BOPPING CLIMBS AUSTRALIAN MX SERIES IN CANBERRA
Team Rockstar Motul Suzuki began working its way back to the sharp end of the Australian National Motocross Championship in Canberra at the weekend after a great performance by rising Pro Lites star Lawson Bopping, which has lifted him to fifth place in the Championship.
On his home track, Bopping demonstrated his speed and talent by qualifying sixth fastest, and in the first moto he showed his class with an outstanding ride, taking the win by more than two seconds. The gruelling back-to-back four-moto format demanded good results in all races and Bopping responded with two fourths and a seventh, which gave him second place on the podium and 75 Championship points.
"I was a lot happier with that result," said Bopping. "Spent a lot of time on the track this week with Jay Foreman - our Team Manager - and the set-up of the bike was much more comfortable".
Team Manager Foreman praised the hard work of his young rider. He said: "Lawson spent a lot of time getting the bike right for this round and it showed in his results. It was a tough format and one that demanded four good results and Lawson came through in all of them. There's still more time to be found in the RM-Z250 and we'll do some more testing before the next round in Geelong."
In the premier Pro Open Class, Cody Cooper struggled with the conditions and finished the round in ninth place overall.
"Cody's happy with the Suzuki RM-Z450, but I think we need to spend some time setting it up for local conditions," said Foreman. "He is used to the softer, loamy surfaces you find in New Zealand, unlike the dry, hard-packed race tracks here. The bike is quick, we know how good Cody can ride; it's now a matter of doing the hard yards in practice to get the right set-up."
Australian Motocross Championship (round 2):
Pro Open Class:
1 Todd Waters 90 2 Jay Marmont 80 3 Tye Simmonds 78 4 Dean Ferris 73 5 Andrew McFarlane 65 6 Cheyne Boyd 59 7 Daniel McCoy 55 8 Lewis Woods 44 9 Cody Cooper (Rockstar Motul Suzuki) 44 10 Beau Ralston 43
Pro Open Championship Standings: 1 Waters 149, 2 Marmont 136, 3 Simmonds 130, 4 Ferris 127, 5 McFarlane 111, 6 Boyd 103, 7 McCoy 96, 8 McKenzie 92, 9 Cooper (Rockstar Motul Suzuki) 84, 10 Woods 65.
Pro Lites:
1 Kirk Gibbs 87 2 Lawson Bopping (Rockstar Motul Suzuki) 75 3 PJ Larson 75 4 Ford Dale 72 5 Ryan Marmont 62 6 Codie Mackie 58 7 Matt Ryan 46 8 Michael Phillips 46 9 Luke Styke 46 10 Luke George 37
Pro Lites Championship Standings: 1 Gibbs 143, 2 Larson 135, 3 Marmont 118, 4 Mackie 113, 5 Bopping (Rockstar Motul Suzuki) 109, 6 Dale 100, 7 Phillips 89, 8 Styke 83, 9 George 77, 10 King 66.
