Round Four - Raymond Terrace (NSW) - Yamaha Report

Led by international superstar Chad Reed, Yamaha has decimated the competition at round 4 of the Nokia MX Nationals at Raymond Terrace today, claiming Pro Open, Pro Lite and Under 19’s class wins comprehensively.

The hype surrounding Reed’s guest ride was evident as thousands of motorsport fans poured into the precinct, eager to catch a glimpse of our top two-wheel export and see how he would fare against the local competition.

Reed’s impressive performance was backed up ably once again by Jake Moss, who further increased his own lead in Pro Lites, and once again Brenden Harrison clean swept a competitive Under 19’s category.

Yamaha Racing Pro Open

The Pro Open class saw one of the most monumental motocross battles in the modern era at Raymond Terrace today, with the YZ450F-mounted Chad Reed going head to head with Daniel Reardon.

Reed produced an unbelieveable display for thousands of fans, qualifying first and winning both moto's in comprehensive fashion, but not before engaging in a tense two-way fight with the series points leader.

With Reardon taking the holeshot early in both moto's, Reed was rapidly on his tail, with the two going blow for blow until around the half way mark, where Reed, on both occasions, simply headed off into the distance, cruising to easy wins.

Sharing the pit area of the CDR/Nokia/Yamaha team, he was extremely pleased to be able to return to the national scene, where it all began for him.

"My greatest motivation to come home and race was definitely to compete in front of my home crowd, they have been unbelievable and I'm just really happy to have had this opportunity," said Reed.

"It was awesome to get out there and bang bars with Daniel and the boys, it is a very competitive series and there's so much talent here."

"I also need to thank Craig Dack and the team for allowing us to run the bike from under their truck, and of course the crowd for coming out here today, I'm glad I've been able to spend so much time with the Aussie fans."

While Reed stole the show up front, Matt Moss was quietly going about his own race meeting, and produced an amazing performance still on the comeback trail from injury.

As the gates dropped on both occasions it was Moss who was tucked in behind the battling frontrunners, and he began to work into a steady rhythm.

Unfortunately, due to the recovery process, Moss began to experience arm pump and fell back into the top 10, but still managed to finish 7th and 5th in moto's 1 and 2 respectively.

"I'm extremely happy with how I went today, I think the issue of lack of practice time showed but the results were still good," said Moss.

"My speed is returning and it shouldn't be too long until I'm back at full race fitness."

Ford Dale was focused on delivering a consistent performance at Raymond Terrace and was fairly happy with how his weekend panned out, finishing the round in 8th overall.

Despite admitting his starts were quite average, he remained committed to climbing back up the order and if it hadn't have been for a spectacular highside crash which left him shaken he would have been close to a top 5 round finish.

Shane Metcalfe led the Team Seven Yamaha campaign in the Pro Open class, stitching together a couple of encouraging results in front of the massive crowd to round out the weekend in 10th overall.

Incidentally, he also sits 10th in the championship following this round, the highest placed Yamaha rider. Tom Jones is hot on his tail in 12th.

Yamaha Racing Pro Lite

Serco Yamaha's Jake Moss is proving absolutely unbeatable in the Pro Lites class of the 2007 Nokia MX Nationals, clean sweeping all sessions at Raymond Terrace today and increasing his already impressive championship lead to over 50 points.

Despite experiencing arm pump early in both moto's, Moss was able to find another level of concentration and push on, forming a good gap over second place and comfortably greeting the chequered flag in first place.

Moss admitted he was ecstatic with the result but was determined not to let the success overtake the reality that there was still a number of rounds remaining.

"I couldn't have asked to be in a better position at this point in the championship but I am not going to let it get the better of me, it was a great weekend and I will look to work harder again at the next round," said Moss.

"I couldn't fault the YZ250F today or at anytime this season, it's making it so easy for me and thanks to the team for their tireless work on the bike."

Team Principal Gavin Eales was full of praise for his young rider and said the team had been working very hard on the preparation.

"We're absolutely stoked with Jake's performance once again, he's really stepped it up these past few rounds," said Eales.

"The good work that the team has been putting into making the bike handle perfectly on track is paying off, and we're looking forward to a good run continuing at the next round."

Yamaha Racing Under 19's

It was a case of de ja vu for Serco Yamaha once again, with Brenden Harrison replicating his strong results from the previous round to win in front of a packed crowd.

The form rider in the Yamaha Under 19's championship qualified fastest, and made up for what he described as an 'average' start in the first moto by wrestling back the lead on lap 2 and not looking back.

It was a disastarous start for Harrison in moto 2, who had to launch a serious comeback campaign after coming off the bike in the opening lap.

He battled hard with Kirk Gibbs, also mounted on the YZ250F, before settling into third position, content that this would give him the round win and a good haul of points, but still left to rue what could have been.

"At the end of everything I'm pretty happy, it was a great start to the day with the win but a silly mistake in the second was disappointing, it was good to make up so many places on the run home."

Gibbs fought hard to deliver another strong result for Team Seven, and his two second place finishes placed him second overall for the round, one point off Harrison.

It was an encouraging showing for GYTR/QYDT's Dean Ferris, who rode back from a bad start in the opening moto to take 5th place.

He was on for an even better finish in moto 2 before tangling with Kody Wheeler and falling back to 8th.

"These are pretty solid results but it was still disappointing to finish back in the top 10 after the weekend promised so much more," said Ferris.

Riders will take a deserved break before heading to Murray Bridge in South Australia for round 5 of the Nokia MX Nationals on June 10.

2007 Nokia MX Nationals Championship - Rnd 4 Raymond Terrace NSW Overall Results.

Pro Open
1. Chad Reed, 50
2. Daniel Reardon, 44
3. Daryl Hurley, 40
4. Jay Marmont, 33
5. Cody Cooper, 31
6. Matt Moss, 30
7. Justin Carafa, 24
8. Ford Dale, 23
9. Nathan Crawford, 22
10. Shane Metcalfe, 18

Pro Lite
1. Jake Moss, 50
2. Danny Anderson, 37
3. Kyle Tobin, 36
4. Michael Addison, 33
5. Mitch Hoad, 31
6. Michael Phillips, 28
7. Cody Mackie, 28
8. Luke George, 27
9. Lewis Stewart, 25
10. Lewis Woods, 25
11. Cameron Taylor 18
12. Louis Calvin 16
13. Shaun Williamson  14
14. Brad Groombridge 13
15. Peter Boyle 10

Yamaha Under 19's
1. Brendan Harrison, 45
2. Kirk Gibbs, 44
3. Lawson Bopping, 40
4. Todd Waters, 38
5. Matt Ryan, 34
6. Dean Ferris, 29
7. Matt Hair, 24
8. Ivan Long, 23
9. Paul Humberston, 20
10. Mat Arnautovic, 18


2007 Nokia MX Nationals Championship Standings After Round 4 of 10


Pro Open MX Championship
1. Daniel Reardon, 178
2. Daryl Hurley, 155
3. Cody Cooper, 136
4. Jay Marmont, 133
5. Nathan Crawford, 91
6. Troy Carroll, 82
7. Craig Anderson, 71
8. Nathan Brochtrup, 69
9. Kade Mosig, 69
10. Shane Metcalfe, 65

Pro Lite MX Championship
1. Jake Moss, 190
2. Danny Anderson, 137
3. Mitch Hoad, 134
4. Cody Mackie, 116
5. Michael Phillips, 115
6. Cameron Taylor, 109
7. Adam Monea, 98
8. Kyle Tobin, 95
9. Lewis Stewart, 83
10. Peter Boyle, 77
11. Louis Calvin 70
12. Luke Burkhart 63
13. Michael Addison 62
14. Lewis Woods 60
15. Luke George 47

Yamaha Under 19's
1. Brenden Harrison, 174
2. Todd Waters, 156
3. Kirk Gibbs, 146
4. Dean Ferris, 132
5. Lawson Bopping, 128
6. Matt Ryan, 113
7. Kody Wheeler, 103
8. Joel Passlow, 76
9. Matt Hair, 70
10. Mat Arnautovic, 70