Yamaha Report from Broadford MX

by Dave · April 15, 2007

Yamaha's factory riders have enjoyed podium success at the opening round of the 2007 Nokia MX Nationals at Victoria's Broadford Motorsport complex today with five riders mounting the dais in the Pro Open, Pro Lites and National Cup categories.

In the Pro Open class CDR/Nokia/Yamaha's Cheyne Boyd and Darryll King finished second and third respectively behind a rampaging Daniel Reardon while in the Pro Lites arena Serco Yamaha's Jake Moss rode brilliantly to finish second, only one point behind round winner Danny Anderson.

All eyes were on the talented Under 19's class where over a third of the full field of 40 riders were mounted on Yamaha machines.

Serco Yamaha's Brenden Harrison stole the show in his first outing for the Brisbane based team winning Moto 1 & 2 convincingly while Kirk Gibbs gave Team 7 M2R Yamaha Motorsports their first MX podium for Yamaha with third overall for the round.

Yamaha Racing Pro Open

It was a dramatic opening round for the Nokia MX Nationals Pro Open class with a number of riders failing to finish the two grueling twenty minute Motos at the dusty Broadford circuit.

While CDR/Nokia/Yamaha's Cheyne Boyd and substitute rider Darryll King enjoyed top three spoils, the day ended prematurely for teammate Ford Dale after a number of heavy crashes prompted Team Principal Craig Dack to retire the teenage sensation part way through the second race.

A good start in Moto 1 saw Boyd dicing for the lead with Craig Anderson before the duo was passed by race and eventual round winner, Daniel Reardon. Boyd finished third behind Anderson while teammate Darryll King, who was coerced out of retirement to fill in for the injured Matt Moss finished a very credible fifth place and Ford Dale inside the first half of the field in 18th.

Moto 2 was forced to restart a couple of laps in after a spectacular crash left Craig Anderson severely concussed.

Boyd left the line well on the restart and was quickly into third place behind Daniel Reardon and Daryl Hurley with teammate Darryll King close behind. A few laps in Boyd's vision became impaired after a large rock flicked up and knocked the lens out of his goggles. While he battled on with dirt and dust in his goggles teammate Ford Dale was involved in a number of harsh falls which left him severely fatigued.

With a long season ahead Craig Dack elected to withdraw his young charge from the remainder of the race and concentrate on preparing him for next weekends round in Tasmania. Boyd rode on strong and was able to capitalize on an uncharacteristic mistake by Daryl Hurley to finish second in the race and second for the round.

"I had a good flow going but I struggled with vision in the second race," said Boyd, "A rock kicked up and smashed the bottom out of my goggles early on so I had to ride the majority of the race with dirt and dust getting in. It was a bit like being blindfolded".

"I do think I'll be able to close the gap on Reardon as the series goes on. By the end of Supercross I did and I believe I can do the same here. It's just a matter finding a line and getting into a flow, and despite the problems with vision I felt much better in the second Moto than the first", he said.

Darryll King was another to benefit from Hurley's gaffe, finishing third in race and rounding out the podium. "I am thrilled to be able to come back for a one off race and get on the podium," said King. "I knew my form was pretty good but having not prepared for the Australian competition I wasn't too sure where I would sit in the order of things.

"It felt like I had never retired, it was a lot of fun out there today and it was great to race without expectation or pressure. I am not sure if you will see me in another Australian race, we will have to wait and see. I will definitely put my hand up to fill in for Dacka again if needs be," he added.

Team 7 M2R Yamaha Motosports Shane Metcalfe clawed his way into eighth in the Championship with a top ten result in the final race bolstering his Round 1 points tally. "I didn't have a great first race," said Metcalfe "I got caught up in a number of different incidents and I was much happier with my second race."

Fresh from his Condo 750 win last weekend Jacob Smith onboard his Sam Laws Motorcycles YZ450F backed up well on his Pro Open debut finishing the round inside the top fifteen.

Yamaha Racing Pro Lites

Serco Yamaha riders Jake Moss and Daniel McCoy have both celebrated top five success at the opening round of the Nokia MX Nationals today with Moss claiming second overall and McCoy fighting back from two disastrous starts to seize fifth in the Championship.

It was a case of picking up where he left off for Moss, the NSW rider had vowed to continue his late Supercross form and didn't disappoint, falling only one point short of claiming top step of the dais.

After a poor start in the opening fifteen minute race Moss was dead last with his work cut out for him. A courageous ride while suffering a bout of arm pump saw him work his way through the field to finish fourth behind Danny Anderson, Mitch Hoad and fellow Yamaha rider Michael Phillips.

In Moto 2 Moss got away in tenth but had already reeled in four positions by the first turn.

Some smart riding ensued and the Serco Yamaha rider took the lead by mid race and was unchallenged on his way to the finish line, which he crossed with an impressive eight second lead.

Moss was second overall for the round with Danny Anderson claiming victory over the Yamaha rider by just one point, Adam Monea was third.

"It was great to start the season off with a good result," Moss said. "My goal at the end of the Supercross championship was to maintain consistency and I have well and truly achieved that today."

"In the lead up to this event the team worked on suspension setup and it proved the difference today as the bike was fantastic. We can't get too excited or ahead of ourselves, this is the first of ten rounds and we have a long way to go," Moss commented

Teammate Daniel McCoy had an uncomfortable day, two bad starts put him behind the eight ball and the Serco Yamaha rider found himself playing catch-up in both races. McCoy recovered to finish eighth in Race 1 and fifth in Race 2 which was enough to give him fifth overall for the round.

"I didn't feel comfortable at all today," said McCoy. "I can't really pinpoint it but I must admit I was quite relieved to still have finished fifth after the way I was feeling out there."

"My starts were awful, especially the second one where I hit the gate, as that left me dead last with a lot of positions to try and make up. I was happier with my ride to fifth place in the final race, I just put my head down, rode as hard as I could and starting picking the field off one-by-one," he added.

Shaun Williamson of Team 7 M2R Yamaha Motorsports on his return from injury finished inside the first half of the field securing a good top twenty placing.

Yamaha also celebrated a number of off track successes at the opening round with young Victorian Josh Carouthers winning a new Panasonic digital camera in the MX Nationals/Bluezone competition and staff from local dealer Alpha McDelta fielding a number of strong enquiries about the TTR, YZ and WR off road product ranges.

With Round 2 of the series to be held in Tasmania next Sunday (22 April) there will be no rest for Yamaha's Factory teams. While the mechanics frantically prepare the bikes for transportation across Bass Straight in a few days time the riders will have limited time for recovery as they themselves prepare for the extremely technical Penguin Motocross circuit.

Overall Results for Round 1 – 2007 Nokia MX Nationals Broadford, Victoria

Pro Open MX Top 5 Round 1

1.Daniel Reardon 50
2.Cheyne Boyd 42

3.Daryll King 35

4.Jay Marmont 24

5.Daryl Hurley 22

Pro Lite MX Top 5 Round 1

1.Danny Anderson 45
2.Jake Moss 43

3.Adam Monea       39
4.Mitch Hoad           35
5.Daniel McCoy     31

2007 Nokia MX Nationals Championship Standings after Round 1 of 10.