Kawasaki’s Conondale Report
Kawasaki Racing Teams, Cody Mackie, scored his first Pro Lites podium finish of the MX season, at Round Three of the Australian Motocross Championship at Conondale in Queensland over the weekend. *Includes Wide Screen Pictures*
Kawasaki Racing Teams, Cody Mackie, scored his first Pro Lites podium finish of the MX season, at Round Three of the Australian Motocross Championship at Conondale in Queensland over the weekend.
Mackie showed great pace on board his KX250F, to come from outside the top ten in both races and finish in fourth place in Races One and Two, securing him third place in the overall event standings. Mackie, who finished in eleventh place in this same event last year, was happy to better his 2006 result and stand on the podium in 2007.
“It was great for the Team to be able to stand on the podium,” said Mackie. “I trained really hard with Dan and Mitch last week in preparation and felt confident leading into Round Three.” “In Race One I was placed back in twelfth position after a poor start, but worked my way back up to contest for third place by the final lap. I tried to make a pass on Danny Anderson on the last lap in Turn Two, but I didn’t have the inside line and I had to settle for fourth place in the Race.”
“In Race Two, I came from fifteenth place after getting a slow start, to race back up to fourth place, just like Race One. I definitely had the pace to win, but I just had disappointing starts in both races and I had to fight through a lot of traffic which slowed me up. If I had of got away with the lead riders at the start, I wouldhave been hard to beat as I felt great and my bike was competitive.”
Mackie’s Pro Lites team mate, Mitch Hoad, finished up in seventh place overall after placing sixth fastest in both Qualifying and Race One and finished in eighth place in Race Two.On board his KX250F, Hoad showed good pace but struggled with arm pump issues throughout racingwhich hindered his overall performance. “I qualified the best I have all season and felt pretty good going into Race One,” said Hoad. “I had the pace to run with the lead riders, but I think all the training Mackie, Reardon and I did during the week, caused myarms to just fatigue come race day. In Race One, I was a real contender getting away to a good start and was placed in third place on theopening laps. But as racing went on, my arms became tight and I had to fight arm fatigue right up until I crossed the line in sixth place.”
Receiving treatment to his arms in-between Races, Hoad took to the track for Race Two, but was caught up in all the handlebar banging that Turn One notoriously brings.“In Race Two, I was unlucky to have another riders bike get caught up in my back wheel coming out of thefirst Turn, forcing me to stop,” said Hoad. “By the time I rejoined racing, I had lost valuable time and there was a big gap between me and the rest of the field. I was determined to finish in the top ten to gain valuable Championship points, so I just kept chipping away at the leading riders and came home in eighth place.”
Australia’s most dominant Pro Open rider, Daniel Reardon, finished the third round event in fourthplace onboard his KX450F. At a track where he statistically hasn’t recorded his best results, Reardon came out in Qualifyingand posted a 2.26:3, nearly two and a half seconds faster than nearest rival Craig Anderson.Showing blistering pace, Reardon approached Race One with confidence and optimism.
“In Race One I got away to a good start winning the hole shot and was almost five seconds ahead on the opening lap,” said Reardon. “Unfortunately I missed a gear whilst turning, shifting my bike into neutral and I crashed. I remounted and set about hunting Hurley down, who by this time had pulled a twenty second lead over me. I was pretty quick to find the gas and within four laps I had made my way back up to third place where I had Ando in my sights.”
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“I am not really sure what happened in my fall, but I think I cross rutted and fell hard into the corner, corking my thigh and twisting my ankle. I lost a lot of time rejoining the race and was well down the order in about 32nd place by the time I restarted. I eventually got going again and chased the leading riders down one by one to come home in 12th place.”
“I obviously had a point to prove in Race Two. My result in Race One fired me up and I knew I had to win the second race. I hole shotted the Race and pulled a good lead over the field. My bike felt< great, I found my rhythm straight away and I came home to win by 40 seconds.”
Team Manager Brett Whale was proud of his Teams efforts and is now focusing on preparing for Round Four of the Australian Motocross Championship which moves to Raymond Terrace in NSW in a fortnight’s time.
“It wasn’t necessarily our best day we have had in the office,” said Whale. “It was a great result for Cody who has really worked hard to get up to speed with his new bike since returning from the States and his result this weekend is a reward for his hard earned efforts.”
“All the boys trained really hard this week and spent a lot of time working with Dan’s engineer Charlie Costanzo, testing suspension and tyre set-ups. They all had fast bikes, but they just didn’t get it all together at the end of the day.”
All three KRT riders and their race engineers will continue to work on developing engines and suspension set-ups in preparation for Round Four of the Australian Motocross Championship, taking place on Sunday, May 21 at the notoriously rocky Raymond Terrace Track.
