Yamaha Racing’s Pro Open and Pro Lites teams have both turned the corner and recorded consistent results at Round Three of the Nokia Motocross Nationals at Victoria’s Wonthaggi Motocross Track today.

After mixed results in the opening two rounds of the series, six of the eight Yamaha factory riders have finished in top ten round positions, accruing a strong haul of much needed points.

Reigning Pro Lites Champion Cameron Taylor has retained third in the championship and is only seven points off second place while only three points separate multi champion Darryll King from the Pro Open top three.

CDR/Nokia/Yamaha Pro Open MX Team
Yamaha’s factory Pro Open motocross team CDR/Nokia/Yamaha has stuck to its pre race game plan and come away with three members of their four-rider squad finishing inside the top ten.

In the opening pro open race Victorian Cheyne Boyd got a terrible start and found himself back in 23rd position while his team mates fought it out inside the top ten. Boyd’s bad luck continued with the Yamaha rider crashing halfway through the opening lap while trying to pass another rider which put him back to dead last.

While Boyd tore up the pack as he worked his way through the field in sensational style to finish sixth team mate Darryll King also made his move up the order to fifth while teenagers Matt Moss and Ford Dale finished 8th and 11th respectively.

In the second Pro Open race CDR/Nokia/Yamaha stalwart King got the all important holeshot but was passed by Craig Anderson on the opening lap.

While Boyd made a good start and held sixth place for the duration of the race King was relegated to fourth after being passed by series leader Daryl Hurley and younger brother Shane King. Ford Dale in only his second ride for the factory Yamaha outfit had moved up to tenth place ahead of team mate Moss.

Ten minutes into the thirty minute race Dale had the wind knocked out of him when he high sided off his bike and crashed heavily. The seventeen year old Sunshine Coast rider surprise many, remounting his YZ450F in 22nd place and passing six riders to finish 16th while fourth placed King became embroiled in a battle for position with sibling Shane, the two swapping for third place several times before the chequered flag fell.

While the race was won by Daryl Hurly, King had to settle for fourth, Boyd retained sixth place and Moss secured another top ten result.

Unable to practice for the past six days due to an aggravated ankle injury King felt the lack of practice hurt his results today.

“The lack of practice really showed today,” King said.

“We made some major changes to the bike between qualifying and race one so I spent the first half of the race getting used to those changes but a shocking start certainly didn’t help matters.

“It was great to get a clean holeshot in the second race as your start obviously sets the mood for the race I had great speed and my race was going to plan except when I lost my rhythm at the 10min mark when Shayne (King) and Daryl (Hurley) passed me.

“The bike felt great and the holeshot was an indication of the power I have underneath me now I need to get some much needed riding in before Connondale,” King concluded.

Cheyne Boyd finished the round seventh overall and said while he has the speed he still needs to work on moving forward.

“After a bad start in the opening race things got worse when I went down midway through the first lap,” Boyd said.

“I remounted and put my head down and came through to finish sixth and be in touch with the leading pack so I know I have the speed to match it with the front runners but really need to work out how to move forward from there and win.

“I got a better start in race two and pushed as hard as I needed to in the first half but for some reason at the moment I am struggling with the second half of each race,” he added.

With two top ten race results and ninth overall for the round Matt Moss was pleased his plans came to fruition.

“I am pretty happy with my results today they were well within the goals we set,” Moss said.

“In the first race I felt physically fantastic and if it wasn’t for some moisture in my goggles that blurred my vision I would have pressed on harder.

“Race two was awesome I did make a bad start and had one small moment on the track but I put my head down and concentrated on a top ten finish and it came together,” Moss added.

With quite a few hurdles in front of him today Dale said he was pleased with his overall results.

“I didn’t get a great start in the first race but I made the most of a turn two pile up and moved up to 11th but ran out of tear offs and started to lose vision over the last ten minutes of the race,” Dale said.

“In the second race I had moved in to 10th before a massive high side knocked the wind out of me.

“I would have been happy just to finish but within a couple of laps I felt the fire in my belly again and pushed on to pass six riders and finish 16th and 13th overall which is quite good considering,” Dale added.

Serco Yamaha Pro Lites MX Team

After a sluggish start to the season Brisbane based Serco Yamaha Motocross team have come away from the third round of the Nokia Motocross Nationals with some much needed points, which have seen reigning Pro Lites champion Cameron Taylor retain third in Championship and seventeen year old Jake Moss move up to seventh.

After qualifying quickest, Cameron Taylor left the gate well in the opening moto before missing a gear which saw him caught up in the mid pack chaos for the first few laps.

Robbie Marshall enjoyed his best start of the year getting away cleanly in third place while team mate Jake Moss also fell victim to the start line demons and was 19th on the opening lap while guest rider Dennis Stapleton took things cautiously whilst still growing accustomed to his YZ250F.

As Taylor and Moss stepped up the pace and began reeling in the frontrunners Marshall succumbed to a bad bout of arm pump and slipped back through the field.

Moss rode a sensational race to finish fourth, in reach of the leaders while Taylor fought back to finish 7th. Robbie Marshall held on to finish 12th and after a small mishap while negotiating a slower rider Stapleton crossed the finish line in 25th.

In the second race of the day all of the Serco Yamaha riders found themselves mid pack off the start. Both Jake Moss and Cameron Taylor were making solid progress before Moss went down on lap three and rejoined the race dead last.

Taylor consistently made up ground to finish second behind Mitch Hoad while Moss put on an amazing fight back, passing an astonishing 23 riders to finish 12th behind team mate Robbie Marshall who rode to the best of his ability while still struggling with arm pump.

Despite a small off early in the race guest rider Dennis Stapleton finished 19th achieving his goal of finishing in the top 20.

Finishing fourth overall Taylor said he was still making hard work for himself by not getting his starts right.

“It was a much better way to end the day,” Taylor said of his second place in the final race. “My start in the race two was much better but still not nearly good enough.

“I am making way too much work for myself with these bad starts, with a better start I could be riding a much more strategic race instead of always playing catch up,”

Seventeen year old Jake Moss moved from tenth to seventh in the championship after some impressive defensive riding.

“I had a really bad start in the first race but was amazed at how good the bike felt. Once I got into a rhythm I was off and rode really hard to finish fourth.

“Had I not lost my goggles at the halfway point I know I could have caught race winner Mitch Hoad.

“I got another bad start in the second race then crashed but I was really happy with my ride back from last to 12th, Moss added.

Robbie Marshall got his best start of the year and celebrated his first incident free race.

“I finally got a good start and I felt great for the first few laps of the opening race until arm pump kicked in and really set me back,” Marshall said.

“I made a mistake at the halfway point and dropped the bike but I managed to regroup and push on to finish 12th.

“My second race was better and I was very happy to stay on the bike for a whole race but having said that 11th place is still unacceptable and I am going to have to train really hard this week to be in the points at Connondale next weekend,” Marshall stated.

Finishing 24th overall and with nothing but praise for the Nokia Motocross Nationals, Motocross Action test rider Dennis Stapleton said he was most impressed with his YZ250F.

“The whole Australian Scene is just fantastic and the bikes are way better than I thought they would,” Stapleton said.

“The track layout and preparation are just first class and without a doubt Serco are the most friendly and helpful team I have been associated with throughout my career.

“It has been an awesome experience I can’t thank Serco and Yamaha Motor Australia enough for the opportunity and I am really looking forward to Connondale next weekend,” Stapleton commented.

There will be no rest period for either team with only one week to prepare for the fourth round of the Series at Queensland’s Connondale Motocross Track on Sunday 7th May.