Mixed results for Kawasaki at Toowoomba

 
Kawasaki's Katherine Prumm, continued her domination over the competition at Round Three of the Australian Women’s Motocross Championship in Toowoomba over the weekend.  Pro Open and Pro Lites riders, Daniel Reardon, Mitch Hoad and Cody Mackie all missed podium finishes.

Kawasaki Racing Team’s (KRT) Katherine Prumm, has continued her domination over the competition at Round Three of the Australian Women’s Motocross Championship in Toowoomba over the weekend.Prumm finished Round Three of the women’s event in first place after clean sweeping both women’s races on the damp, muddy Echo Valley track in Toowoomba.

Excited about racing on the testing track, Prumm leapt from the start gate in Race One and Two to win both hole shots. She was quick to stamp her authority over the field, lapping her first riders on the completion of lap one. “I really enjoyed racing on the Toowoomba track, as the rough boggy conditions really suited my style,” said Prumm. “Round Three has defi nitely been my favourite event on the women’s program in 2007. The track was fairly technical and I had to really think about how to negotiate the track and its conditions. It was great to come away with the win for Kawasaki.”

Prumm is departing for Europe on Monday afternoon to defend her World Championship Title, as Round Two of the Women’s World MX Championship kicks off in Sweden on 1st July.

KRT Pro Open and Pro Lites riders, Daniel Reardon, Mitch Hoad and Cody Mackie, were unsuccessful in their attempts to replicate their Round Five success at Round Six of the Australian Motocross Championship, with all three riders missing podium finishes.Daniel Reardon still maintains his first place honours in the Pro Open Championship on 260 points, but crashes in both races hindered his overall Round Six results.

Reardon shot from the gates in Race One and claimed the hole shot convincingly and was quick to stamp his authority on the opening laps of the race. By the halfway mark, Reardon was 15 seconds ahead of the field. “I had a lot of confidence in my KX450F and I was travelling along nicely, until I hit a really deep rut on the back straight step up section,” said Reardon. “Basically, my bike stood still when it jammed in the rut and I kept going over the front handlebars. Thankfully I didn’t hurt myself too much in the fall, but I did damage my bike.

"I managed to restart it and get going again, but I lost valuable time and places restarting. I had to settle for fifth place in the opening race.In Race Two I didn’t win the hole shot and there was about five of us battling on the opening turns. I went down in turn five, bending my bikes shrouds and radiator and was back in last place when I rejoined the race.

"I knew it was going to be hard to get back up the front on such a slow track, but by the halfway mark I was back up to seventh. I kept it consistent and came home in fifth place. It definitly wasn’t the result I was looking for, as I was looking forward to the Toowoomba event. I suppose you can’t really go fast when you are lying down.

"But I can’t dwell on it as we have the Mackay event this weekend, so I will wake up Monday morning and focus on Round Seven and winning more valuable Championship pointscore for Kawasaki.”

KRT’s Pro Lites duo, Mitch Hoad and Cody Mackie, also had diffi cult days at their office. Both riders came into Round Six showing great potential, after their podium fi nishes at Round Five at Murray Bridge.Hoad finished the weekend in fi fth place overall, which was enough to see him hold onto second place in the Championship on 200 points.

“After last round’s result, I felt really confident heading into this event,” said Hoad. “I missed the start in Race One, but a few good moves through the opening turns, had me back up with the leading three riders. I worked through my arm pump issues to come home in fifth place.”

“I again had a slow start in Race Two and had to travel off track in the second turn to avoid a crash in front of me. I lost a lot of time and rejoined the race somewhere outside the top twenty. I worked my way back to fi fteenth by the halfway mark, but there was a big gap between me and the leading riders. I just kept plugging away trying to make up ground and came home in eleventh place.”

Cody Mackie looked well on the way to scoring his best race result of the season in Race Two, with less than a second between he and race winner Jake Moss’s best lap time.“I was ready to win Race Two,” said Mackie. “After a disappointing fi rst race where I fi nished in tenth place, I came out feeling the most confi dent I have felt all season and was pumped to win Race Two.

"I got a pretty good start and was up with the leading riders in the opening turns. I felt great and was riding fast. I was right on the tail of Monier challenging for second when we went into the back straight step up jump. Monier cross rutted in front of me upon landing and I had nowhere to go when I landed. I landed on the back of his bike and I head butted his back in the process. This sent me soaring off track, taking out the fence in the process.

By the time I untangled myself and rejoined the race I was a lap down. I managed to unlap myself, but still finished way down the order in twentieth place. My overall result definitely wasn’t a good reflection on my speed and ability in Race Two. I really believed I could win that race and I had the pace to do it. What is more disappointing is I now slip from third to fifth in the Championship on 168 points, so I have to score well this weekend to stay in the Championship points race.”

KRT Team Manager, Brett Whale, believes the overall result was tough on the Team.

“It certainly wasn’t our usual weekend of racing,” said Whale. “Katherine did a great job putting Kawasaki on the podium in the women’s event. She rode fantastic races and just continued to get faster as racing went on. She could have easily backed off and cruised through her races, but she kept pushing herself in preparation for defending her next world title round.”

"As for the boys, I think we had a lot of distraction on the weekend which just put us off our game. We were confident heading into the event and the boys looked good in training. But I think a string of things going wrong for us in the days leading up to the event just put us off our game on the day. Our transporter was broken into on the on the Friday night prior to racing which was a real nuisance for the Team come race day.

"All the guys had finished training on Friday and we had loaded the truck up in preparation to leave Saturday morning. We had a lot of gear missing which we didn’t realise until Sunday morning. I think this and the fact that the track conditions were really tough, contributed to the guys just being off their game this weekend. But, all the excuses in the world won’t win us back Championship points, so we must focus on scoring good results next weekend in Mackay”.

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