Reardon & Clout on the Top Step
Australian MX Champs 2015
CDR Yamaha's Dan Reardon has returned to the top step of the MX Nationals podium for the first time since returning to full time racing on the back of a wire to wire win in the first moto at Nowra for the 8th round of the 2015 championship today.
Reardon claimed a narrow holeshot at the start of the opening moto ahead of Monster Energy Kawasaki's Adam Monea with CDR Yamaha's Kade Mosig in third.
The three riders maintained those positions in what became a bit of a procession for the 30 minute plus one lap race, with the excitement only building in the final stages of the race as Mosig made the move into second place over Monea with just a couple of laps remaining and set out after his team-mate in the lead.
Despite making his way to the rear wheel of Reardon and showing his front wheel on a number of occasions, Mosig could not make the move, with Reardon holding on to win the race ahead of Mosig, with Monea a comfortable third.
Peter Stevens Yamaha Racing Lawson Bopping finished in fourth ahead of Championship Leader Kirk Gibbs after the South Australian had a small crash mid way through the race.
In race two it was Penrite Honda's Cody Cooper who jumped out to the race lead from the start with Monster Energy Kawasaki's Dylan Long in second.
Long did not waste any time moving his way into the lead where he was never headed racing away to his maiden MX1 class moto win and in the process finished the day in second overall edging out Mosig in third by a single point.
"That track was starting to get pretty brutal those last four laps and in the back of my mind I was saying, I have to finish this, I have to finish this." Long told NRGTV's Aiden Williams during the live stream directly after the second moto win.
"I have to thank the NPS Monster Energy Kawasaki team, they are amazing and have supported me in this second half of the season and I just want to get up there and get the best results I can.
"I am that excited I hope I get a heap more of these."
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Crossing the line in second position at the end of moto 2 was Reardon, which was enough to give the veteran of the class the overall round win on his return to the national championship after taking two years away from racing.
"It was tough and I definitely made it hard for myself in that last moto. When you go in after a race win, you don't want to get caught up in the first two turns and unfortunately I put myself right there," Reardon explained after crossing the line at the end of race two.
"I nearly went down a couple of times and had to ride pretty aggressive to get back up to the top and I am over the moon to be on the top step.
"Consistency has been the biggest thing for me, I have got the speed and I have lead plenty of races this season, we just need to put two together.
"The bike was working great today, the track was really tough, mentally it was really tough."
Mosig ensured a double podium for the CDR Yamaha team crossing the line in 5th position in race two to earn third overall for the round.
KTM Racing's Luke Styke ended the day in fourth on count-back over Adam Monea after the two riders finished the day on 55 points each.
Championship leader Kirk Gibbs struggled with small crashes all day, however his 6-4 moto results combined with his Superpole win means he will leave Nowra extending his points lead over his nearest rivals and team mate, Luke Styke by two points and will head to the second to last round of the season at Toowoomba with a 65 point advantage.
In other news Penrite Honda's Ben Townley was injured early in the day and from reports coming from the track has sustained a shoulder injury though it looks as though it may only be a minor injury for the New Zeland motocross legend. We will update with more information as it comes to hand.
GO PRO SUPERPOLE RESULTS:
1) Kirk Gibbs (1:42.306) - 5 Championship Pts
2) Daniel Reardon (1:42.705) - 4 Championship Pts
3) Lawson Bopping (1:42.810) - 3 Championship Pts
4) Luke Styke (1:43.787) - 2 Championship Pts
5) Kade Mosig (1:44.129) - 1 Championship Pts
MONSTER ENERGY MX1 MOTO ONE RESULTS:
1) Dan Reardon - 35 Pts
2) Kade Mosig - 32 Pts
3) Adam Monea - 30 Pts
4) Lawson Bopping - 28 Pts
5) Kirk Gibbs - 26 Pts
6) Luke Styke- 25 Pts
7) Dylan Long - 24 Pts
8) Jesse Dobson - 23 Pts
9) Kale Makeham - 22 Pts
10) Cody Cooper - 21 Pts
MONSTER ENERGY MX1 MOTO TWO RESULTS:
1) Dylan Long - 35 Pts
2) Dan Reardon - 32 Pts
3) Luke Styke - 30 Pts
4) Kirk Gibbs - 28 Pts
5) Kade Mosig - 26 Pts
6) Adam Monea - 25 Pts
7) Cody Cooper - 24 Pts
8) Lawson Bopping - 23 Pts
9) Kale Makeham - 22 Pts
10) Jesse Dobson - 21 Pts
Top Ten Overall:
1) Dan Reardon - 67 Pts
2) Dylan Long - 59 Pts
3) Kade Mosig - 58 Pts
4) Luke Styke - 55 Pts
5) Adam Monea - 55 Pts
6) Kirk Gibbs - 54 Pts
7) Lawson Bopping - 51 Pts
8) Cody Cooper 45 Pts
9) Kale Makeham - 44 Pts
10) Jesse Dobson - 44 Pts
Championship Standings:
1 Kirk Gibbs - 530 Pts
2 Luke Styke - 465 Pts
3 Kade Mosig - 456 Pts
4 Adam Monea - 449 Pts
5 Lawson Bopping - 429 Pts
6 Daniel Reardon - 411 Pts
7 Dylan Long - 390 Pts
8 Jesse Dobson - 382 Pts
9 Cody Cooper - 358 Pts
10 Kale Makeham - 306 Pts
Luke Clout Takes MX2 Win At Nowra, Jay Wilson Maintains Championship Lead
By: Aaryn Minerds
Serco Yamaha's Luke Clout has won the 8th round of the 2015 MX Nationals held at Nowra today moving to with in three points of JCR Yamaha's Jay Wilson in the Championship standings.
It was the KTM Privateer of Dylan Wills who fired to the lead to start moto 1 and and looked to have race winning speed until he tucked the front end of his motorcycle handing the lead over to Clout.
Further back in the field Wilson who lead the championship heading into the round was quickly working his way through the field after a first turn crash left him in last position.
By mid race, Wilson had worked his way into fifth position in a brilliant ride on a very hard to pass track and then was quickly gifted third place when Serco Yamaha's ran it in hot on KTM mounted Jack Simpson in a bid to take second position, with Beaton cleaning out Simpsons front wheel with both riders left to pick themselves up off the ground.
Husqvarna Factory backed rider Nathan Crawford also took advantage of the collision to move into second position.
Out front Clout held on to take the win, while Crawford held off Wilson for second position. Penrite Honda Wilson MX's Geran Stapleton crossed the line in 4th while early race leader Dylan Wills finished back in 5th.
Race two was a near carbon copy at the start as Wills once again grabbed the holeshot from Clout while Wilson was left buried outside the top ten.
Clout quickly moved into the lead, but just a couple of laps later Wills re-grouped and made his way back into the lead after setting up a sensation pass on Clout for the lead at the end of the start straight.
Wilson mean while moved his way in to fourth position, before making a pass on the returning Keiron Hall for third then catching and passing Clout for second position which was enough for the Yamaha rider to maintain the MX2 championship lead.
Wills held on to take a well earned moto 2 win, with Wilson second and Clout in third position.
Clout on the back of his 1-3 results claimed the round win ahead of Wilson's 3-2 results and in the process moved to just three points behind his Yamaha counter part with two rounds of racing remaining.
"I got off to a good start and nearly pulled the holeshot but Willsy got past me. "Clout reflected on the start of the second moto. "I made a pass and actually had a few good laps.
"I got a bit of arm pump and a bit of fatigue in the arms. It is not my fitness, it is just a bit of arm pump, everyone gets it.
"But 1-3 for the overall, we closed the points lead a little bit, we could have had the red plate there but that is the way it goes. I closed the points lead and took the overall so we have to take the positives out of it.
"Two good starts today, we have not usually been getting them, just have to go home and work hard and come out for the last two rounds.
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For Wilson he was happy to come away from the round maintaining the points lead after what could have easily been a much worse result after his first turn crash in race one.
"It was a tough day at the office, moto one was pretty average, but I rode pretty good and showed I am here to win." Wilson commented immediately after the race. "Moto one was a bit difficult I went down here in the first turn and I was second to last and fought my way back up to third.
"That was a tough moto but we got it done.
"I did not get a great start in the second moto, but I worked my way back through and past Clouty, I knew we would have been one point down as we were separated by one point heading into that race, so we got a couple of points back.
"Overall a solid day for what it could have been we made the best of it."
Rounding out podium for the round was Dylan Wills with his 1-5 moto results, while Crawford was one position further back in 4th with his 9-2 round result edging out Takeshi Katsuya (8-4) and Keiron Hall with a (6-5) for fifth and sixth for the round tied on points with Takeshi pulling out a late race pass on Hall to claim the higher finish on count-back.
Watch all of todays racing action on demand below.
Moto 1 Results
1) Luke Clout
2) Nathan Crawford
3) Jay Wilson
4) Geran Stapleton
5) Dylan Wills
6) Keiron Hall
7) Joel Wightman
8) Takeshi Katsuya
9) Jack Simpson
10) Jed Beaton
Moto 2 Results
1) Dylan Wills
2) Jay Wilson
3) Luke Clout
4)Takeshi Katsuya
5) Keiron Hall
6) Jed Beaton
7) Caleb Ward
8) Wade Hunter
9) Nathan Crawford
10) Jack Simpson
Round Results:
1) Luke Clout 65
2) Jay Wilson 62
3) Dylan Wills 61
4) Nathan Crawford 54
5) Takeshi Katsuya 51
6) Keiron Hall 51
7) Geran Stapleton 47
8) Jed Beaton 46
9) Joel Wightman 44
10) Jack Simpson 43
Championship Standings:
1) Jay Wilson 465
2) Luke Clout 462?
3) Takeshi Katsuya 435
4) Jed Beaton 395
5) Wade Hunter 362
6) Caleb Ward 353
7) Nathan Crawford 346
8) Dylan Wills 334
9) Luke Arbon 327
10) Geran Stapleton 324