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2005 Australian Motocross
Championship - Round One - Wonthaggi - KTM Report March 20th, 2005 - By, Trevor Hedge |
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2005 Australian Motocross
Championship - Round One - Wonthaggi - KTM Report March 20th, 2005 - By, Trevor Hedge |
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| The opening battle of the long
war that is the 2005 Maxxis Australian Motocross Championship
was recently fought out under sunny skies at the coastal
Victorian circuit of Wonthaggi. A huge mix of talent from both Australia and overseas put on a great day of racing but with the Avalon Air Show and opening round of the Victorian Supermoto Championship both clashing with the event, crowd numbers were understandably low. Those not present missed out on a fantastic display of top level motocross competition with multiple Australian Championship winner Craig Anderson returning from North American AMA competition to go head to head with New Zealand star and fellow AMA competitor Daryl Hurley. It was this pair that battled for the wins in the Pro Open category with Anderson taking the honours in both motos. Rounding out the podium was New Zealand’s Darryll King just ahead of sibling, ex World Motocross Champion Shayne King. Coming home next behind that star studded quartet was new Team Motorex KTM recruit Lee Ellis. The Victorian has been a long time privateer in Australian Motocross, Supercross and ThumperNats competition and was picked up by KTM for 2005 as the Motorex backed squad again chose to help foster local Australian talent rather than source proven riders from overseas. Team Motorex KTM’s faith in Ellis looks to have been well founded as team members witnessed their newest recruit recover from shocking starts that had him languishing at the very back of the field during the opening laps of both Pro Open motos. Ellis stormed through the 40 strong pack to take 5th and 6th place finishes for 5th overall for the round with a healthy swag of 31 points on the board in his Australian Championship debut for the team. Ellis’ mistakes mainly stemmed from an attack of the nerves in what was his first major hit-out with a factory backed team at a national event. But with this first round out of the way Ellis has every reason to believe he has the speed to run with Anderson, Hurley and the King brothers throughout the 2005 season. While Ellis suffered disastrous opening laps in the Pro Open races his team-mate Ryan Marmont was on fire from the gates in the Pro Lite events. Two great holeshots followed by long stints at the front of the pack clearly demonstrated the great speed of KTM’s brand new four-stroke 250 SXF machine at the hands of the 2004 SX Nationals Champion. Ryan led both Pro Lite motos for more than half the measured race distance before a few dramas put paid to his chances of taking the outright wins. The first problem struck while Ryan was leading the opening moto. Rear brake problems allowed Cameron Taylor to get the better of him and then in another unbelievable twist his fuel cap dislodged which eventually forced him to pit and lose more than a dozen valuable championship points. Motorex KTM Team Manager Rob Twyerould explains, “As part of our close association with KTM headquarters in Austria we have been helping the factory with some research and development. At Wonthaggi we used a new prototype fuel tank and cap which unfortunately cost Ryan dearly. He basically had to cruise for a full lap, while getting covered in fuel, before getting back to the pits for us to secure the cap and send him back out. By then the damage was done. He could only manage to salvage four points with a 17th place finish after returning to the track which was quite disappointing after he led more than half the race.” Yet again it was Ryan who sprinted away from the field in the second Pro Lite bout but again succumbed to brake problems which eventually shuffled him down to fifth position. This earned Ryan a healthy 16 point haul which helped the Wollongong youngster to salvage 13th overall for the round. Daniel McCoy’s day panned out in circumstances almost exactly the opposite of Ryan’s as ‘DMC’ made his day much harder than it should have been thanks to problems leaving the start line on each encounter. McCoy was well outside the top ten during the opening lap of each Pro Lite encounter but displayed great fitness and an indomitable fighting spirit to claw his way back to 5th and 3rd place finishes in the latter stages of each race. These great results were enough to award him a highly creditable 4th overall for the round in what is an extremely strong Pro Lite field this year. McCoy is only eight points adrift of outright Pro Lites Championship leader Luke Burkhart (NZ) and with round two of the championship to be played out at Horsham next month McCoy is eager to recommence the battle. Ryan Marmont has a little more work to do in order to claw his way back up the ladder following his dramas at Wonthaggi. Ryan can take great heart in the fact that he led more laps than any other rider in the Pro Lite class. However that is cold comfort when looking at his current lowly 13th place in the championship tally. Motorex KTM Team Manager Rob Twyerould now has his sights firmly fixed on the team’s next outing, “It has been pretty crazy leading up to the event but we showed very good speed and we are looking forward to a little more fine tuning of the bikes and the riders before Horsham. We aim to come out firing for top results across both classes and will test this week to give our riders the best chance of victory.” Twyerould is very confident of much more success throughout the season, “The riders performed fantastically and I truly believe we have the speed to come out on top. We will work on getting a little more out of the team on the mechanical side of the equation to try and supply them the best prepared KTM equipment to help them achieve that goal. I’m also sure the riders are only going to get stronger as the season progresses and we have a solid foundation to build on from here on in.”
Lee Ellis (Pro Open 5th) – “The
track was a little wet for the qualifying sessions and I perhaps
should have put in some quick laps early on before it started to
chop up a little but I still managed around 5th fastest.
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