lap push from JDR Motorex KTM rider josh Cachia was all he needed after winning the first moto to secure his second podium performance of the year and was quick to point out that he was happy to do so well on a track that has not treated him so well over the years and a place he would like to see vanish from the face of the earth. "I have sucked for the last couple of rounds, today I am definitely back up to where I want to be, I felt like I had the speed to win, but third is good," he said.
"I would have really liked to take this round out, this track has never been nice to me if I could I would burn it," he laughed, "but I can't, I am stoked with my overall finish, the team has been working really hard and the suspension today was handling great I really can't give enough thanks to Appro," he concluded. Although he had a disappointing round, Matt Moss can take solace in the fact that even though he entered the round with a broken shoulder blade he still walked away maintaining the championship lead and only dropped 10 points to nearest rival Kirk Gibbs. "I broke my shoulder last weekend, so I have come to this round with a broken shoulder blade, I didn't know what to expect I was hoping it would hold up a little bit longer but unfortunately I only got one race in and in the next race I couldn't even really hold on so I called it quits and went back to the truck and didn't race the last one." explained Matt Moss "I only lost ten points in the championship to Gibbs, we have a four week break now and it is going to be good to have a bit of time off my bike and concentrate on making my body 100%, I have been riding not at 100% and keeping right in there so I can't wait until I am fully fit and go out there and really beat these guys," he concluded.
The under 19s class saw a new round winner crowned in the form of former world junior title winner Jay Wilson. A flying start in moto one put Wilson 30 seconds ahead after lap one and in the tough, sloppy conditions continued to open up that lead every lap of the shortened five lap race. Like the Pro Lites class the Under 19s only raced the single moto in the morning before reverting to two five lap races in the afternoon ran back to back. Championship leader Errol Willis took control of Moto two, taking the holeshot and going wire to wire for the win. Moto three looked like it was heading in the same direction before a final lap crash by Willis handed the race lead over to Yamaha mounted Shaun Redhead. Willis eventually got going again and though he was stuck in the one spot for over three minutes still managed to finish the moto in 6th place. The day however belonged to Coastal KTM's Wilson who followed up his moto one win with a pair of third place finishes and proved to everyone he is certainly a rider for the future in Australian Motocross. "It's great I have the first win under my belt, I really am happy with it, it's my first pro win and it sort of feels like I have won the world title all over again." said and ecstatic Wilson "My top moto result before today was a third at the last round at Murray Bridge, but today I went out won the first moto by 1 minute it was sick, it really is hard to explain how it felt to win that race by that much, I didn't think I would be in a position to be leading a race after one lap with a gap like that with the boys who race this series and so much competition it was great." By dragging himself through the mud to complete the final moto of the day Errol Willis continued his year long run of being on the box at each round, the Raceline Pirelli Suzuki rider heads to Coonabarabran with a fifty one point lead but knows there is still a lot more racing to go in this season. "I made a big mistake there in that last moto, I am really bummed with myself and feel like I let down the team, I just have to look forward to Coonabarabran and try to repeat my performance from Appin," he said. "I still was able to increase my points lead which was good, fifty one points is a big points gap but it is still not enough, with four hundred off points still left up for grabs there is a long way to go, it took me five rounds to get that lead and we still have four to go. I'll be working my butt off to make sure I don't lose this lead." concluded a determined Willis. Kyle McKeddie had his best round to date and with three moto finishes inside the top five finally put together the full day of racing he has been chasing all season. Kyle has shown great speed all year and has put a lot of good individual moto results in, today was a turning point for the privateer Kawasaki rider finally realising what he can do when he puts it all together on the one day. "I have been working and plugging away and had not managed to quite get on the box, but I finally come out today in tough conditions and stayed on the bike and rode my own race and came out with third overall and I'm pumped," he said. "I have been knocking on the door of the podium all year, I was just more consistent today and came away with three top five results which I have struggled to do over the last couple of rounds, all in all it was a good day, I managed to make up a bunch of points on fifth place and now I can look forward to the next round," he concluded. The final moto win by Shaun Redhead was not quite enough for him to take the final podium spot away from Kyle falling short by just two points, in fifth spot we had two riders who also put in their best results for the season with Kale Makeham and Brad Skoric both scoring forty five points over the three moto format with Makeham just getting the nod for fifth with the better result in the final moto. Championship contender Luke Arbon finished a further five points back after a tough day for the South Aussie.
The series moves to a new venue next round when it heads to the rural New South Wales town of Coonabarabran on the 19th of June, with the Goanna track venue promising to showcase one of the best venues every seen in the country for Motocross.
Rockstar Energy Drink Pro Open
1. Cody Cooper *
2. Billy Mackenzie *
3. Dean Ferris *
4. Cheyne Boyd
5. Josh Coppins *
6. Jay Marmont *
7. Michael Phillips
8. Matthew Phillips
9. Louis Calvin *
10. Beau Ralston
*ONE Rider
Motul Pro Lites
1. Daniel McCoy *
2. Jake Moss
3. Josh Cachia
4. Phil Nicoletti *
5. Luke Styke
6. Brenden Harrison
7. Kade Mosig
8. Alex Morris
9. Keiron Hall
10. Justin McDonald
*ONE Rider
Pirelli Under 19s
1. Jay Wilson
2. Errol Willis *
3. Kyle McKeddie
4. Shaun Redhead
5. Kale Makeham
6. Brad Skoric
7. Luke Arbon
8. Sam Martin
9. Ben George
10. Dan Banks
*ONE Rider