Mid Week Moto
The Week Gone By
By Aaryn Minerds
From the weekends racing results, to the more interesting and unusual
happenings from the week gone by including some of the rumours and
findings on social networks, we will take a look and anything and
everything dirt bike related.
THE WEEK IN AUSTRALIA
MX Nationals Round 3: Wonthaggi
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ANOTHER GREAT EVENT:
The Wonthaggi circuit provided the perfect place for round three of the
MX Nationals on Sunday. It is great looking track that comes up a treat
for the nationals and I still rank the Pit Row set up the best in the
series
WONTHAGGI SAND?:
For the most part Wonthaggi is regarded as a sand track, and the
surface does look like a deep black sand. However on the weekend it did
not form up in the traditional way sand normally does, providing riders
with more of a hard pack type surface.
In fact the Motorex
KTM team who rode Qualifying on a full soft tyre, quickly switched back
to a the Pirelli Mid / Soft for racing.
MX1
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THE FRONT RUNNERS: Todd Waters continues to run up front and run away from the field. He did not gap the rest of the field as much at Wonthaggi, with both Cody Cooper and Matt Moss keeping him some what in check in the two motos.
M.Moss, who to be honest I thought was off pace and not looking his
usual self at round one, has improved each round so far and I would be
leaning towards him to being the first one to take an overall off Waters
at this point in time.
Lawson Bopping could do like
wise with a couple of good starts and Cody Cooper is a big threat if he
can figure out what is going on in Moto 2.
THE UNFORTUNATE: Cody Mackie was
riding well on Sunday, but crashed hard during the opening MX1 moto and
took a trip to the hospital, he has a blue and purple ankle but is
aiming to line up at Broadford next weekend.
Like every crash or retirement in the MX1 class, I missed Cheyne Boyd's,
from what I have been told another rider pulled out in front of him
while they were re entering the track taking Boyd out in a big way.
With a couple of broken ribs, a few more cracked and another painful
injury, Boyd certainly was not happy about the incident and let his
feeling know on twitter earlier this week.
Billy Mackenzie
had a couple of crashes and after being one of the riders who found
some consistency with three straight second place moto finishes, he lost
all that momentum with two out side top ten results at Wonthaggi.
Daniel McCoy
managed to flip his bike out of the start gates in moto two, again a
moment I missed, McCoy is certainly getting quicker with each outing on
his new ride and did march forward through the field in the second moto.
I really do think MX1 riders will be feeling safer when they
see my lens pointed their way at the remaining rounds, as like all the
above incidents I also did not see what Happened to Jake Moss in either moto. A crash hurt his result in race one from what I understand, while moto two was an issue with his front brake.
Jake is on pace there is no doubt about that, just a little luck deserted him on the weekend.
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THE PRIVATEERS: Robbie Marshall
lead the way for the true privateers on the weekend, for a guy who is
running out of his own van he certainly showed up some factory riders on
the weekend.
He came from a long way outside the top ten to
finish tenth in the opening moto then repeated the performance by doing
likewise to finish 11th in moto two for 10th overall for the day.
Jacob Wright
also rode extremely well, working his way forward again in both moto's.
Most would not know, but after doing an interview with Jacob after
round two, (That will hopefully posted in the next day or two), I found
out he pretty much has no feeling in his clutch hand after a nasty crash
last year in the United States.
It causes him issues out of
the gate and he has had to adjust his riding in a few ways. Jacob has
probably past more riders than anyone else so far this season.
BOUNCING BACK: Jay Marmont did not have the day he was after, especially in moto one, dropping all the way back to 16th.
He then raced to a solid 6th place in moto two, though still not quite
in the form we have come to know from the multi time champ. There is
little doubt in my mind he will bounce back to challenge for race wins
in the near future.
He still looks a little sore from the
crash the week before at Murray Bridge, it was a big hit he took at
round two and there would have to be some lingering effects from that.
MX2
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SERCO YAMAHA:
They come they raced the won. The blue bikes are 3 from 3 in overall
results in 2013 and are looking hard to beat. But it is a long season
and we still have 14 moto's left, each offering up a maximum of 35
points per moto, this season is far from over just yet.
THE CHALLENGERS:
At this point in time there is only one rider who can genuinely match
the Serco pairing for out right speed on a race to race basis, with that
being Josh Cachia. A point he more than proved in moto two on the weekend.
Race one was a hard one for Cachia, picking himself up of the ground, seeing his good buddy Kade Mosig still laying there when he re mounted his bike.
He then went on to charge his way through the field and despite
another crash along the way worked his way up to 9th place by race end.
The two riders closest in points to the Serco pairing are
KTM Privateers Kale Makeham and Brock Winston. Both continue to put in
consistent top results and either of them could sneak through for a
maiden race win in the MX2 class at any moment, but are just a touch off
at the moment.
Makeham would have learned a lot and taken a
lot away from leading the second moto for a few laps at Wonthaggi. he is
only three races in to his MX2 career and shows more and more
improvement each week. If he can keep this up, he will be hot property
for 2014.
RIDERS TO WATCH: Geran Stapleton
was very fast in the opening moto on the weekend and even moved up to
challenge Makeham for third in moto one. Another rider who continues to
get better with each outing. His second moto was one to forget however.
Rhys Carter got off to a slow start to the season but
has shown flashes of what he is capable of including a fine 6th place
finish in moto one on the weekend.
Ryan Marmont had a
good second moto finishing fifth, and the Choice Motor-sport riders of
Kayne Lamont and Dylan Long were quick once again but suffered terrible
luck all day.
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WILL HE OR WON'T HE: Matt Ryan was not going to race on the weekend, but made a last minute decision to rock up at Wonthaggi.
I spoke to Matt again on the weekend and while the money is a factor
as it is with most privateers, there are other reason's why he is
looking at missing the remainder of the season.
As he
explained, the early part of the season is not to bad for a privateer
rider with a full time job. With day light savings in affect in the lead
up to round one, there are plenty of day light hours to get bike time
during the week.
Once Day light saving finishes there is no
time after work to get bike time, so while he is getting less and less
bike time during the season, the Full time riders and even the
privateers who work part time jobs have a big advantage and their pace
continues to grow during the season, while he feels his pace will
flatten out.
There is also the safety consideration, racing /
riding once a week then trying to race on the edge to run up front at
the MX Nationals is not a good combination.
It is a problem that not only Matt Ryan has to deal with, I know South Aussie James Booth-Elliot
is lucky to ride for 30 minutes once or if very luck twice during the
week, getting home from work jumping on his bike and riding to sun down
and even that requires finishing work early!
It is the same
for a good portion of the field out side the top ten in the MX1 class
and MX2 class, the privateers that do it tough for the love of their
chosen sport.
MXD
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JACK SIMPSON:
It is a name that I really did not know heading in to round one,
however it is one I think ill be typing a lot more going forward.
He is fast, small and can pull a massive holeshot! The young man is fast.
BREAKING THROUGH: Joel Dinsdale
broke through for a race win on Sunday. It was only a matter of time
before he did, he is fast and can do things on a bike that most 16 year
olds cant.
There will be more race wins for Dinsdale this
year, but also I would say a few more mistakes, but a rider to watch out
for no doubt.
THE KIWI: A Kiwi won the MXD last year on a KTM, and Hamish Harwood is in the runnig to replicate Kayne Lamont's 2012 result.
He finished second in both moto's at Wonthaggi for second overall for
the day, backing up his third overall at round one. His race results so
far for 2013 read 5-3-2-2. Not a bad effort at all.
THE WEEK INTERNATIONALLY
AMA Supercross
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2ND AND BUST: Davi Millsaps secured second place in the 450SX Championship on the weekend. Ryan Villopoto had already wrapped up the championship before the final race at Las Vegas, and the race for second was between Millsaps and Ryan Dungey with the Rockstar Suzuki mounted Millsaps coming up trumps.
Dungey finished the race in second place ahead of Millsaps, but with
Millsaps coming in to the round with a three point advantage, he was
able to finish directly behind Dungey dropping only two points and
picking up second place for the second straight year.
The bad
news for Millsaps fans is, Las Vegas was the last time we will see him
in action for a few months as he needs knee surgery that will see him
miss the Motocross Series.
KTM AND GEIKCO SHARE THE SPOILS:
I watched the Monster Energy AMA SX final races from Las Vegas late
Sunday evening, while half asleep not really taking it all in.
Today I finally found some time to sit back and watch it all unfold.
Even nearly a week after the event and knowing what unfolded I still got
goose bumps watching both 250SX finals.
The racing was
intense with both regions final results coming down to the final laps
and mirroring each other in a lot of ways.
In the end it was Red Bulls Ken Roczen
who won by the smallest of margins in the West after making a late race
move on a Pro Circuit Kawasaki rider to secure second place and the
title over Geiko Honda's Eli Tomac, who won the final West 250SX race of the season.
While in the East it Pro Circuit Kawasaki's late season recuit Tyler Bowers who denied Red Bull KTM's Marvin Musquin the championship by a bike length. Bowers maiden SX win along with points leader coming in to the race Wil Hahn finishing in third place was enough for Hahn to win his maiden SX Championship racing for Geiko Honda.
It was a bitter sweet win for Hahn however, who will now miss the
opening round of the Motocross championship to have surgery on his hand.
Though I think the SX championship will help take a lot of the pain
away.
FIM World Motocross Championship
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MX1: Gautier Paulin scored his second round win, though with Tony Cairoli finishing just behind him, the Italian still has control of the Championship.
MX2: Jeffrey Herlings
continues to dominate the MX2 class in the World Championships, he has
now won all 12 motos for the season and does not look as though he will
drop one any time soon.
Aussie Dean Ferris finished
second to Herlings on the weekend with a 6th in moto one, followed by a
second place finish in Moto 2. As cool as it would be to see Herlings go
unbeaten in 2013, it would be cooler to see Ferris claim a race win and
even a round win or two.
FIM World Speedway Championship
BIG WEEKEND:
It certainly was a big weekend in off road two wheeled action and one
disipline that is commonly over looked is the World Speedway
championship.
With an Aussie as the current world champion in Chris Holder and Darcy Ward
on the tour this time, this is once again plenty of interest from our
end in the racing, which has once again been first rate early in 2013.
Unfortunately Ward was taken to hospital in Gothenburg after crashing
in heat six of the Fogo Swedish SGP on Saturday. Early report have him
sidelined for up to two months, missing four GPs.
Holder currently sits 6th in the championship standings, only seven points behind points leader Tomasz Gollob after finishing second to Emil Sayfutdinov at round three in Sweden on the weekend.
It was an emotional win for Sayfutdinov who dedicated his Fogo Swedish
FIM Speedway Grand Prix triumph to his late father Damir after he lost
his fight with cancer shortly before the meeting in Gothenburg on
Saturday.
Something New
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BUT IT IS ONLY MAY!
It may only be early May 2013, but KTM have released details on their
full 2014 SX and EXC Range. The 2014 world launch is currently underway
in Italy as we speak.
For those wanting more information on
the new line up straight away, everything you could want to know is
already up on the KTM International website.
Click the
following link, for information on the full SX 2014 range, including
updates, images and even the 2014 work manuals! http://www.ktm.com/mx.html
And the following link for information on the full 2014 EXC http://www.ktm.com/enduro.html
A WEEK IN MOTION
Check out below a collection of some of the best video's we have come across over the past week
Moto Life - Episode Two 'The Gate Drops'
All New and Ready To Race: KTM EXC Models 2014
Supercross LIVE! 2013 - Official Post Show from Las Vegas
2013 MXGP PORTUGAL - Agueda - NEWS
THATS A WRAP
Well that is a wrap for Week 18 of the 2013 Race Season. It is quieter
weekend ahead on the Local and International scene. Make sure you catch
our "DIRTY WEEKEND AHEAD" weekly feature on Friday to find out what
racing is on this weekend!
