Peick takes the Lead

Australian Supercross

www.fullnoise.com.au   By Aaron Minerds

Carlton Dry Honda's American import Weston Peick continued his round by round improvement this evening, claiming his first win on Australian soil at Phillip Island, and in the process took the lead of the 2013 Terex Australian Supercross Championship at the conclusion of round four of the six round series. 

It was Australia's own Brett Metcalfe who claimed the UNIT hole shot, while behind him all types of craziness unfolded with, Championship leader, Motul Pirelli's b getting tangled up with Motorex KTM's Daniel McCoy and Tattoo Racing Honda Privateer Jacob Wright. 

All three riders hit the deck hard and while McCoy and Wright were both able to remount and continue racing, Moss was left with a badly bent up bike and looked as though his night may have been over. 

To his credit however, he soldiered on with a missing left radiator shroud and the radiator it self almost torn off, to finish in 11th position, picking up valuable championship points.

Back out front it was Pecik who was making the move forward, coming from fourth place at the end of lap one, upto second place by the end of lap two, before making the move past lead Metcalfe by the end of the fourth lap. 

While Metcalfe was able to keep Pecik in check for the majority of the race, the American broke free with a handfull of laps remaining to take his first ever main event win in Australia. 

"It feels good to get my first win over here, it is what I have been shooting for the entire season and I finally got it. I rode a consistent race and that is what pays off," Peick told fullnoise.com.au after the event. 

"I was behind Metty at the start and he made a few small mistakes out there, so I kept the pressure on while he made the mistakes running my own lines, it was a nice clean pass and on for the win."

Behind Peick it was another American rider who had their crowd on their feet in the second half of the race. Hart&Huntington, InsureMyRide, Suzuki's Josh Hill who started in third before slipping back to fifth after a small run in with reigning supercross champ, Monster Energy Kawasaki's Jay Marmont started his charge back to the front right at the mid way point of the race. 

After another cat and mouse battle with Australian sparing partner Jake Moss, from the Campbell Mining Suzuki team, Hill worked his way on to the back wheel of Metcalfe and pressured the Aussie for a handful of laps until a mistake on lap 19 by Metcalfe allowed Hill to move into second, a position he would not relinquish. 

"The result tonight was good, though I was not to excited about racing with the sun going down in our eyes, I don't think anyone was, but we just made the best of it," Hill explained. 

"I tried to charge at the beginning of the race and made a couple of mistakes," Hill added. 

"I had a good battle with Marmont (Jay), he is a sly old racer. I tried to come in and tap his back wheel, he knew exactly how to handle that and held up a little bit and almost made me tip over and I lost a couple of positions. It meant I had to make another charge to the front and wasted some time."

Metcalfe who returned to Australian racing for the first time since his appearance for his nation at the 2006 Oceania Championships, finished a solid third after finding his feet throughout the day in his first Supercross start in eighteen months. 

"Tonight was really good, to be honest it felt like a win from where we have been all day," Metcalfe stated. "It has been a long time since I have raced supercross, it literally has been eighteen months. 

"I had two and a half days practice before coming here this weekend, it was all a last minute rush and I was a little rusty. The turn around we made from during the day, to the main event was huge and we really made the bike work, the ADR Kawasaki was good out there." Metcalfe added. 

J.Moss once again finished with a strong result and kept himself in the championship hunt with a fourth place finish, while Marmont finished in fifth position after a mid race stall. 

Pro Lites

 Carlton Day Honda Mx racer Gavin Faith gave his team double reason to celebrate for the day, taking a wire to wire win in the nights SX Lites main event. 

The reigning SX Lites Supercross champion, check out early and was never headed as he went on to win by a very comfortable nine seconds after backing it down in the closing laps. 

Behind Faith was a mixed bag of great riding, some luck and some heart break as riders jostled for the final spots on the podium. The first rider who looked as though he was going to have a break out SX ride, was TM Racing Australia's Nick Sutherland. 

After another average jump out of the gate, Sutherland blasted out of the first turn and into the whoops in ninth place and rounded the second corner in third place. He then made the move around Raceline Pirelli's Ryan Marmont for second and looked as though he was set for his first podium finish. 

However it was not to be as a hay-bale in the middle of the track all but ended his night, causing him to crash and bend his bars and in the process allowed Marmont to regain second spot on track. Sutherland did try to finish the race, but the bars only lasted another couple of laps before snapping completely.

The next rider to to have his luck run out was, Serco Yamaha's Luke Arbon sitting in a solid third place and pressuring Marmont for second, Arbon suffered a mechanical issue forcing him out of the race. 

The next rider in line was Serco Yamaha's Luke Styke. Styke did benefit from his team-mate's and Sutherland's bad luck as it moved him into third place, but the Australian MX2 champion had his own bad luck, with it looking like he has partially dislocated his shoulder on his way to third place. 

When the flag fell on the race, it was Faith who won from Marmont and Styke, with Choice Motorsports KTM's Brenden Harrison and KTM Privateer Dylan Long rounding out 4th and 5th place respectively. 

"Last weekend was a bummer," Faith said regarding his last lap crash in Mt Gambier last weekend that cost him the race win." I just went out there today and focused on my last lap! 

"I am out racing on the 2014 Honda CRF250 and it is awesome, the guys over at Carlton Dry Honda MX have been great, I really appreciated it." 

Under 19's

Jay Wilson made it three wins from three rounds and two straight wins at Phillip Island as he grapped the holeshot in the Under19s main event before going on to win by 16 seconds over Raceline Pirelli's Jake Emanuelli, while Berry Sweet Yamaha's Corey James finished in third place after making the switch to his spare bike after blowing his race bike up earlier in the day. 

"It is awesome to win the first three rounds, the team has put in a huge effort all season." Wilson stated. "Our Motocross season did not start off to well but it come around in the second half, I am just glad to be carrying that form into Supercross. 

"I have to give a huge thanks to everyone who has stuck behind me and is supporting me, AlteregoElite, Board Sticks, Skullcandy, my team and just everybody behind me. We have been putting a lot of effort in and it is paying off. 

"I am still feeling good, we have another round tomorrow. I did not ride during the week this week as I knew we had three day's staright of racing this weekend. My timing was a little off on day one, but I felt great today and I will be looking to carry that form into tomorrow," Wilson added. 

Yamaha rider Joel Wightman finished in fourth place followed by Kawasaki mounted Jake Donaher in fifth. 

EVE Women's SX

Kawasaki rider Meghan Rutledge raced to her second straight victory at the EVE Australian Supercross championship today, though it was not an easy win, after crashing at the start of the final race for the day. 

Luckily for Ruteledge her main opposition also made some big mistakes with both, American Jessica Patterson and Japan's Sayaka Kaneshiro having crashes of their own, allowing the Australian to come from last place to win the final race, giving Rutledge her second straight round win ahead of surprise packed Maddy Brown in second and Kaneshiro in third. 

"I was able to top qualifying and win the first race quite convincingly today," Rutledge explained. "The final race though did not go to plan. 

"I came together with Sayaka on the first lap, just after the start and came off second best, cart-wheeling over about six stutters I think it was. I got up and did not think I couple make it to the front in just six laps, but the other riders made more mistakes than I did. 

"I was able to ride a smart race and come through to the front of the pack and come away with the win for the day. 

Like the Under 19s the Women's class will return for a third day of racing tomorrow and Rutledge is ready to make it three from three and wrap up the Inaugural EVE Australian Women's Supercross Championship. 

"I am really fit at the moment and am feeling fine so I can't wait to get out there again tomorrow," she concluded.

Junior Lites

In the Junior Lites it was Wilson Todd who got the win on count back over his Junior Yamaha teammate, Nato Crawfordby winning the third and final race of the round. 

Rounding out the podium was KTM rider Trent Wheatley, while championship leader Brock Mcleary had to settle for fourth place for the round. He currently holds a 12 point lead over Todd in the standings. 

For Full Results from Today's Fourth Round of the Terex Australian Supercross Championship, Click Here 

Top Image: Weston Pecik claimed his first win in Australia and in the process took over the SX Open points standings. 

Credit: Aaryn Minerds