2010 Rockstar MX Nationals Opener
March 30, 2010 5:38pm
The first race of the 2010 Rockstar MX Nationals kicked off this weekend in Horsham, Victoria, and the international imports stole the show by taking the win in the Lites class with JDR/Motorex KTM rider PJ Larsen and also in the Opens with Scottish rider from the Cool Air/KRT Squad. Josh Cachia was dominant in the Under 19's and his performance at Horsham was reminiscent of his win at the opening round in 2009.
While the red plate in the to pro classes with be going to international riders it was not without a fight from Australia's best young talent, Larsen's team mate, Ryan Marmont, had a point to prove after being written off in the pre-season while Ford Dale, Kirk Gibbs, Michael Phillips, Cody Mackie, Luke George and a host of other Lites riders proved that the American rider won't win without a fight.
In the Open Class Todd Waters made a strong return to Motocross after and injury at round 4 last year while Dean Ferris also showed that he was able to convert his pre-season speed into the high intensity environment of the MX Nationals. It seems like every year comments are made about the depth of the class but it can be said that this year is more stacked that it has ever been.
It seems like every year the series heads to Horsham the MX Community is able to break the towns drought as forecasted rain came down by mid morning and turned the hard-packed track into one of the toughest circuits that many of the riders had faced.
UNDER 19's
Moto 1
This years Under 19's is as stacked as every year with some of Australia's top junior graduates have made their way up into the senior ranks. Riders like Shaun Redhead, Matty Phillips and Errol Willis all moved up into the pro ranks this year with mixed success at the opening round with the more seasoned campaigners finding their way to the front of the pack in each of the three moto's.
This is not to say, however, that the rookies showed great amounts of speed as many of the top graduates hit the front early and showed that they were going to be contenders with the more experience they will gain as the series goes on. In the opening moto, Yamaha privateer Errol Willis took the holeshot in front of seasoned 19's rider Josh Cachia. Errol's lead didn't last long as Cachia moved his Motorex/JDR/Coastal KTM into the lead by the time the pack hit the first whoop section of the track and this was the last anyone saw of the number 10. Willis was locked into a tight battle with another one of the rookie graduates in Matt Phillips and Kiwi Hamish Dobbyn. Team 07/Axis Motorsports rider Dylan Peterson came from just inside the top ten to join the group as they tried to chase down Cachia in vein.
Ross Beaton suffered from a poor start, along with Luke Arbon, and the pair worked their way through the pack. Beaton was able to make his way into 3rd by moto's end, behind Peterson and Cachia.
1: Josh Cachia (KTM)
2: Dylan Peterson (Honda)
3: Ross Beaton
4: Matthew Phillips
5: Errol Willis (Yamaha)
Moto 2
In the 2nd moto the 19's pack were looking to stall Cachia's early momentum. Not only did the pack have to worry about Cachia's speed on his new JDR/Motorex KTM, but now the weather as the rain started to slowly come down on the hard-packed circuit. When the gates dropped on moto 2 though it was the New Zealand rider of Hamish Dobbyn who blasted out of the gates on his Suzuki and set the pace early on. Beaton rebounded from his poor start in Moto 1 to land himself in the top three off the start while Luke Arbon found himself caught in a massive first turn pile up. With the rain starting to come down and the track surface deteriorating everyone thought that the the Kiwi would start to come into his own. Some forgot to tell that to Cachia though as he capitalised on a mistake from Dobbyn to move into the lead once again. From here nobody was able to stop a dominant Cachia.
1: Josh Cachia
2: Ross Beaton
3: Hamish Dobbyn (Suzuki)
4: Matthew Phillips
5: Dylan Peterson
Moto 3
The final moto of the day had the whole U19's field looking for an answer to the speed and consistency of Josh Cachia. Honda supported Matty Phillips had looked good in both moto's and was the most consistent rider of the rookies posting a pair of 4th place finishes in his moto's and was looking to land himself on the podium in his first outing. When the gate dropped though it was Hamish Dobbyn who grabbed the holeshot while Josh Cachia was left picking up his bike in the first turn. Kiwi riders are world renowned for their skills in the mud and Hamish Dobbyn was no different. Dobbyn simply checked out from the field and built a huge lead one his way to his first win of the season as Cachia charged his way into 6th by moto's end. Dylan Peterson was able to finish second in the moto after coming off yet another bad start and Honda's Matty Phillips finished third in the last moto of the day, capping off a great debut.
When it was all said and done though Josh Cachia did exactly what he did in the opening round of the 2009 series by schooling the field and Dobbyn, Peterson and Beaton all ended up with combined scores of 60 points, with Dobbyn claiming second, Peterson third and Beaton in third.
1: Hamish Dobbyn
2: Dylan Peterson
3: Matthew Phillips
4: Ross Beaton
5: Ethan Martens (KTM)
Championship Standings
1: Cachia 65 points
2: Hamish Dobbyn 60
3: Dylan Peterson 60
4: Ross Beaton 60
5: Matthew Phillips 56
PRO LITES
In the Pro Lites all eyes were on US import PJ Larsen as he put on a dominant display in timed qualifying with a time over 1.5 second quicker than SERCO Yamaha's Ford Dale. Dale, who was returning to the Lites class, was no surprise in second and in perhaps the most talked about performance of the weekend was the return of 2008 champ Luke George put his Monster/Pro Circuit Kawasaki into third place, silencing the many who said that he would not be able to return to the top level after a near life ending crash only 8 months ago.
Moto 1
The start of the opening Lites Moto of the year was all about the newly formed JDR/Motorex KTM Team as their pair of riders rocketed out to the front of the pack. Ryan 'Doggy' Marmont laid claim to the holeshot but Larsen had to do it tough, not finding 2nd gear off the start. This did nothing to stop his charge to the front though and he quickly put himself out of reach within laps. PJ's JDR/Motorex KTM team mate Ryan Marmont was holding down a solid second place over a charging Ford Dale who had just made his way past the 08' champ Luke George who ran a solid third place for the first half of the moto. George would admit post race that it was not his speed or fitness that let him down, more just his lack of intensity after 8 months off racing.
The first moto was a great insight into the depth of this class with PJ out front, Marmont, Dale, George, Gibbs, Mackie, Bopping, Harrison and Stewart all running up the front. PJ won his first moto in the country by over 25 seconds and sent a message to anyone thinking of making a run at the championship. Ryan Marmont made it a JDR 1-2 and Ford Dale made a solid return to the Lites class with a 3rd place finish.
1: PJ Larsen
2: Ryan Marmont (KTM)
3: Ford Dale
4: Michael Phillips (Honda)
5: Kirk Gibbs (Yamaha)
Moto 2
PJ Larsen was brimming with confidence coming into the second moto but was not able to covert that confidence into another top placing result as he went down early. PJ got up to make looking to make a charge but continued to make mistakes that would see him hit the ground repeatedly. After a solid charge in moto 1, Cody Mackie took the holeshot and looked for his first win in the Lites class after a season on an open bike. Kirk Gibbs also rebounded to run second in the moto early on while Michael Phillips and Kade Mosig battle over third. That battle heated up as Mosig was able to make the pass stick on Phillips and then set his sights on Gibbs. The SERCO rider of of Kirk Gibbs was able to wether to storm on the track and the attack from Mosig and slowly worked away at the lead that Mackie had built and on the last lap the pair dragged raced to the checkers and were only separated by 0.2 of a second with Gibbs taking the win. Mackie came across in 2nd with the Cougar Bourban Honda rider of Michael Phillips coming across in third.
1: Kirk Gibbs
2: Codie Mackie (Kawasaki)
3: Michael Phillips
4: Ryan Marmont
5: Darryl King (Yamaha)
Moto 3
In the final moto of the day for the Lites Class it was once again PJ Larsen who came out of the gates with a point to prove, after finishing 11th in the second race. Ford Dale charged to the front off the start as the Lites class were left to battle it out on an extremely slippery and rutted Horsham circuit circuit. Ford Dale went down and handed Larsen the lead, a lead that he would continue to grow all the way until the checkered flag. The mud provided some unpredictable racing with Husky rider Matt Ryan spending the opening laps fighting former champ, Darryl King, for second place; just ahead of Yamaha privateer Tim Vare. Team Titan's Brenden Harrison was riding solid in the mud along with Cody Mackie while many of the top 15 were finding it hard just to keep the rubber side down with a number of contenders crashing out on the super slippery circuit.
When it was all said and done though it was PJ Larsen who drew first blood in the series and will carry the red plate on his JDR/Motorex KTM in round 2 at Canberra over his team mate Ryan Marmont and the SERCO Yamaha rider of Kirk Gibbs.
OPEN CLASS
The words "Stacked Field" were once again thrown around in pre-season talk this year and it proved to be correct with three different winners in the Open Class at Horsham. Much of the talk, though, circulated around the CDR/Rockstar Team of defending champ Marmont and runner up Cheyne Boyd. Todd Waters was returning to the Nationals, hoping to pick up where he left off, Dean Ferris was making his debut on the 450, Cody Cooper had returned from the US and the list goes on. For whatever reason though many people were not counting on the Scottish import of Billy Mackenzie to come out with the spoils of victory, nor the old dog of Andrew McFarlane on his new KTM 450-SXF.
Moto 1
After "surprising" everyone in qualifying Andrew McFarlane reminded everyone why he is one of Australia's best riders ever. Sharky launched out of the gate and lead the pack into the first turn with a huge holeshot. Billy Mac was is hot pursuit though, along with Dean Ferris and last years opening round winner Todd Waters. Marmont and Boyd suffered from poor starts and were forced to follow each other the entire moto as they worked their way up to the front of the pack. Up front an amazing battle erupted over behind the Scott as Waters and Ferris traded passes as they moved past Sharky. Waters and Ferris continued to go at it over 2nd and Waters made the pass while Billy Mac looked comfortable out in front.
Dean Ferris eventually went down in the tough conditions and fell back in the pack while Kiwi charger Cody Cooper looked at times to be the fastest bike on the track and he came from nearly last to inside the top ten. Hart and Huntington rider Daniel McCoy also showed some great speed in the opening moto finishing in the top 5.
Waters was not done after he moved into second. He put on an impressive charge mid moto and passed Mackenzie and then continued to check out over Mackenzie and the rest of the field. Waters would take the win over Mackenzie and McFarlane in what was shaping up to be a repeat first round victory for the 19 year old Cougar Bourban/ Thor Honda rider.
1: Todd Waters
2: Billie Mackenzie
3: Andrew McFarlane
4: Jay Marmont
5: Daniel McCoy (KTM)
Moto 2
Waters was obviously looking to start Moto 2 in the same way he finished the first but a bad start put him behind the 8 ball and with a lot of track between himself and Mackenzie, who was able to start up front. Ferris was also able to put the crash in the opening moto out of his head and again start up front with Mackenzie. The pair swapped the lead countless times and it looked like mid-way through the seasoned GP rider was content to sit and wait for a mistake by the rookie. The mistake came on the last lap and Billy Mac was able to take his first moto win on Australian soil. Waters rode smart and rounded out the podium in third.
1: Billy Mackenzie
2: Dean Ferris
3: Todd Waters
4: Tye Simmonds
5: Cheyne Boyd
Moto 3
In the final moto for the day it looked as though it would be a race for survival, not the overall. After continuous rain on a very hard-packed surface the track was almost unrideable. The start was going to be important and it was Jay Marmont who rushed to the first turn and showed us why he is the defending champion. Marmont rode solid in the icy conditions and edged further and further away from the pack. Tye Simmonds was debuting a works KTM 350-SXF in Australia under the JDR/Motorex rig and finally managed to find his way to the front of the field after some bad luck in the opening races. Simmonds was able to hold off Mackenzie to take second while Todd Waters able to card a 7th after crashing multiple times in the slop. Andrew McFarlane was able to cross the line in 5th, rebounding from a terrible moto 2 that saw him finish in 12th.
With that the podium was set and it was the second of the two international imports, Billy Mackenzie, that stole the overall away from the Young Honda rider of Waters. Jay Marmont made a bold statement with his third overall and made true the saying "You win championships on your bad days." With his flue and poor starts in the opening moto's the podium was a good place to be on a bad day.
1: Jay Marmont
2: Tye Simmonds
3: Billie Mackenzie
4: Dean Ferris
5: Andrew McFarlane
Championship Standings
1: Billie Mackenzie 67 points
2: Todd Waters 59
3: Jay Marmont 56
4: Dean Ferris 54
5: Tye Simmonds 52
The series now head's to Canberra in two weekends time where the unpredictable racing action will continue. Last year was the venue for the first our the new changed formats and it was one of the most exciting rounds of the year so expect more of the same this time around.
Stay tuned to MXDaily as we get ready to launch our first video from the MX Nationals; as well as interviews and our new "Digital Dirt" column, feeding you all of the behind the scene's info that didn't make the race report...
While the red plate in the to pro classes with be going to international riders it was not without a fight from Australia's best young talent, Larsen's team mate, Ryan Marmont, had a point to prove after being written off in the pre-season while Ford Dale, Kirk Gibbs, Michael Phillips, Cody Mackie, Luke George and a host of other Lites riders proved that the American rider won't win without a fight.
In the Open Class Todd Waters made a strong return to Motocross after and injury at round 4 last year while Dean Ferris also showed that he was able to convert his pre-season speed into the high intensity environment of the MX Nationals. It seems like every year comments are made about the depth of the class but it can be said that this year is more stacked that it has ever been.
It seems like every year the series heads to Horsham the MX Community is able to break the towns drought as forecasted rain came down by mid morning and turned the hard-packed track into one of the toughest circuits that many of the riders had faced.
UNDER 19's
Moto 1
This years Under 19's is as stacked as every year with some of Australia's top junior graduates have made their way up into the senior ranks. Riders like Shaun Redhead, Matty Phillips and Errol Willis all moved up into the pro ranks this year with mixed success at the opening round with the more seasoned campaigners finding their way to the front of the pack in each of the three moto's.
This is not to say, however, that the rookies showed great amounts of speed as many of the top graduates hit the front early and showed that they were going to be contenders with the more experience they will gain as the series goes on. In the opening moto, Yamaha privateer Errol Willis took the holeshot in front of seasoned 19's rider Josh Cachia. Errol's lead didn't last long as Cachia moved his Motorex/JDR/Coastal KTM into the lead by the time the pack hit the first whoop section of the track and this was the last anyone saw of the number 10. Willis was locked into a tight battle with another one of the rookie graduates in Matt Phillips and Kiwi Hamish Dobbyn. Team 07/Axis Motorsports rider Dylan Peterson came from just inside the top ten to join the group as they tried to chase down Cachia in vein.
Ross Beaton suffered from a poor start, along with Luke Arbon, and the pair worked their way through the pack. Beaton was able to make his way into 3rd by moto's end, behind Peterson and Cachia.
1: Josh Cachia (KTM)
2: Dylan Peterson (Honda)
3: Ross Beaton
4: Matthew Phillips
5: Errol Willis (Yamaha)
Moto 2
In the 2nd moto the 19's pack were looking to stall Cachia's early momentum. Not only did the pack have to worry about Cachia's speed on his new JDR/Motorex KTM, but now the weather as the rain started to slowly come down on the hard-packed circuit. When the gates dropped on moto 2 though it was the New Zealand rider of Hamish Dobbyn who blasted out of the gates on his Suzuki and set the pace early on. Beaton rebounded from his poor start in Moto 1 to land himself in the top three off the start while Luke Arbon found himself caught in a massive first turn pile up. With the rain starting to come down and the track surface deteriorating everyone thought that the the Kiwi would start to come into his own. Some forgot to tell that to Cachia though as he capitalised on a mistake from Dobbyn to move into the lead once again. From here nobody was able to stop a dominant Cachia.
1: Josh Cachia
2: Ross Beaton
3: Hamish Dobbyn (Suzuki)
4: Matthew Phillips
5: Dylan Peterson
Moto 3
The final moto of the day had the whole U19's field looking for an answer to the speed and consistency of Josh Cachia. Honda supported Matty Phillips had looked good in both moto's and was the most consistent rider of the rookies posting a pair of 4th place finishes in his moto's and was looking to land himself on the podium in his first outing. When the gate dropped though it was Hamish Dobbyn who grabbed the holeshot while Josh Cachia was left picking up his bike in the first turn. Kiwi riders are world renowned for their skills in the mud and Hamish Dobbyn was no different. Dobbyn simply checked out from the field and built a huge lead one his way to his first win of the season as Cachia charged his way into 6th by moto's end. Dylan Peterson was able to finish second in the moto after coming off yet another bad start and Honda's Matty Phillips finished third in the last moto of the day, capping off a great debut.
When it was all said and done though Josh Cachia did exactly what he did in the opening round of the 2009 series by schooling the field and Dobbyn, Peterson and Beaton all ended up with combined scores of 60 points, with Dobbyn claiming second, Peterson third and Beaton in third.
1: Hamish Dobbyn
2: Dylan Peterson
3: Matthew Phillips
4: Ross Beaton
5: Ethan Martens (KTM)
Championship Standings
1: Cachia 65 points
2: Hamish Dobbyn 60
3: Dylan Peterson 60
4: Ross Beaton 60
5: Matthew Phillips 56
PRO LITES
In the Pro Lites all eyes were on US import PJ Larsen as he put on a dominant display in timed qualifying with a time over 1.5 second quicker than SERCO Yamaha's Ford Dale. Dale, who was returning to the Lites class, was no surprise in second and in perhaps the most talked about performance of the weekend was the return of 2008 champ Luke George put his Monster/Pro Circuit Kawasaki into third place, silencing the many who said that he would not be able to return to the top level after a near life ending crash only 8 months ago.
The start of the opening Lites Moto of the year was all about the newly formed JDR/Motorex KTM Team as their pair of riders rocketed out to the front of the pack. Ryan 'Doggy' Marmont laid claim to the holeshot but Larsen had to do it tough, not finding 2nd gear off the start. This did nothing to stop his charge to the front though and he quickly put himself out of reach within laps. PJ's JDR/Motorex KTM team mate Ryan Marmont was holding down a solid second place over a charging Ford Dale who had just made his way past the 08' champ Luke George who ran a solid third place for the first half of the moto. George would admit post race that it was not his speed or fitness that let him down, more just his lack of intensity after 8 months off racing.
The first moto was a great insight into the depth of this class with PJ out front, Marmont, Dale, George, Gibbs, Mackie, Bopping, Harrison and Stewart all running up the front. PJ won his first moto in the country by over 25 seconds and sent a message to anyone thinking of making a run at the championship. Ryan Marmont made it a JDR 1-2 and Ford Dale made a solid return to the Lites class with a 3rd place finish.
1: PJ Larsen
2: Ryan Marmont (KTM)
3: Ford Dale
4: Michael Phillips (Honda)
5: Kirk Gibbs (Yamaha)
Moto 2
PJ Larsen was brimming with confidence coming into the second moto but was not able to covert that confidence into another top placing result as he went down early. PJ got up to make looking to make a charge but continued to make mistakes that would see him hit the ground repeatedly. After a solid charge in moto 1, Cody Mackie took the holeshot and looked for his first win in the Lites class after a season on an open bike. Kirk Gibbs also rebounded to run second in the moto early on while Michael Phillips and Kade Mosig battle over third. That battle heated up as Mosig was able to make the pass stick on Phillips and then set his sights on Gibbs. The SERCO rider of of Kirk Gibbs was able to wether to storm on the track and the attack from Mosig and slowly worked away at the lead that Mackie had built and on the last lap the pair dragged raced to the checkers and were only separated by 0.2 of a second with Gibbs taking the win. Mackie came across in 2nd with the Cougar Bourban Honda rider of Michael Phillips coming across in third.
1: Kirk Gibbs
2: Codie Mackie (Kawasaki)
3: Michael Phillips
4: Ryan Marmont
5: Darryl King (Yamaha)
Moto 3
In the final moto of the day for the Lites Class it was once again PJ Larsen who came out of the gates with a point to prove, after finishing 11th in the second race. Ford Dale charged to the front off the start as the Lites class were left to battle it out on an extremely slippery and rutted Horsham circuit circuit. Ford Dale went down and handed Larsen the lead, a lead that he would continue to grow all the way until the checkered flag. The mud provided some unpredictable racing with Husky rider Matt Ryan spending the opening laps fighting former champ, Darryl King, for second place; just ahead of Yamaha privateer Tim Vare. Team Titan's Brenden Harrison was riding solid in the mud along with Cody Mackie while many of the top 15 were finding it hard just to keep the rubber side down with a number of contenders crashing out on the super slippery circuit.
When it was all said and done though it was PJ Larsen who drew first blood in the series and will carry the red plate on his JDR/Motorex KTM in round 2 at Canberra over his team mate Ryan Marmont and the SERCO Yamaha rider of Kirk Gibbs.
OPEN CLASS
The words "Stacked Field" were once again thrown around in pre-season talk this year and it proved to be correct with three different winners in the Open Class at Horsham. Much of the talk, though, circulated around the CDR/Rockstar Team of defending champ Marmont and runner up Cheyne Boyd. Todd Waters was returning to the Nationals, hoping to pick up where he left off, Dean Ferris was making his debut on the 450, Cody Cooper had returned from the US and the list goes on. For whatever reason though many people were not counting on the Scottish import of Billy Mackenzie to come out with the spoils of victory, nor the old dog of Andrew McFarlane on his new KTM 450-SXF.
After "surprising" everyone in qualifying Andrew McFarlane reminded everyone why he is one of Australia's best riders ever. Sharky launched out of the gate and lead the pack into the first turn with a huge holeshot. Billy Mac was is hot pursuit though, along with Dean Ferris and last years opening round winner Todd Waters. Marmont and Boyd suffered from poor starts and were forced to follow each other the entire moto as they worked their way up to the front of the pack. Up front an amazing battle erupted over behind the Scott as Waters and Ferris traded passes as they moved past Sharky. Waters and Ferris continued to go at it over 2nd and Waters made the pass while Billy Mac looked comfortable out in front.
Dean Ferris eventually went down in the tough conditions and fell back in the pack while Kiwi charger Cody Cooper looked at times to be the fastest bike on the track and he came from nearly last to inside the top ten. Hart and Huntington rider Daniel McCoy also showed some great speed in the opening moto finishing in the top 5.
Waters was not done after he moved into second. He put on an impressive charge mid moto and passed Mackenzie and then continued to check out over Mackenzie and the rest of the field. Waters would take the win over Mackenzie and McFarlane in what was shaping up to be a repeat first round victory for the 19 year old Cougar Bourban/ Thor Honda rider.
1: Todd Waters
2: Billie Mackenzie
3: Andrew McFarlane
4: Jay Marmont
5: Daniel McCoy (KTM)
Moto 2
Waters was obviously looking to start Moto 2 in the same way he finished the first but a bad start put him behind the 8 ball and with a lot of track between himself and Mackenzie, who was able to start up front. Ferris was also able to put the crash in the opening moto out of his head and again start up front with Mackenzie. The pair swapped the lead countless times and it looked like mid-way through the seasoned GP rider was content to sit and wait for a mistake by the rookie. The mistake came on the last lap and Billy Mac was able to take his first moto win on Australian soil. Waters rode smart and rounded out the podium in third.
1: Billy Mackenzie
2: Dean Ferris
3: Todd Waters
4: Tye Simmonds
5: Cheyne Boyd
Moto 3
In the final moto for the day it looked as though it would be a race for survival, not the overall. After continuous rain on a very hard-packed surface the track was almost unrideable. The start was going to be important and it was Jay Marmont who rushed to the first turn and showed us why he is the defending champion. Marmont rode solid in the icy conditions and edged further and further away from the pack. Tye Simmonds was debuting a works KTM 350-SXF in Australia under the JDR/Motorex rig and finally managed to find his way to the front of the field after some bad luck in the opening races. Simmonds was able to hold off Mackenzie to take second while Todd Waters able to card a 7th after crashing multiple times in the slop. Andrew McFarlane was able to cross the line in 5th, rebounding from a terrible moto 2 that saw him finish in 12th.
With that the podium was set and it was the second of the two international imports, Billy Mackenzie, that stole the overall away from the Young Honda rider of Waters. Jay Marmont made a bold statement with his third overall and made true the saying "You win championships on your bad days." With his flue and poor starts in the opening moto's the podium was a good place to be on a bad day.
1: Jay Marmont
2: Tye Simmonds
3: Billie Mackenzie
4: Dean Ferris
5: Andrew McFarlane
Championship Standings
1: Billie Mackenzie 67 points
2: Todd Waters 59
3: Jay Marmont 56
4: Dean Ferris 54
5: Tye Simmonds 52
The series now head's to Canberra in two weekends time where the unpredictable racing action will continue. Last year was the venue for the first our the new changed formats and it was one of the most exciting rounds of the year so expect more of the same this time around.
Stay tuned to MXDaily as we get ready to launch our first video from the MX Nationals; as well as interviews and our new "Digital Dirt" column, feeding you all of the behind the scene's info that didn't make the race report...