Australian SX Nationals 2004 - Round Six - Wollongong - Early Report

After having to cancel last weekend's scheduled event at Gosford the SEL promoters were going forward rain, hail or shine tonight in Wollongong. It didn't hail, and it certainly didn't shine, but there was plenty of rain as the WIN Stadium was enveloped in an umbrella of thick grey rain clouds that dumped their contents incessantly, turning the track in to a quagmire.

Large puddles of standing water were evident all the way around the circuit. The parts of the track that were not underwater gleamed with a shine that could only mean one thing, no traction. In these conditions riders would have to be careful not to burn their clutch out in the fight for drive.

Due to the waterlogged track it was obvious lap times were going to be very slow. With this in mind organisers decided to run the laps under a time period length rather than the normal number of laps.

The semi-finals were cancelled along with the Pro-Open Superpole event. The Pro-Open and Pro-Lite riders would instead run ten minute + one lap heats with the top six in each heat going through to the final. Seventh place through to thirteenth place in each of the heats then progressed to the last chance qualifier's.

The LCQ's would then be six minutes + one lap with the top three going through to the final. Both the Pro-Open and Pro-Lite finals were scheduled for 10 minutes + one lap.

Pro Lite – Heat 1 - Ryan Marmont scored the holeshot in the first Pro Lite heat but Cody Cooper soon slotted through for the lead as Jay Johnston also started to threaten. Late in the lap Johnston went down and lost ground, but he quickly recovered to hold on to this second place. Out in front it was Cody Cooper running strong and unchallenged. The New Zealander reveling in the diabolical conditions and being in front came with an important benefit, visibility. The pursuers had to contend with being covered in mud and fighting for vision through filthy goggles.

Daniel McCoy was well down the field for the opening laps but slowly picked up the pace to close some ground on Marmont. But with the top six going through to the main there was no need for any heroics just to gain one more place. Ben Leech was running okay mid-field but fell in the stutters after the under-bridge twice in two laps.

Cody Cooper went on to take a dominant win while Jay Johnston put in his most impressive performance of the series to take second place in the trying conditions. Third place went to Ryan Marmont from Daniel McCoy while Team Kawasaki’s Paul Broomfield scored fifth. The final automatic transfer position went to Cody Mackie, who like the Marmont brothers is also a local Wollongong boy.

Pro Lite – Heat 1 – Results – 1.Cooper – 2.Johnston – 3.Marmont – 4.McCoy – 5.Broomfield – 6.Mackie – 7.Flint - 8.Parson - 9.Girotto - 10.Brinkworth - 11.Jaobs - 12.Rochford - 13.Leech - 14.Yarnold - 15.Corless

Pro Lite – Heat 2 – Cameron Sinclair got an unbelievable start in the second Pro Lite heat and immediately started to pull away from Serco Yamaha’s Adam Cini and Honda privateer Mick Macdermid. AMA Supercross regular Greg Schnell started his charge forward on the second lap when he passed a swag of riders including Macdermid to move up to third position before immediately starting to pile the pressure on Cini.

Daniel Reardon then worked his way up to fourth place while Schnell moved up to second place. Schnell and Reardon then had a coming together and the pair lost plenty of time as their machines got locked together, rider after rider went by them as they struggled to separate their machines. Schnell finally got going, while Reardon took a little longer to get back underway after a frenetic effort to kick his KX250F back in to life.

Then on the next lap Cameron Sinclair crashed in the same place that had caused Schnell and Reardon drama, this promoted Adam Cini to the lead while Sinclair watched rider after rider push him further down the placings. Like Reardon, Sinclair had a massive struggle to get his KX250F to fire back in to life again. AMA regular Bob Kiniry took advantage of all the dramas to seemingly come from nowhere to move in to third place behind young Toby Price.

Cini put Daniel Reardon a lap down in the closing stages and went on to keep a cool head to take a great win from Toby Price who also impressed greatly.

Pro Lite – Heat 2 - Results – 1.Cini – 2.Price – 3.Kiniry – 4.Hobson - 5.Schnell - 6.Robinson - 7.Macdermid - 8.Thompson - 9.Harvey - 10.Porter - 11.Reynolds - 12.Daniele - 13.Thompson B - 14.Reardon - 15.Sinclair

Continue to Part B...