Penguin MX Wrap-up from Yamaha

A fast, clean and consistent performance by Jake Moss, victor in the Pro Lites category for Serco Yamaha, has headed Yamaha Racing’s weekend at Blackwood Park in Penguin, Tasmania.

It was a day of contrasting highs and lows, with Moss’ brilliant performance on the YZ250F slightly overshadowed by devastating injuries to CDR/Nokia/Yamaha’s Cheyne Boyd and Moss’ Serco teammate Daniel McCoy. Both riders were out of the running early, their weekend campaigns coming to an end without any opportunity to record points.

The results were far more positive for Yamaha’s Under 19 entrants, with Team Seven’s Kirk Gibbs taking first place overall and GYTR/QYDT’s Dean Ferris finishing in third. Riders will take a well-deserved two week break before the third round of competition at Conondale in Queensland on May 6.

Yamaha Racing Pro Open.

CDR/Nokia/Yamaha Team Principal Craig Dack has vowed his team will bounce back after a horrifying round of results which saw lead rider Cheyne Boyd sidelined with spiral fractures to his ankle following a qualifying mishap.

Boyd’s intense pre-race preparation was destroyed when his boot became lodged between the footpeg and the ground. The gutsy competitor amazingly kept riding before realising the damage was significant, and was forced to make an early exit.

Dack said that while the weekend had been extremely disappointing, every member of the team is determined to push on. “It has not been a good start for us, but we are a tough team and realise that with the highs come the lows, we can handle this and we will bounce back,” said Dack.“It’s a tough sport to be a part of, we’ll use the break to regroup and put the situation in perspective, it will be good to have Matt Moss back on board for Conondale also.

”Speaking following a medical inspection, a dejected Boyd said the incident was just one of those things that couldn’t have been prevented. “It’s racing,” he said. “It’s very disappointing, but it is a difficult sport. I’ve already set my sights on recovery, tomorrow I’ll visit a specialist to find out the extent of the fractures and find out exactly what I need to do to ensure I’m fit as soon as possible.”

With Boyd out of the running, Ford Dale was left with the task of flying the sole CDR/Nokia/Yamaha flag across both moto’s.Dale made a great start in qualifying, and was well within the leading group of riders after recording the 4th quickest lap time.

Unfortunately, he hit the gate off the start and was bundled back to dead last, forced to reassess his race plan. He crossed the finish line in 21st place after pushing back through the packed field, fighting a niggling nerve problem which was causing him to lose feeling in one of his arms. He redeemed himself in the second moto, powering away from the start and riding a strong race to finish 8th.“It wasn’t a good round for me and I was feeling the effects of injury pretty badly,” said Dale.“I struggled in the first moto and managed to fight back in the second, but this isn’t the way I’d imagined my season to be shaping up after a promising pre-season. It will be good to head back to Conondale, a track I know really well, and I’m hoping to be back at full fitness for the round.”

With Boyd to challenge him,Daniel Reardon ran away with the wins in both thirty minute plus one lap Pro Open Moto’s.Team Seven rider’s Tom Jones and Shane Metcalfe both threatened to upset the field with their pace during qualifying but the speed did not transfer into the races.Tom Jones finished the 10th overall and was flanked by team mate Shane Metcalfe in 11th.

“Overall I am happy the day as Metty has moved well inside the top 10 and Tom isn’t far behind him. We need to work harder on our race set up and this will be our primary focus as we work towards round three at Connodale” said Team Seven Manager Mark Haughton.

Yamaha Racing Pro Lite.
Serco Yamaha’s Jake Moss has won round 2 of the Nokia MX Nationals at Penguin, capitalising on a perfect start and building himself a 25 point Pro Lite championship lead in the process. Moss qualified quickest and was out the front early, shaking off the challenge from former teammate Cameron Taylor and taking moto 1 easily.

He was content with a strong second placing in moto 2, knowing that the position would still hand him the overall win and give him a strong championship buffer. Mitch Hoad was the only Pro Lite rider to offer Moss a challenge on track,leading Moss to the finish in the second thirty minute plus one lap moto. “I went into the weekend looking for a top 5 finish, but got off to a great start and ran with it in the first moto,” said Moss.“The bike was very quick and the track was very good to race on.”

“I was up there with a chance to challenge for the lead in the second moto but I took a strategic approach and rode through to second, knowing this would give me the round win and a good championship lead.”

Also offering up plenty of competition to Moss in moto 1 was Daniel McCoy, who was looking on song to finish in second place before misjudging a landing in the whoops section and crashing out. The incident put pay to his weekend and he is hoping to be race ready for Conondale.“It’s a disappointing way to end a weekend and really puts a dent in my motocross championship, the fall caused some damaged to my AC joint and I won’t really know the effects of this until I see a specialist tomorrow.”

Yamaha privateer Michael Phillips was one to offer a strong challenge to the factory Pro Lites riders, finishing a fantastic third in moto 1, a performance boosting his championship campaign to position 5.

Yamaha Motor Australia Under 19’s/MX Development Series
Team Seven Yamaha’s Kirk Gibbs has won round 2 of the MX Development Series at Penguin today, heading a good run of results from up-and-coming Yamaha riders. Gibbs won the overall event, taking the moto 1 win and finishing 3rd in moto 2.He believes his experience on the Penguin track was a major factor in his victory.“I’ve won two junior championships on this track and it’s definitely more my style, this experience made it much easier,” said Gibbs.

“I came into the weekend just looking for some good points so it is great to take the win and move to second in the championship.”

GYTR/QYDT’s Dean Ferris was one of the riders encouragingly offering strong opposition to a Gibbs clean sweep, finishing third at Penguin today. In perfect conditions, the Kyogle charger raced with speed and intelligence to claim his first ever podium at a national professional race and in the process climb his way up the leader board of the eight round series.

Ferris was right up the front in the opening laps of moto 1 and he led the field early in the second leg after taking the holeshot, but couldn’t maintain the intensity and settled into his own pace. “It didn’t really click for me today, so I just rode with my head and went about racking up some points. I was right up there at the start of both motos but rode tight so instead of doing something silly I just tried to grind out the best result I could,” said Ferris.”Last weekend was both good and bad. It proved I had the speed to do well but a 2- DNF day isn’t the way to win a championship. For the next few rounds my aim is to keep putting my YZ250F on the podium and slowly race myself back into contention for this championship. There is still a long way to go and I think I have as good a chance as anybody of winning this thing.”

Brenden Harrison’s weekend threw up a mixed bag of results, with the Serco Yamaha young gun failing to finish the opening moto, but backing up very impressively with a win in the second. “It was disappointing not to make it cleanly through both motos but really good to take the win, this means I am still leading the championship after the second round which is great,” said Harrison.“We’ve got a bit of a break to Conondale where I am definitely after two from two wins to increase the lead even more. The YZ250F was great out there today and the results of the other Yamaha riders shows that its one of, if not the leading bike in the Development category.”

Results for Round 2 of the 2007 Nokia NX Nationals- Penguin TAS

Pro Open MX Championship

1.Daniel Reardon
2. Cody Cooper
3. Daryl Hurley

Pro Lite MX Championship
1. Jake Moss
2. Cameron Taylor
3. Mitch Hoad

Yamaha Under 19 MX Development Class
1. Kirk Gibbs
2. Todd Waters
3. Dean Ferris

2007 Nokia MX Nationals Championship Standings after Round 2 of 10

Pro Open MX Championship
1. Daniel Reardon, 100
2. Daryl Hurley, 72
3. Jay Marmont, 69
4. Cody Cooper, 61
5. Kade Mosig, 55
6. Cheyne Boyd, 42
7. Shane Metcalfe, 42
8. Justin Carafa, 39
9. Nathan Crawford, 37
10. Troy Carroll, 34

Pro Lite MX Championship
1. Jake Moss, 90
2. Mitch Hoad, 75
3. Adam Monea, 67
4. Danny Anderson, 64
5. Michael Phillips, 61
6. Luke Burkhart, 52
7. Cody Mackie, 52
8. Kyle Tobin, 48
9. Cam Taylor, 47
10. Louis Calvin

Yamaha Under 19’s MX Development Series
1. Brenden Harrison, 82
2. Kirk Gibbs, 78
3. Todd Waters, 76
4. Joel Passlow, 63
5. Kody Wheeler, 60
6. Lawson Bopping, 59
7. Dean Ferris, 58
8. Matt Ryan, 54
9. Andrew Reardon, 38
10. Dean Hibberd, 34