News 4 Sep 2014

Quotebook: 2014 MX Nationals Rd10 Coolum

Riders reflect on their final round performances.

Image: Jeff Crow.

Image: Jeff Crow.

MX1

Adam Monea (NPS Monster Energy Kawasaki) 5th overall:
I’m pretty bummed with my result. I wanted to do really well in this series but I had a small slump after round 5 and made it hard on myself. To come away with fourth overall is not what I want. I come here to win or at least get on the podium so the fact that I’m not is a bit disappointing but I know I will get the results. I’m looking for a fresh start at supercross.

Jake Moss (NPS Monster Energy Kawasaki) 7th overall:
I qualified fastest yesterday but overall it wasn’t what I was looking for. I felt good on Saturday but got arm pump really bad today. This year was much better for me than last year. I won a bunch of races and I am safe and ready to go for supercross. This was a learning year for me. I’ve still got a few years of racing ahead of me and look forward to good things.

Matt Moss (Team Motul Suzuki) – 6th overall:
It was really hard having the red plate from the start, even more difficult than last year’s championship, but all in all it’s been a great year for Team Motul Suzuki,” Moss commented. “We’ll look to keep going from here and I’ve learnt a lot with some great challenges. I’m just so happy because it’s not easy to defend a championship and we did it. I would love to get more championships from here and I can’t see why we wouldn’t. The RM-Z450 has been great all year and the team was really able to get the best out of it. Thank you to everybody who has played a part and been involved along the way!

Hayden Mellross (Raceline Performance Suzuki) – 12th overall:
The year I’ve had this year has been incredible. Receiving the Andrew McFarlane award especially; Andrew was a god in the sport and it was an honor to have my name on that trophy. I expected to do pretty well this year. I’ve put in so much training the last couple of years and I have really high expectations of myself. Throughout the year I think I met my expectations, and as the year went on I started to learn more, and understand what I needed to do at the races to get results. I got sent to America at 14 years old to live on my own, so I believe having to be an adult from such a young age, really made me grow up and has benefited me a lot. Especially when it comes to the tough weekends and the track hasn’t suited me, or I’ve struggled with bike set-up, my maturity helped turn those tough days around. I’m still exploring my options for next year. I definitely know what I want to do in this sport so I’m excited for the future that’s for sure.

Kirk Gibbs (KTM Motocross Racing Team) – 2nd overall:
All we could do today was go out and leave nothing on the table, and we did. The boys and I played around with some set up and stuff, and we were right on, the bike was fantastic. It’s good to come so close to the title, and I learnt a lot this year, to hopefully be better again next year, and hopefully win this title. I don’t really know what happened on that second start, just that me, Jake and Jacob Wright were all reasonably close, and we all got tangled up, and she was a handful to hang on to. I was lucky to get out of that one, and the heart rate was through the roof, it took me a little way to get into that race, because my heart rate was so high. I had to just concentrate on my breathing to get it down. It was something to remember.

Billy Mackenzie (CDR Yamaha) – 1st overall:
Today felt pretty good. I like racing here at Coolum as it has a nice atmosphere and the track is always in great shape. I like the changes they have made and it kept it interesting for everyone. It was also nice to see a big crowd on hand for the final round and it’s rewarding to finish the season on such a strong note.

Jacob Wright (CDR Yamaha) – 3rd overall:
Another podium for me in the premier class so I’m pretty stoked. I have learnt so much since joining the CDR team and it has shown in my results so I can’t thank Craig and the team for taking a chance on me and giving me this opportunity. I’m also aware I still have so much to learn and today I found out I need to be a lot fitter to race up the front in all three motos on a rough track like this.

Jay Marmont (CDR Yamaha) – 8th overall:
Coolum has been a good venue for me and I have a lot of happy memories from here. Today was much the same as I had a lot of fans come up and wish me well and congratulated me on my career, so that was nice. I raced as well as I could today and was pretty happy with how I rode so it was good to finish positively with the CDR crew and I can’t thank Craig and everyone on the team enough for the time, energy and effort over the years.

Ben Townley (Penrite Honda Racing) – 4th overall:
The first moto was hard fought. I worked hard throughout the race to progress to fourth. In the second moto I came from fifth and I felt mid-race I could win. Once I passed Billy I rode my own race and lines and was able to make a reasonable gap. The final moto was the hardest. I crashed in the first turn and started three quarters of lap down in last. I worked through to take 12th . I was happy with my speed but frustrated with the mistake as I was in a position to claim the overall.

Brock Winston (Husqvarna) – 10th overall:
For sure, this was definitely the toughest track of the year. I’m on my practice bike, which had a lot of hours on it, but I was pretty consistent for the day. I came from outside the top 10 this year to almost the top five and it would have been nice to do that at my home track too, but it just wasn’t happening for me today.

Brad Groombridge (Husqvarna Motocross Racing Team) – 15th overall:
Obviously not riding the bike until last week, it took a bit to get it to feel the way I wanted it to. I had an all right first and second moto, then in the third I was going good, and unfortunately had a crash, then had another one, and twisted the front end of the bike, so I dropped quite a way back then. But it was a good day, and the team was good and the bike was awesome.

Image: Jeff Crow.

Image: Jeff Crow.

MX2

Caleb Ward (KTM) – 1st overall:
I’m pretty stoked really, it’s an amazing day. I set a few goals for the weekend, and achieved them all so I couldn’t be happier – its awesome. It’s pretty cool to be so dominant today, seeing as how I’m only 17. I do a lot of sand riding, but nothing like that. The track was really, really rough and tough. My lower back was really sore from standing up around the entire track. So, I did it hard, but it feels good.

Hamish Harwood (CMR Red Bull KTM) – 5th overall:
To be honest it was actually a pretty average day. Pretty bad starts, I was actually outside the top 15 in the first turn, and maybe, 10th in the last one. I definitely didn’t make it easy, and with the injured wrist and shoulder I was definitely struggling to work the bumps out there, but no excuses, the injuries were both my fault. I’m just stoked to be second overall for the championship, and bring on next year.

Luke Arbon (SD3 Husqvarna) – 9th overall:
The day started off well. I had two seconds to Caleb; he was killing it. But I was pretty comfortable on the rest of the field, and I had Clouty behind me, which was what I needed to do, but in that last moto, unfortunately I went down in the first turn, which left me with some mud on my hands, and when I came around to the big jump my hand slid off the throttle, and I had probably the biggest crash I’ve had for a long time. I’m just happy that I could walk away from that, and still come away with third in the championship. I can’t thank the SD3 Husqvarna team enough, for getting me out on the track. I just kind of found my mojo and really started enjoying riding again, so I’ve won in that respect. I’m really having fun, and looking forward to supercross and next year and fighting for a title.

Luke Clout (Serco Yamaha) – 3rd overall:
I can’t tell you how excited and relieved I am. I tried to stay as calm as I could all day and not think about the championship points or the other riders, just race each race on its merits and fortunately I was able to do that and we came out on top. This year has presented plenty of challenges as I have had to recover from a broken leg, develop a new bike with the team and race 23 motos to secure this championship and I’m really proud to have been able to achieve it. The Serco Yamaha team have been amazing all year and the amount of work and commitment everyone there has is unreal. The 2014 YZ250F is the best bike on the track, our team sponsors are awesome and it takes a lot of people to make this happen and I can’t thank them enough.

Jay Wilson (Serco Yamaha) – 4th overall:
I struggled a bit today, especially in moto one. I was in a pack trying to get through and every time I went to make a pass, I had to go off the race line and as a result, the rider behind me was able to pass me. I seemed to go back and forward with the same riders all moto. The last two were better and I was able to get to fourth for the round and the championship. I think I finished the season pretty well; the opening round at Broadford is what cost me as I had a terrible day there.

Nick Sutherland (Raceline Pirelli Suzuki) – 10th overall:
I think considering my lead up to Coolum I’ve done really well. I had only done about two days riding, so I think it was pretty solid to finish inside the top 10. Top 10 was what I would have hoped, I didn’t quite expect it. Being at Coolum and being so rough, as well as the little bike time I’ve had, I didn’t think I’d last the motos let alone finish in the top ten. It’s worked out well really. It was really good having the support of Raceline behind me. The whole crew is really good to work with, and it’s a really positive and friendly environment.

Takeshi Katsuya (Kawasaki) – 2nd overall:
I actually struggle in the sand but today it worked awesome for me. We have the guys from Japan here and we did testing during the week and we got a good sand setting. I’m going to the des Nations too and I’m happy with the Kawasaki so I’m really looking forward to it.

Luke Wilson (Wilson MX Honda) – 17th overall:
My season has been up and down, but things definitely got better towards the end. I took my time finding my feet again this year but I am still really happy with how the year has played out. Even though Coolum wasn’t my best result, and I struggled big time, I’m pumped with my overall result for the year so it’s awesome. The bike has been amazing, we had no bike issues at all really. I think with the two-stroke four-stroke battle this year, our bikes held up extremely well, and everyone behind the scenes did a really good job with the Hondas. At the moment we’re working out our plans for next year; we’ve been talking to the same people so fingers crossed we’ll have a similar set up. It’s been an awesome year.

Joel Evans (Full Force Racing TM) – 6th overall:
We finished of the MX Nationals season with a bang at Coolum. Saturday was a very trying day with little things going wrong in both practice and qualifying eventually resulting in me being left with last gate pick. I had a lot of support and we came into Sunday positive and ready to turn it around. Warm up went well and I was happy coming into the racing. I managed to pull three awesome starts with one being a holeshot in the second moto and came away with my best three results all year with 7-9-7 moto finishes, which put me into sixth overall for the day. My points for the day managed to bump me into the top 10 overall for the series and give me the privateer North Cup win.

Image: Jeff Crow.

Image: Jeff Crow.

MXD

Egan Mastin (Husqvarna Motocross Racing Team) – 2nd overall:
It definitely feels awesome to take this championship home, and I worked very hard as did everybody on the team, especially my dad, who puts in 110%. At the start of the year I was going to be a junior still, but Ando took me under his wing only a couple of months before the season started, and after I got second of Broadford I knew I could win. It was definitely an awesome day, and I can’t thank everyone enough.

Nathan Crawford (Husqvarna) – 1st overall:
I felt good all day, I wish I would have had days like this earlier in the season, but that’s motocross, it’s the most brutal sport in the world. Coming away with three wins today I was pretty pumped on that, and it was great to end the season on a high. Congratulations to Egan, he’s obviously had a really consistent season this year, and a Husqvarna 1-2 is probably the best way to end the season!

Jack Simpson (Tunetech Racing KTM) – 6th overall:
I couldn’t have done it without the RACESAFE guys – Brendan Hayes and John Park – they helped me out all week, and they got me to ride the bike. If it wasn’t for them I would not have been swinging a leg over the bike, that’s for sure. The first two races weren’t too bad, the ankle was a little sore, but in this third race, I had not a bad start, but then out of the corner of my eye, I reckon four bikes to my right just took a whole pack of us out, I got taken down pretty hard. I’m pretty sure I’m the only one working a five-day a week job as a concrete, so it makes me pretty proud, and all my family and friends, that I can still go out there and mix it up with the factory dudes who get to do it easy.

Kyle Webster (GYTR Yamaha) – 3rd overall:
I was a bit frustrated after last weekend at Gladstone as I probably should have finished on the podium but I made some mistakes that cost me so I was determined to make amends this weekend. I was able to get pretty good starts in all three races and stay up near the front without crashing so it made life much easier. Working with the GYTR Yamaha team has been a fantastic experience and everyone on the team has been so helpful the last couple of rounds and I have learned a lot from it.

Wilson Todd (GYTR Yamaha) – 5th overall:
I really wanted to win today but my starts weren’t great and I tangled with other riders down the front straight. I was able to ride the track okay, but coming from that far back was always going to make it tough to win here.

Team and privateer competitors can submit comments to [email protected] prior to the Wednesday after events for inclusion in the post-event Quotebook feature.

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