Moss & Styke unbeatable
Australian Champs 2013
Motocross News By: Aaryn Minerds
All three championship red plate holders heading into round eight of the 2013 Monster Energy MX Nationals left the Swan Hill venue in Victoria with a bigger points buffer after a fantastic day of racing under clear blue skies.
MX1 points leader, Motul Pirelli Suzuki's Matt Moss who obtained the red plate in the big bike class at the previous round
at Hervey Bay in Queensland, increased his championship lead from two points at
the start of day to a handy little eleven point lead by days end with a
dominate display of riding.
M.Moss kicked started the mornings proceedings
in perfect fashion, setting a qualifying lap two and a half seconds faster than
anyone else in the MX1 class and lead the fastest five riders into the all
important GoPro Superpole session. Moss then went on to score the maximum five
points on offer by also setting the fastest time in his one lap dash.
Finishing .7 of second behind Moss in Superpole
was Motorex KTM's Kirk Gibbs. Motul Pirelli Suzuki's Cody Cooper who set the third fastest time, with Waters in fourth and local
Victorian rider Sam Martin who after qualifying fourth fastest on his DPH
Motorspots backed Suzuki in regular qualifying, rounded out the top five at the
conclusion of Superpole.
When the gates dropped on the open MX1 moto for
the day it was Matt Moss who shot out to the lead grabbing the Suzuki holeshot
and quickly set about opening up a small gap from chasing riders, Waters and
CDR Yamaha's Billy Mackenzie.
Things then turned pear shaped for M.Moss with a
crash seeing him regulated back to third place behind Waters and Mackenzie.
Moss then put in a hard charge first making his way around Mackenzie before
setting his sights on Waters. With just a handful of laps remaining in the
race, M.Moss caught Waters with the two riders once again racing at close
quarters and like the previous eventually made contact with each other.
M.Moss eventually made a move for the lead stick
and despite some more bar banging action between the two riders, crossed the
line ahead of Waters before the two riders continued their race long battle off
the track as they exchanged a few words regarding the on track contact.
Behind the leading duo, Gibbs won a race long duel with Mackenzie to claim third place just ahead of the Scotsman, while Sam Martin backed up his qualifying performance finishing in 5th spot, though he did benefit from Monster Energy Kawasaki's Adam Monea's late race exit as he was forced to retire late in the second moto with bike issues.
Carlton Dry Honda MX's South African rider Gareth Swanepoel finished
in sixth while Berry Sweet / Lucas Oil / Yamaha racer, Cheyne Boyd showed
that the team has been working hard since their opening race together just two
weeks ago racing to a fine seventh place moto finish.
Much like moto one, moto two saw M.Moss shoot out to the holeshot, however this
time he was unchallenged going on to win the race by a comfortable margin,
giving him a clean sweep for the round on his way to increasing his
championship lead by nine points.
Behind Moss, Waters once again finished second, though he had his work cut out
for him after a bad start left to him to chase down Mackenzie then his own team
mate in Gibbs, with Waters only making the move in to second place with just
over a lap remaining in the second moto.
Mackenzie scored a pair of fourth place finishes on the day with a fouth place
finish in moto two, while Swanepoel rounded out the top five in the second
moto.
The day and red plate in the MX1 class belonged to M.Moss who was delighted
with his round win.
"It is good to get the win to carry some momentum in to the final rounds
with the red plate," Moss commented on the podium.
"It was actually exciting at the start of the year to watch Todd dominate,
we are both out here going for our first open championship and things are
getting a little heated but that is part of racing. I am sure if I was not out
there Todd would not be enjoying it.
"It is good to battle with him and I know it is going to come down to the
wire with both of us going for our first championship, I am looking forward to
battling against him to the end of it." Moss added.
Despite finishing second to Moss and losing a little ground in the championship standings with just two rounds remaining, Waters took a lot of positives away from the day as re continues to build back to full fitness after suffering a few injuries throughout 2013.
“We're getting there, a second today helps build my confidence and I’m looking
forward to battling out the rest of the season with Mossy." Waters
commented at the end of the day. "I was pretty happy with that last moto,
I’ve still got a few things to clean up but we're building and I enjoyed today.
"I was able to keep the championship alive by getting some good points and
I get another two weeks of solid training now to come back with. We've got the
two Queensland tracks to go and I’ve had a fair bit of riding on both.
"I’m lucky to have people like Rob, Ryan, my girlfriend Jules and Mum and
Dad behind me making my day by day easier.” Waters added.
Rounding out the podium was Waters team mate Kirk Gibbs who finished only two points behind second place due to his strong performance once again in the Superpole session.
“I had a great day." Gibbs enthused. "Any day you can get on the
podium in this class is a great day.
"I’ve been training my butt off and this is where I want to be. I love it.
I had two good starts today and in the first Billy passed me early and gapped
me but I closed in and sat behind him and when he made a mistake with a couple
of laps to go, I got by and took third.
"In the second race I got a good start behind Moss. He slowly pulled away
but I felt comfortable. I held Todd off for as long as could but he got past
with ten to go.” Gibbs concluded.
Billy Mackenzie rounded out the day in fourth place, while Swanepoel had a
solid day out finishing in sixth position. Monster Energy Kawasaki's Jay
Marmont finished the day in sixth with a pair of consistent moto
results, while Cooper got the nod over Boyd for seventh by one point. Campbell
Mining's Suzuki's Jake Moss and DPH's Sam Martin rounded out
the top ten with both riders finishing the day out on 45 points.
MX2
Luke Styke once again gave his Serco Yamaha race team a round win with another dominating display that now sees him in a position to wrap up the 2013 MX2 championship at the conclusion of the first moto at Toowoomba with a race win in two weeks time.
The rider who has won an astonishing seven of the eight rounds to date,
narrowly laid down the fastest lap in qualifying, though at less than one tenth
of a second faster the Privateer KTM rider Kale Makeham and
only three tenths faster than another KTM privateer in Dylan Long things
were shaping up for a good day of racing in the MX2 class.
Makeham rocketed out to a big holeshot at the start of the MX2 first moto,
before the race was red flagged due to a gate malfunction. Not to be fazed by
the situation, Makeham repeated the performance on the re-start again rounded
the first turn with the race lead and set about holding off the chasing Styke
and Long.
Makeham was able to hold of Styke for a couple of laps, before the 2012 MX2
championship runner up moved to the lead and slowly edged away from the field.
Behind the leading pair Long was looking comfortable in third before a front
end wash out left him back in seventh place, elevating Choice Motorsports KTM
rider Brock Winston to third.
The top three positions did not change for the remainder of the race, with
Styke going on to secure a comfortable win ahead of Makeham with a big gap back
to Winston in 3rd. Raceline Suzuki's Ryan Marmont once again
put in a solid ride working his way up to fourth place my the end of the moto,
with Choice Motorsports KTM rider and New Zealand MXoN representative Kayne
Lamont rounding out the top five.
Long worked his way back to sixth place at the end of the moto after his early
race crash.