Australian SX Nationals 2004 - Round Seven - Newcastle

The Newcastle event marked the return to racing of star rider Brent Landman, the 20-year-old Victorian, who has spent the best part of four months on the sidelines with elbow and wrist injuries. Brent flew to Sydney on Thursday and rode his KX250-F race bike for the first time this year. “The bike’s power is so much stronger than I remember it and the new Akrapovic exhaust sounds awesome,” stated Landman, just after completing a full 15-lap race distance practice session.

Landman’s lap times in testing confirmed his readiness to return to SX Nationals competition, joining his team mates Adam Robinson, Paul Broomfield and Toby Price for the weekend’s racing.

All eyes were on Landman in practice. Everyone on the team as well as the competition were eager to see how Landman handled the tricky technical circuit laid inside the Newcastle Knights’ Energy Australia stadium. Landman quickly settled in and turned competitive lap times, handling all the track’s obstacles with ease. Fellow team riders Broomfield and Price also looked competitive and at home on the challenging track.

Adam Robinson unfortunately suffered a fall during the first lap of his practice session and was knocked out for a few moments, the resulting concussion ending his night. Joining Robinson on the injured list was Broad Torque Kawasaki Privateer, Blake Jacobs, who suffered a suspected broken wrist.

Paul Broomfield went out and completely dominated his heat with a convincing win in front of Suzuki’s US import Bobby Kiniry and Factory Honda rider Jye Harvey. The heat win transferred Broomy straight into the final. Toby Price finished 12th the same heat, after a heavy fall in the stutters section while running third behind Broomfield and Kiniry.

Series debutant Landman saw action in Heat 2. In his first appearance in the SX Nationals he was left with the last pick of the gate behind the regulars and his start predictably suffered. Brent rounded the first turn in 12th spot but quickly found his way towards the front after passing several riders involved in a second turn crash. The young Victorian eventually made his way up to 3rd for several laps, before stalling in the same section that had claimed his team mate Price in the earlier heat. Restarting his bike, Landman crossed the line well behind the leaders.

Both Landman and Price easily found their way into the final with solid rides in the 1st semi. Toby Price finished 4th behind Cody Cooper, Bobby Kiniry and series leader Ryan Marmont. Teenager Price was all smiles too, finding the technical nature of the track to his liking. In the 2nd semi, Landman carded a 5th place, with Adam Cini taking the win from Whale’s Kawasaki rider Daniel Reardon. Landman crossed the line just in front of fellow KX250-F mounted Cam Sinclair who would have to run in the Last Chance Qualifier for a chance to get into the main event.

Landman in particular was overjoyed to have qualified for his first main event of the year. "I probably could have gone a lot faster but while I was running in a qualifying position I had to keep saying to myself, ‘stay safe and get in."

With Robinson out for the night and the remaining three riders all qualifying for the final, team co-ordinator Ross McWatters watched the LCQ interested to see who the final three spots would go to. As it was, Sinclair won while Jay Johnson (who came runner-up in the wet Wollongong event) just missed out after crossing the line 4th following a first lap fall.

CDR Yamaha’s Daniel McCoy took the lead with Red Bull KTM’s Greg Schnell in second followed by the Kawasakis of Sinclair, Broomfield and Reardon in the Pro Lite final. By lap two Reardon had moved into 3rd, while Broomfield fought with Sinclair over 4th. Soon afterwards, Broomfield was taken down by the out of control bike of Cody Cooper, the Honda rider’s machine landing directly on top of Broomfield over the triple jump.

Meanwhile Price, who had a poor start, was making his way steadily forward. Landman ran comfortably in 5th position for much of the race before succumbing to Price, Marmont and then Rockford as the laps ran down, a lack of training time on the bike taking its toll.

Up front McCoy and Schell put on a heated battle with the lead changing several times, with Reardon running a safe third, clear of the pack. This is the way it finished after an electric 15 laps with the American Schnell taking the win from McCoy, passing him for the lead on the penultimate lap. Third was Daniel Reardon, who never challenged the leading pair, crossing the line six seconds adrift of McCoy. 4th was US import Kiniry, 5th Cam Sinclair, Toby Price was 6th after a spirited ride through the field, while in 7th and 8th places were series leader Ryan Marmont and Ben Rochford. Landman finished 9th after getting going again and Paul Broomfield eventually finished 12th, ahead of Honda duo Cooper and Harvey.

After the event, Brent Landman was happy to be back in action stating, “I rode OK, I only had three days on the bike coming into this race so it can only get better from here... I’ve two weeks to get back my race fitness and be ready for Brisbane... I can’t wait.”

Paul Broomfield wasn’t overly happy with his final result saying, “I can’t believe my bad luck... when Cooper’s bike landed on me, his footpeg smashed a hole in my seat that you can nearly put your hand through. Still, at least I wasn’t hurt.”

Toby Price was much happier saying, “I didn’t get the start I wanted but just kept plugging away, I raced with Brent for a while and made my way forward, it was great fun.”