After disappointing first-up efforts in the opening round of the 2006 Nokia MX Nationals in Perth last weekend, Kawasaki’s Daniel Reardon and Yamaha’s Cameron Taylor hit back with a vengeance at Gillman (SA) yesterday.

Reardon (Team Kawasaki KXZ450F) made up 10 championship spots in Pro Open after claiming the overall honours ahead of round one winner Daryl Hurley (Shift Motul Suzuki RM-Z450), while Taylor (Serco Yamaha YZ250F) similarly soared up the Pro Lite charts – from 13th to third – after first and third places in the two 20-lap motos.

“It was great to turn things around today,” said 32-year-old Taylor. “We really achieved our goal and made up a lot of points.

“I got a good start in the first race and once I got to the lead I went onto cruise control only pushing myself at around 80 per cent. The second race was a lot tougher than the first - I was very happy to finish third as I really felt like I had hit a brick wall in the last ten minutes and just couldn’t push any harder.”

Taylor, who also topped qualifying at Gillman, is now on 59pts after two of 10 rounds, behind Motorex KTM’s Ryan Marmont (74pts) and Troy Dorron (No Fear Honda CRF250R, 66pts).

In Pro Open, Reardon was second in both motos, behind Cody Cooper (No Fear Honda CRF450R) and Hurley respectively, and has now moved onto 59pts. That places him fourth in the pecking order behind Hurley (91pts), Craig Anderson (No Fear Honda CRF450R, 67pts) and teammate Shayne King (KX450F, 60pts).

“I’m the new kid on the (Pro Open) block, with a new team and a new bike,” said Reardon. However, things are certainly starting to come together, and the victory is evidence of that.

“I’ve employed a practice mechanic who does all the tinkering on the bike throughout the week, which leaves me more time for riding and training. I think it’s made the difference today.”

On a hard-packed surface which was light years away from the shifting sands of Wanneroo on April 2, the straight-shooting Cooper, another Pro Open rookie, was undoubtedly the form rider at Gillman, and easily accounted for Reardon and Anderson in race one – the same troika which had dominated qualifying.

With 1800 spectators looking on, Cooper was again on the prowl for a victory in race two before retiring with mechanical problems.

“Everything felt great today, and I think I would have had the round points in the bag if I hadn’t had to pull off the circuit in moto two,” said Cooper, who also won a Pro Lite race at Gillman in 2005. “That was just a bit of bad luck – otherwise I was really comfortable with the bike all day and felt great.”

With the untimely DNF, Cooper has now dropped to seventh in the standings on 54pts, behind CDR Nokia Yamaha teammates Cheyne Boyd (YZ450F, 58pts) and Darryll King (YZ450F, 58pts).

In race one, Boyd finished in fourth ahead of Hurley, but was then involved in a six-way melee at the start of race two, which also took out 17-year-old Ford Dale – deputising for the injured Troy Carroll on the third CDR Nokia Yamaha YZ450F.

Dale, last year’s second-tier National Cup champion, remounted to finish 10th in that race, one spot ahead of Boyd, while Hurley marched to his third win of the year – which helped double his previous championship lead from 12 to 24pts. It was also déjà vu for Hurley, who won race two at Gillman in 2005.

“The team has worked really hard, and the RM-Z450 is working brilliantly,” said Hurley. “That’s given us a strong start and a good foundation for the season.

“I like the next track at Wonthaggi, so we should be able to get another good result there.”

Anderson also likes the Wonthaggi layout in Victoria, which was where he made a peerless start to last year’s championship – two emphatic wins. The 28-year-old is still being restricted by a shoulder injury he received in a Perth supercross a few weeks ago, but that didn’t stop him jumping from seventh to second at Gillman – with his best yet to come.

“Today went fairly well for me,” said Anderson. “I rode consistently and felt pretty good all day. “I battled hard with Reardon in both motos, and he came out in front.

“But getting the points to bring me up to second was important, and I’m happy to have achieved that.”

Anderson’s third in race two was achieved ahead of three New Zealanders: Darryll King, Shayne King and Luke Burkhart (Shift Motul Suzuki RM-Z450).

In Pro Lite, Taylor and Mitchell Hoad (Team Kawasaki KX250F) were the two winners, while Ryan Marmont (Motorex KTM 250SXF) is the new leader in what is shaping up as a fabulously competitive season.

Hitherto, Marmont has only finished on the podium once in four races, but he’s been unerringly consistent – a virtue which, melded with some wins, may be enough to get him over the line when the championship concludes in Queensland on July 22-23.

“It’s awesome to be leading the championship,” said Marmont. “I was runner-up last year, and this year I hope to be No. 1.

“It was my first time back on a hard pack rack since my shoulder surgery, so I’m pretty happy with how I went considering the time I have been off the bike. I’m now going to America for two weeks to spend time with my brother Jay (who rides for KTM in the States).”

After two rounds, 10 riders have already finished on a Pro Lite podium – compared to 11 for all of last year. New additions to the top three at Gillman included Taylor, Cody Mackie (Troy Lee Design KX250F) and Shane Metcalfe (Seven M2R Racing CRF250R) in race one, and Dorron in the second hitout.

Metcalfe enjoyed the hitout in front of his home crowd, which previously saw him win the Pro Open round at Gillman way back in 2003.

Meanwhile, Dorron is a name synonymous with Pro Lite racing, and has only finished outside the top three of championship once since 1999.

Taylor’s win over Mackie in race one was a scant 0.812sec, while Metcalfe, Marmont and Adam Monea (Richmond KTM 250SXF) were untroubled in finishing from third to fifth.

Hoad only finished 29th in race one after bike troubles, but his riposte was an 8.991sec win over Dorron in race two. Further afield, Taylor just held out promising New Zealander Michael Phillips (KX250F) for third. Marmont was fifth from a battered Jake Moss (Serco Yamaha YZ250F), who crashed big time over the table top in race one.

Meanwhile, round one winner Michael Addison (250SXF) didn’t find the conditions as palatable at Gillman, and didn’t score any points – freefalling from first to 11th in the standings.

Gillman also witnessed round one of the National Cup, with Tom Ovens (CRF250R, 45pts) getting the jump in the six-round title from fellow Honda rider Mark Grove (40pts) and Jarred Long (YZ250F, 37pts).

Round three of the 2006 Nokia MX Nationals will be held at Wonthaggi on April 30, with the Rookies set to make their first appearance on the support card bill.