HQVA press release:

Husqvarna Factory Support rider Connor Tierney and special guest rider Jay Marmont may have had completely different perspectives, but both made the most of their visit to the hallowed sands of Cosy Creek circuit as the Manjimup 15,000 took place yesterday.

Sixteen-year-old MX Development series hotshot Tierney was participating in his first senior Manjimup, and having traded his regular Husqvarna TC 250 for an FC 350, was rubbing elbows with the sport’s biggest names for the first time in his career.

An observer could be forgiven for not realising that however, with the young Western Australian recovering from early difficulties to lodge fourth and sixth place finishers in the final two motos on his way to an impressive seventh overall.

Jay Marmont has won the coveted Manjimup title three times in his professional career and the attraction of the iconic event was such that it lured him out of retirement to take part, with virtually no preparation.

Marmont was pretty sure he was going to run out of fuel, figuratively speaking, but started with the taps wide open, nonetheless, finishing third in the opening moto and fifth in the second on his box-stock Husqvarna FC 450 before fatigue and arm pump forced him further down the order.

The respected veteran still impressed however, taking fifth place overall and expressing an interest in further visits to Manjimup and other selected one-off events.

Connor Tierney – FC 350 “I never got off to the greatest start. I went down in the first turn of the first moto and was dead last of 38 people, but I came back to 10th which I was pretty pumped with. Second moto was a bit crappy for me, I got a bad start and started riding other people’s pace and got 12th. Third moto I was probably eighth off the start and near the front boys. I went past Marmont, Hill and Groombridge and got up into fourth which I was pretty pumped about. And then in the last moto I ended up with sixth, which wasn’t so bad. In the shootout I had a good start but I went down with Jayden Rykers and that was kind of the end of it. I was sixth on the day, which I was pumped with.
The experience was good, though I’ve got a lot of work to do to catch up to Gibbsy and Styke, they’re on a different level.”

Jay Marmont – FC 450 “It was good, I’ve only been riding a couple of times in the last couple of months so naturally it was hard. First moto I got seventh or eighth off the gate and came through to third finish there. My arms pumped up pretty hard, and the turnarounds are fairly short, so second moto I was in third and drifted back to fifth. By the last couple of motos I was starting to get fairly fatigued. We had a little bit of a shock drama in the third moto, I think I drifted from second back to eighth, then the last Moto I drifted back anyway – nothing to do with the bike, it was all me. But I’m fairly happy with the result. I did what I could do and full credit to the Husqvarna – to be able to pull it out of the crate and run top three at the Manjimup 15,000 is great, especially considering I haven’t been on a Husqvarna or a KTM for a number of years now. Touple of laps, I was really excited about.

To come back and do Manjimup was fairly special to me, and motivates me to work to do a little bit more riding and mix it with the guys up front, not on the national scene, but in a few more of these kinds of races.”

For more information on Husqvarna motorcycles visit www.husqvarna-motorcycles.com