Kawasaki First and Second at Rosedale
Kawasaki Racing Team’s Daniel Reardon, set up an impressive final round show down when he took first place honours on the Kawasaki KX450F in the Pro Open Class, at Round Three of the Australian Supercross Championship at Rosedale Victoria last night.
Kawasaki Racing Team’s Daniel Reardon, set up an impressive final round show down when he took first place honours on the Kawasaki KX450F in the Pro Open Class, at Round Three of the Australian Supercross Championship at Rosedale Victoria last night.
Teammate Mitch Hoad on his KX250F, put in a valiant effort in the Pro Lites division, storming home to come away with a triumphant second place. Only half a bike length stood in the way of a double Kawasaki victory, as Hoad only narrowly missed first place.
Reardon riding with the same conviction he has displayed all season, convincingly won the event securing him a seven point lead heading into the final round at Wollongong on March 24. Every effort is being made by KRT to ensure Reardon is crowned the King of Supercross for his third consecutive year.
With both the Pro Open and Pro Lites racing format made up of three Heats and a Main Race, bothriders went into their respective classes feeling confident and fit, ensuring they would attack the event in true green style. Reardon opened the fi rst heat with a slower start, but quickly found pace and took the lead.
He dictated racing to the rest of the field over the course of the three heats, winning each event convincingly.From the moment the gates dropped in the main race, Reardon launched his machine from the line to win the hole shot and quickly establish an eight second lead over the opposition. A slip-up 5 laps into the race saw Reardon drop his bike at Turn 15 giving the number two seed, Jay Marmont, the race lead. Reardon quickly remounted and rejoined the race in second place.
Forced to reconfigure his race strategy from the second spot, Reardon slotted in behind Marmont and rode behind the leader only to pounce with one lap to go, bringing home the victory for Kawasaki.
“Everything just worked for me all night” Reardon said. “My engineer Charlie Costanzo again gave me a great bike, like he has all season, which makes my job a whole lot easier. I am able to just concentrate on racing as I know we get the best parts and accessories for our bikes from our sponsors and that always gives me confidence going into a race, as I don’t have the added worry of questioning my bikes reliability and performance.
Mitch Hoad secured his first 2007 podium finish last night, though his run wasn’t quite as predictable or smooth as his team mates. The young Kawasaki gun had an adventurous ride throughout the night., implementing many unconventional racing strategies from, ‘gunning it’, to ‘being consistent’ of which the latter ultimately paid dividends.
Hoad rode a messy first heat, as he made a few mistakes and struggled to find clean air, resulting in a seventh place finish.
