AUSTRALIAN PRO LITES
Suzuki young gun Matt Moss dominated Pro Lites in the seventh round of the Australian Rockstar Energy Drink Motocross Nationals at Lake Macquarie in New South Wales while his Team Shift Motul Suzuki team mate Daryl Hurley moved up to second in the Pro Open standings. Contesting just his second round of the 2008 championship after breaking his wrist in round one, Moss was in sensational form: Having qualified third on his Suzuki RM-Z250, he made a slow start to Moto One - which left him at the back of the pack - and fought back to finish second despite a mid-race crash, setting the fastest lap of the race by nearly a second in the process.In Moto Two, Moss was unstoppable, leading from start to finish and taking victory by almost 10 seconds to win the round.Moss wasn't the only Team Shift Motul Suzuki rider in winning form: Hurley took out the opening Pro Open Moto on his RM-Z450 by over 10 seconds in a gutsy ride, having battled a virus in the week leading up to the event.Fatigue got the better of the New Zealander in the dying minutes of Moto Two, dropping from third to sixth.Despite the Moto Two disappointment, Hurley fell just three points shy of the round win and moves up to second in the championship.It was a frustrating day for Hurley's Pro Open team mate Luke Burkhart, who damaged knee ligaments in an incident early in the opening Moto and was forced out of the event after setting the third-fastest time in qualifying.Suzuki's Under 19s riders completed a strong weekend for the manufacturer across all three classes.With third in Moto One and second in Moto Two, Lawson Bopping moves up to second in the Under 19s standings. His team mate Kieran Tisdale scored his best result of the year with 10th for the round while Byrners Suzuki rider Mike Menchi was seventh and remains fifth in the standings.The penultimate round of the 2008 Rockstar Energy Drink Motocross Nationals will take place at Newry, Victoria, on July 20.Daryl Hurley:
"I was really happy with qualifying and my ride in Moto One. "I picked up a virus earlier in the week which made life tough for me in the second Moto, I couldn't push 100% and by the end of the race I just had nothing left. We were looking good for the round win for a while, but it was still a good weekend. The last couple of events haven't gone as well as we would've liked, so to win a Moto today was a great reward for the team after all the hard work they've put in. We're up to second in the championship now and really looking forward to the last two rounds."Luke Burkhart:
"I'm incredibly disappointed. We qualified third and were really looking forward to a strong run, but I came together with another rider in the opening laps of Moto One and twisted me knee. It ended my day and sort of sums up the luck we've been having this year. I'm going to have some scans done early this week to determine the extent of the damage."From there we should have a better idea of whether I'll be able to ride a Newry, but we'll really just have to wait and see what the doctors say and how it responds to treatment over the next week."Matt Moss:
"After such a long layoff, I'm thrilled to win my second round back. The RM-Z250 was great all day and gave me plenty of confidence to push hard and win the round. It's a big boost and things are looking good for the rest of the year."It was great to win for Suzuki and repay their support; they really stuck by me while I was injured. Hopefully we can get some more wins in the last two Motocross rounds and carry strong form into the Super X season."Lawson Bopping:
"We had another good weekend for Team Shift Motul Suzuki Under 19s, getting a third and a second. It moves us up to second in the championship and keeps us in touch with the lead going into the final two rounds. We're only 12 points behind Tye Simmonds so we're going to Newry looking for wins."
Jay Foreman - Team Manager:
"It was a fantastic weekend for the team and Suzuki; we were the most-consistent manufacturer in the three classes. I'm really pleased for Matt as to come back after an injury and ride like this is a huge credit to him and shows that he would have been a key player in Pro Lites this year if not for the injury."He never gave up in Moto One and was too good in Moto Two, even setting faster lap times than the top Pro Open riders. Given how sick he was during the week, Daryl put in an awesome performance. He won the first Moto and was on-track to win the round with a top-three result in Moto Two, but the virus hit him hard late in the race."Luke can't buy a trick at the moment; he was impressive in qualifying but injured his knee early in the first Moto. It's disappointing but he'll bounce back."In Under 19s, Lawson was quick and finished each race on the podium to move up to second in the championship, while Kieran showed good progress in his best round of the year."Rockstar Energy Drink Motocross Standings (after 7 rounds):
PRO OPEN: 1 Jay Marmont 302, 2 Daryl Hurley (Suzuki RM-Z450) 260, 3 Craig Anderson 243, 4 Cheyne Boyd 226, 5 Daniel McCoy 207, 6 Michael Addison 179, 7 Cameron Taylor 178, 8 Luke Burkhart (Suzuki RM-Z450) 151.
UNDER 19s: 1 Tye Simmonds 157, 2 Lawson Bopping (Suzuki RM-Z250) 145, 3 Matt Ryan 143, 4 Shaun Williamson 117, 5 Michael Menchi (Suzuki RM-Z250) 116, 6 Ross Beaton 110.
