The 2003 Honda Australia Junior Motocross Nationals continued on Friday with the remaining qualifying heats being run before the serious action of finals racing got underway in earnest.

The first riders away were the 9, 10 and 11 year old 85cc riders. Here Suzuki’s Harley Quinlan (QLD) piloted his RM85 to victory ahead of New South Wales based Honda pilots Kieron Hall and Tye Simmonds.

Next up were the 15 year old 125cc riders. The race had to be re-started after a fall delayed proceedings for a few minutes and Kawasaki had been running 1-2-3 before the red flag came out at the end of lap one. But at the re-start it was a Honda and Yamaha that streaked away first. CR125R rider Matt Moss (NSW) led the way from Ford Dale (QLD) and Justin Carafa (Yamaha-VIC). But Ford Dale lost a number of places after a fall on lap two just as Kawasaki’s Toby Price (NSW) was putting his head down to recover from a bad start. Justin Carafa then had a fall and lost some time which allowed Honda Racing Australia’s Bronte Holland (VIC) to mount a challenge for third. Price had worked his way up to second place and was ready to pounce when Matt Moss made a mistake around the back of the circuit, allowing Price to take advantage.  Price built on the advantage he gained over Moss to eke out a healthy lead as the riders met the last lap board. Meanwhile, Bronte Holland moved up to third place and started to close on Moss. Ford Dale had his head down and was setting some quick lap times to close some of the ground he lost in his early race fall, but the best the young Queenslander could do was get back to fifth. That fall could prove costly in the run to the title, but there is still a long way to go. Price took the clear win from the opening encounter with Matt Moss coming home second and Bronte Holland rounded out the podium. Justin Carafa came home fourth.

A melee on the opening lap of the 85cc race for 12 and 13 year olds took a few riders out of the early running but no such misfortune befell young Queenslander Brenden Harrison (KTM). The well mannered Brisbane youngster set a cracking pace to totally dominate this event. He even took the time to ‘whip it up’ over some of the jumps throwing his KTM 85SX in to graceful sideways poses as he cleared some jumps by over six metres. Suzuki Luke George (NSW) also put in an impressive performance to take home a safe second place in confident fashion. Third place was not quite so clear cut. Young Western Australian Honda rider Colin Woods put in some great opening laps to hold down third place but finally succumbed to local HRA rider Matt Gangell and young Victorian Yamaha pilot Kade Mosig in the closing stages of the race.

South Australia’s Luke Arbon (KTM) obviously watched the preceding 85cc race as he took lessons from Harrison’s dominant performance to emulate that feat when Arbon took to the grid in the 65cc race for 9 and 10 year olds. Young Western Australian riders Thomas Rastinger (KTM) and Shaun Redhead battled for second place but Redhead stalled his KTM a couple of laps in to the race. This mistake cost him a lot of time but he managed to remount just ahead of fourth placed Dylan Gosling (KTM-NSW). Redhead and Gosling then upped their pace to close on Rastinger. Meanwhile Arbon had built a huge lead for a safe win. The battle for second came down to a 3-way dice on the final lap with Gosling getting the nod just ahead of Shaun Redhead, with Rastinger coming home in fourth.

The tiny 50cc bikes were out next and this time Queensland took the honours with KTM pilot Jackson Richardson earning the win from fellow KTM pilot Robbo Lovett (WA). Richardson led from go to whoa but nearly thew it all away on the final jump when a hard landing saw him, and his machine, swap ends a few times but the little guy just managed to hang on to complete his win.

Then the thunder of 250cc four-strokes resonated throughout Old Noarlunga when the big boys came out to play. Kawasaki riders had been setting the pace in the heat races but in this first of the finals the front pack belonged to the tuning fork (Yamaha) boys with Beau Laing (QLD), Kirk Gibbs (SA), Ben Potter (VIC) and Justin Carafa (VIC) all leading the way. Top Kawasaki runner Toby Price had an absolute shocker of a start but rapidly closed in on the leading group. One of the Yamaha riders then ‘cased out’ (landed hard) after a big jump which gave Price the chance to challenge for position. Justin Carafa took the lead with a couple of laps remaining but Kirk Gibbs was not about to let the Victorian get his way. But it was Toby Price who was setting the fast laps, the likeable Sydney youngster soon moved up to second place and was set to chase down Carafa for the win before running out of laps. Carafa showed great cool under pressure and put in a great ride to take the win, but Price proved he is going to be the man to beat if he can get off to a reasonable start in the remaining finals.

A huge crash at turn three on the opening lap of the 65cc race for 7 and 8 year olds saw four bikes hit the deck. Jacob Blomfield (KTM-QLD) pulled a handy lead on the opening lap before the red flag came out and they were sent back to form on the grid for a re-start. Again Blomfield came up trumps and went on to take a clear win.

The 14 and 15 year old 85cc pilots were out next and Victorian Honda rider Lewis Woods immediately hit the front while Matt Moss (Honda-NSW), Ford Dale (Yamaha-QLD) and Jake Moss (Suzuki-NSW) gave chase. But Jake Moss and Ford Dale had a coming together in mid-air while jostling for position which brought both riders crashing to earth with a bang. Thanks to that incident Jesse Hanna (Suzuki-VIC) inherited second place with Mark Rogers (Yamaha-NSW) third and Steven Hody (Suzuki-NSW) running fourth as Ford Dale recovered from his fall to rejoin the race in fifth spot. Jake Moss had not faired so well from the incident and the young Suzuki pilot lost about 20 places before he was up and running again. His brother, Matt Moss, was also recovering from a fall, but his error had come earlier on the opening lap and the young Nowra rider had made a good comeback through the field. Meanwhile no such fate had befell Lewis Woods as the Victorian Honda rider made it look easy out in front with no threats to his lead materialising as the laps counted down. Fifteen seconds down in second place was Mark Rogers who was coming under increasing attack from a charging Matt Moss. As they got the chequered flag it was Woods who came home the clear winner.

Next up were the 11 and 12 year old 65cc pilots and here Todd Waters (KTM-QLD) took the line honours from Josh Cachia (KTM-VIC) and Tye Simmonds (Suzuki-NSW).

The last of the opening bout of finals went to the 13 and 14 year old 125cc pilots. Jacob Smith (KTM-NSW) was the early leader in this category from David Baxter (Yamaha-QLD) and Brenden Harrison (KTM-QLD). Smith built a huge lead on the opening lap but Harrison pulled that gap back the next time around. David Baxter was next in line during the early stages of the race with Ben Potter (Yamaha-VIC) giving chase. Harrison got the better of Smith late on the penultimate lap and went on to build a good lead before taking the chequered flag for the win. Smith came home a safe second place and David Baxter look set for a podium finish before losing around four positions due to an error in the closing laps. Gianni Dalle-Molle (Kawasaki-SA) took advantage of that to take the final podium position. Smith put in some very fast laps during the race while leading but then normally followed up with a slower lap which allowed the ever consistent Harrison to close for the victory and take his second win for the day. The young Queenslander is riding in two classes this year, the 125cc category for 13 and 14 year old and also the 85cc category for 12 and 13 year olds.

Each class still has two more finals to run before the championships are decided on completion of Saturday’s proceedings.

NB: Please be aware that his report contains results which although are clearly unofficial and very much provisional but correct to the best of our knowledge. A cross-checked report will appear on www.mcnews.com.au later along with full list of results as they come to hand.

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