While Wollongong proved a muddy quagmire, the Newcastle track was fairly dry.  Wollongong saw incessant heavy rain, but when I arrived in Newcastle not so fresh after a full day at Eastern Creek I was greeted by a quite pleasant, some would say nearly balmy, evening.

Then just as the fast 50s were out in a prelude to the main events a light mist of rain descended on Energy Stadium to just briefly touch the track with a fine spray. Not even enough precipitation fell to wet the track or even darken the surface, but enough just to add another ingredient in to the mix.

Jay Marmont had continued his domination of the Pro Open class at Wollongong but the two main Pro Lites competitors both had major dramas. Championship leader Ryan Marmont fell twice in the Pro Lite final and could only salvage a poor 11th place, while his main championship rival Daniel Reardon failed to qualify for the final.

So when it came time for the Pro Lite final in Newcastle both of these competitors were eager to make amends for their errors in Wollongong. On cue, the light drizzle ceased to fall just as the riders took to their starting gates in preparation for the 15 lap Pro Lite final.

Daniel McCoy got a great holeshot and sprinted away with Greg Schnell, Cameron Sinclair and Daniel Reardon. Ryan Marmont went down on the first lap as did Cody Cooper. Marmont was languishing down in 12th by the end of the first lap after that fall.

Broomfield was running reasonably well before going down and losing a few positions on lap two. But out in front it was Daniel McCoy and Greg Schnell doing the business with a clear lead over third placed Daniel Reardon.

Schnell got the better of McCoy on the fourth lap and started to pull away. Schnell then made a mistake in the middle of the track which allowed McCoy to slot past and take a handy 20 metre lead.  But it only took Schnell a lap to close that margin down to nothing. By half race distance championship leader Ryan Marmont had only managed to work his way up to ninth place, that first lap fall costing him dearly.

McCoy responded to Schnell’s challenge and it looked as though the Camden boy might finally score a win after a somewhat difficult start to the season.

But just as it seemed like McCoy had it in the bag Schnell made an impressive charge up the inside through the whoops to sneak past and immediately took a small advantage to storm home to the win.

So close but oh so far for McCoy, but I am sure his day will come…

Daniel Reardon’s third place will prove important in the race for the title as he moves to within two points of Marmont (To be confirmed).  Marmont managed to work his way up to seventh place just before the chequered flag came out in order to save his points lead.

Pro Lite Final – Results – 1.Schnell – 2.McCoy – 3.Reardon – 4.Kiniry – 5.Sinclair – 6.Price – 7.Marmont – 8.Rochford – 9.Landman – 10.Thompson – 11.Macdermid – 12.Broomfield – 13.Cooper – 14.Harvey

After winning the Pro Lites final Greg Schnell came to the start line for the Pro Open final but it was Danny Ham who scored the holeshot from Troy Carroll, Cheyne Boyd and Jay Marmont. Cameron Taylor was also not far behind in fifth and started closing on the KTM boys as they challenged each other at nearly every turn.

Meanwhile Danny Ham was looking strong out in front but Carroll was a definite threat. Jay Marmont got through on Boydy for third on lap four but Carroll and Ham had built a reasonable buffer. Could Jay find the speed to close them down?

It didn’t take long to find the answer to that question as Jay sprinted away from Boyd and started to close the gap to Carroll.

But Danny Ham then turned up the wick to set the fastest lap of the race just before the halfway point of the race to extend his lead over Carroll out to a healthy 50 metres or more.

The next time around Danny Ham put Greg Schnell down a lap as he continued to set a scorching pace.  Jay tried to put a move on Carroll but the wily Yamaha rider held on to his position and Jay was forced to save the pass for the next lap, when he indeed made it stick.

Jay left Carroll in his wake but Danny Ham was still on fire out in front with a gap of around 100 metres and putting in consistent fast laps that would make Jay’s task impossible, surely?

But Jay sure did give it a try as he scythed through the lap traffic and put in a Herculean effort to try and narrow that gap. With two laps to run Ham put Dorron a lap down.

Jay could not close the gap and tonight proved to belong to Danny Ham.  The local boy saved his best performance of the year for his home crowd who were very appreciative of his efforts. A well deserved win and here is hoping that Hammy can build on this for some more great performances throughout the year.

Boyd was running strongly before falling on the final lap which cost him a place.

STOP PRESS - After the race the results were to change in a big way! Jay Marmont was disqualified for taking a series of jumps a particular way which was deemed to be cutting the track, thus all Jay’s hard work to get back up the front came to nothing as he was excluded from the results!

But this is not taking anything away from Hammy's win, he won it fair and square on the track and it would have made no difference if Jay was disqualified or not.

Pro Open Final – Results – 1.Ham – 2.Carroll – 3.Taylor …..  Full Results coming later

Injury List

A major injury list tonight with some of the casualties as follows;
Brent Ivers – Suspected broken femur
Jono Porter – Tendons and ligaments in his leg strained after fall, had been fastest Aussie in practice
Jason Redding – Carried off, possible femur
Alan Brinkworth - Suspected punctured lung and broken ribs (again)
Blake Jacobs - Suspected broken wrist
Chris Brown - Suspected ankle
Robinson – Possibly injured but nothing confirmed

Late Braking News

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