Round one of the Australian Supermoto Championship was carried out under lights at Eastern Creek Raceway on the weekend, where current number two seed, Stuart Bennett showed his competitors he is out to secure the number one plate.

Bennett took his racing team Motorex KTM to the top of the podium in the premier S2 class, winning the round and tying equally on championship points with Rodney Taplin from Honda.

Bennett showed true fitness to earn his place on the podium after having to ride an extra race when his first final was red flagged, causing the race to stop and start again.

The red flag came when Husqvarna rider, Troy Herfoss came off his bike. The red flag meant Herfoss was unable to join the restart. Bennett placed 3rd in the restart yet Husqvarna successfully protested that Herfoss was unable to ride and the restart race was voided. This required all riders to repeat the race from scratch.

Not deterred by the restart Bennett concentrated on the job at hand to get onto the podium and win the race meeting. Riding the KTM450SMR in two S2 class finals Bennett placed second in his first event and first in his final event. Bennett’s results saw him take the overall win on the night. The top three place holders for the premier S2 class were Stuart Bennett from Motorex KTM in first on 47 points, Rodney Taplin from Honda in second on 47 points and Adam Cini from Husqvarna in third on 38 points.

Commenting on the night of racing Stuart Bennett said, “A combination of a great bike, an awesome mechanic in Johnny DeStefano and my determination to get on the podium for Motorex KTM saw me take the win tonight.

“It was a tiring night having to contend the first final twice and then have both of my next races back to back. I basically had time to ride into the marshalling area, grab a drink and head straight back onto the race track. The event didn’t finish until 1am in the morning so I proved to myself determination and fitness is enough to hold me up this season.”

While Bennett’s ride was smooth sailing, his Motorex KTM team mates didn’t endure as a successful race meeting. Bennett’s S2 class team mate Graham Cheney was unable to secure good starts in his racing which saw him positioned towards the back of the grid come his final events. Unable to move up with the front runners the best Cheney could secure was 15th overall at the round.

Young gun Daniel McCoy started the night strong placing second in his first S2 qualifying race and third in his heat race. Come the finals McCoy was placed well on the grid to contend with the front runners and secured a fourth place positioning. Misfortune struck in his final S2 race when he crashed out, thankfully uninjured but he was unable to finish the race and secure valuable points. McCoy’s final results in the S2 class saw him finish 10th overall on the night.

Motorex KTM’s new rider Timmy Wiegand from the USA enjoyed a promising start to his position on the team, coming out strong to battle with the front runners of the S3 class.

Weigand was easily within reach of the podium finishing second to Ben Grabham in his first final, yet a fall in his second final unfortunately saw him miss out on a position in the top three for the event. Weigand still managed to secure 6th overall on the night in the S3 class.

In the Vets class Motorex KTM Racing Team Manager, Rob Twyerould was considered one of the favourites, yet even the top runners have their bad days with Twyerould cracking his collar bone during practice. This took Twyerould out for the rest of the race meeting.

The Australian Supermoto Championship is a six round series, visiting NSW, VIC and QLD. Round two will see Oran Park transformed into a playground of jumps, bumps, tar and berms on Saturday 11 March. Full dates and venues for the 2006 Ssangyong Australian Supermoto Championship follow:

Round 1 4th February, 2006 - Eastern Creek
Round 2 11th March, 2006 - Oran Park
Round 3 12th March, 2006 - Eastern Creek
Round 4 26th March, 2006 - Cobden Kart Track
Round 5 23rd April, 2006 - Coffs Harbour
Round 6 24th June, 2006 - Darlington Park
 

-- Images from Press Day --