Moto News Wrap for March 19, 2019 by Darren Smart

Proudly brought to you by Dunlop Geomax

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The LATEST News

• Musquin and Forkner victorious in Indianapolis SX
• Waters and Roberts Win at Appin mudfest
• Russell fights back at Georgia GNCC
• Bauman wins Daytona TT
• Janisch wins Daytona TT AFT Singles – Max Whale fifth
• Ferris replaces Febvre in MXGP
• Ryan brothers shine at Canberra Long Track
• Courtney Duncan joins Bike It DRT Kawasaki for WMX

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Musquin and Forkner Victorious at Indy SX

Indianapolis has hosted the latest round of the AMA Supercross Championships and on a predominantly one lined, rut infested layout it was KTM’s Marvin Musquin who won the 450 main event for the second year in a row while Austin Forkner slaughtered the 250 East class by winning the main by over six seconds.

450SX

Musquin entered Indianapolis 19 points back from his teammate Cooper Webb, and by lap 18 it was a four rider freight train with Musquin, Baggett, Webb and Tomac all within a few seconds of each other but no matter how hard each rider tried.

That is how they finished while Justin Barcia’s first ride back from concussion earned the veteran a sensational fifth ahead of Savatgy, Zach Osborne, Ken Roczen, Dean Wilson, Justin Brayton and Chad Reed who passed 11 riders to earn solid points and stay seventh in the championship.

As far as the championship goes Webb leads by 14 points over Musquin who in turn has a seven-point gap back to Tomac while the biggest looser on the night was former red plate holder Roczen who just couldn’t get his shit together to end up 27 points back from Webb with six rounds remaining.

Marvin Musquin

“It was a long main event and I knew they were charging behind me so I just wanted to stay smooth, my whoops were pretty clean, I didn’t know if it was the best way but towards the end I was able to get it all clean and it feels good to get it done. Tonight I was very confident on the starting gate and to get a holeshot tonight was super important so yeh, it was time (for the win).”

450SX Main Event Results

1. Marvin Musquin
2. Blake Baggett
3. Cooper Webb
4. Eli Tomac
5. Justin Barcia
6. Joey Savatgy
7. Zach Osborne
8. Ken Roczen
9. Dean Wilson
10. Justin Brayton
11. Chad Reed

 450SX Points after 11 of 17 Rounds

1. Cooper Webb – 243
2. Marvin Musquin – 229
3. Eli Tomac – 222
4. Ken Roczen – 216
5. Blake Baggett – 184
6. Dean Wilson – 163
7. Chad Reed – 149
8. Joey Savatgy – 141
9. Justin Brayton – 140
10. Justin Barcia – 138

250 East Coast Report

Unfortunately for the fans of close racing when Austin Forkner gets the holeshot in the East Coast series it is game over, with his Ryan Villopoto like style racking up the best lap times over and over which left long time arch rival Chase Sexton to reluctantly settle for second place all of the way to flag while Justin Cooper had to make his way from tenth to third to land on the podium.

Austin Forkner

“Justin (Cooper) was beside me in the heat race and I didn’t want to let off until he did, went in way too deep, jumped into the tuff block and got run over by a couple of guys so that sucked but in the main I ended up with a decent gate two inside the box and got a good start in the main and that helped.”

250 East Coast Main Event Results

1. Austin Forkner
2. Chase Sexton
3. Justin Cooper
4. Mitchell Oldenburg
5. Martin Davalos
6. Kyle Peters
7. Kyle Cunningham
8. oshua Osby
9. Alex Martin
10. Jordan Bailey

250 East Coast Points after 6 of 9 Rounds

1. Austin Forkner – 151
2. Chase Sexton – 125
3. Justin Cooper – 123
4. Alex Martin – 92
5. Martin Davalos – 89
6. Mitchell Oldenburg – 88
7. Brandon Hartranft – 82
8. Kyle Cunningham – 81
9. Kyle Peters – 79
10. Jordon Smith – 70

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Waters and Roberts Win at Appin Mudfest

In what has been a massive disappointment to everyone who is involved with or a fan of the Australian MX Nationals, the opening round of the 2019 championships ended up being a mudfest of the highest calibre and it was Todd Waters and Jy Roberts who won the premier MX1 and MX2 classes respectively while Kiwi Max Purvis won the MXD class.

A massive low across a large part of the East Coast of Australia caused torrential rain fall in Sydney and the surrounding areas so due to safety concerns WEM, the series promoter, reduced each championship class to one moto.

MX1 Report

Little known American Justin Rodebell grabbed the holeshot in the lone MX1 moto and led for the best part of the opening lap before Hayden Mellross made his way to the lead. Todd Waters was making his way from dead last after getting tangled with a track side sprinkler going into the first corner.

ISDE winner Daniel Milner was also a victim of multiple first corner incidents while pre-race favourites Kirk Gibbs and Brett Metcalfe also got less than ideal starts but both managed to edge their way through the treacherous conditions to move by Rodebell, Luke Clout and Jesse Dobson to slot into third and fourth.

After six laps that took almost 17 minutes, Hayden Mellross greeted the chequered flag ahead of Waters, Gibbs, Metcalfe and Dobson but thanks to a couple of incidents where it was deemed that Mellross rode outside the track barriers Waters was gifted maximum points ahead of Mellross.

Todd Waters

“It’s kind of strange, I didn’t think I won it. It was quite good for me because when I get excited, I go full gas and make big mistakes. I had no goggles and thought this is a bit of a write off. I just rode smooth and tried my best to just stay on the track.”

Rodbell, Tomas Ravenhorst, Luke Clout, Joben Baldwin and Cody Dyce rounded out the top 10 while the likes of Richie Evans, Jayden Rykers, Caleb Ward ended the moto far from where they would have like but they fared better than Dylan long and Milner who didn’t get to finish the race.

Richie Evans

“The result today wasn’t what I was after, but the conditions threw up all sorts of challenges. It was hard work out there today. I went all out at the start and got the track position I needed but that crash just made things so hard to ride and grip the bike that I had to swap gloves and goggles to even continue. But despite the result, I know my preparation has been good and I have done the work over the off season so I’m not going to let this affect me. I will learn from todays round and improve myself in these conditions and I’m ready to get things back on track at round two regardless of what we are faced with.”

Thor MX1 – Moto Result and Overall

1. Todd Waters
2. Hayden Mellross
3. Kirk Gibbs
4. Brett Metcalfe
5. Jesse Dobson
6. Justin Rodbell
7. Tomas Ravenhorst
8. Luke Clout
9. Joben Baldwin
10. Cody Dyce
11. Charlie Creech
12. Joel Wightman
13. Levi McManus
14. Richie Evans
15. Jayden Rykers
16. Brandon Gray
17. John Prutti
18. Caleb Ward
19. Zak Small
20. Izak Maule

MX2 Report

Jay Wilson scored the holeshot and for most of the moto the Yamaha rider looked like a shoe-in for the win until a mistake near the end allowed Jy Roberts to come through to claim the win ahead of Wilson and third placed defending champion Wilson Todd. Todd ended the race ahead of Issac Ferguson, Riley Dukes, Nathan Crawford, Cooper Pozniak, Dylan Wills and Wyatt Chase.

Jy Roberts

“It was brutal, every line just crisscrossed and there where holes you couldn’t see. I had to throw my goggles on the second lap, so I was just getting roosted by lappers, but I ended up getting it done by just pulling off consistent laps. I made it work, so I am happy with that.”

Jay Wilson

“It was a strange set of circumstances that lead to us finishing second and as a team, everyone was a little disappointed in the outcome given we have such as good lead. But, we will move on from here, learn from what happened and ensure we aren’t in that situation again. We had a chat about it and its no-one’s fault, just the way it played out but from now on, we have decided we are just going to be ruthless if we are ever in the situation again.  The team did a great job today on the bike and keeping it running smoothly. It’s tough because the track was so hard on the bikes. They get so hot, you have to keep off the clutch and stay away from the deep water, ruts and mud but the bike was awesome and for me, I’m happy with the start we have made for the championship and ready to go the full ten rounds.”

Aaron Tanti was up front in the early going but thanks to a series of mistakes the hard charger ended up tenth ahead of talented enduro rider Lyndon Snodgrass who in turn got the nod over some of the best MX2 riders in Australia including Morgan Fogarty, Kyle Webster, Bailey Malkiewicz and Joel Evans.

Kyle Webster

“It was a bloody tough day to say the least; the track was so next-level wet to state the obvious. I actually made a good start in the MX2 race and was running fourth or fifth after a couple of laps when I got completely and utterly bogged. I was stuck for almost a lap! Luckily another rider stopped to help me, otherwise I wouldn’t have gotten the bike out. That incident dropped me back to about 28th place, and from there I just clawed my way up to 15th by the finish of the race. It certainly wasn’t an ideal day, but I’m just super-lucky and thankfully I managed to keep going and it wasn’t a DNF result.”

Pirelli MX2 – Moto Result and Overall

1. Jy Roberts
2. Jay Wilson
3. Wilson Todd
4. Issac Ferguson
5. Riley Dukes
6. Nathan Crawford
7. Cooper Pozniak
8. Dylan Wills
9. Wyatt Chase
10. Aaron Tanti
11. Lyndon Snodgrass
12. Jai Constantinou
13. Morgan Fogarty
14. Chandler Burns
15. Kyle Webster
16. Jye Dickson
17. Ricky Latimer
18. Sam Pelz
19. Riley Stephens
20. Jesse Bishop

MXD Report

Leading riders Rhys Budd and Regan Duffy were back and forth for several laps before Budd looked to have the race in the bag but a small over on the last lap gave Kiwi flyer Max Purvis the win over Budd, Michael Murphy, Hugh Roach and Caleb Clifton.

Rhys Budd

“What a day! I got out in front in Qualifying and put down one heater lap to get the fastest time, which gave me first gate pick for the race, which just helped make things a little easier. I got a great start in the race and got the holeshot and pretty much tried my best to keep it up on two wheels. I had the lead with one lap to go and unfortunately, I put it down, but I managed to get up in second place and hold it to the end. It was a really challenging race and I have never raced in mud that bad before. But I just tried to make the most of it and tried to have fun, which is all you can really do in situations like that.”

Motul MXD – Moto Result and Overall

1. Maximus Purvis
2. Rhys Budd
3. Micheal Murphy
4. Hugh Roache
5. Caleb Clifton
6. Liam Walsh
7. Regan Duffy
8. Jayce Cosford
9. Dale Lyons
10. Liam Andrews
11. Jack Kukas
12. James Beston
13. Tye Jones
14. Lochie Smith
15. Mason Rowe
16. Noah Ferguson
17. Aaron Mason
18. Jake Barron
19. Mason Semmens
20. Denzel Woulfe

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Russell Fights back at Georgia GNCC

Washington, Georgia hosted the second round of the 2019 AMSOIL Grand National Cross Country (GNCC) Series with the 15th Annual Specialized General GNCC and it was defending champion Kailub Russell who bounced back from last weekend’s defeat to take the win and garner the championship lead.

XC1 Report

On his new Kawasaki KX450F Josh Strang grabbed the holeshot but it was Kailub Russell who pushed his way to the front of the pack as they came through timing on the opening lap. But it wasn’t a runaway victory for Russell who had Trevor Bollinger and Thad Duvall not only holding pace but also at times looking for a way around the defending champ.

Bollinger would in fact make the pass on Russell, holding the lead spot as they came through scoring on the second and fourth laps but when it mattered Russell crossed the finish line in the lead ahead of Bollinger, Duvall and last week’s winner Steward Baylor Jr.

Baylor Jr. found himself running in fourth overall for the majority of the race to now sit second, just seven points behind Russell in the National Championship points standings.

Strang would battle throughout the day to stay inside the top five ahead of Josh Toth, Jordan Ashburn, Andrew Delong, Cory Buttrick and Christopher Venditti.

XC1 Pro Event Results

1. Kailub Russell (KTM)
2. Trevor Bollinger (HQV)
3. Thad Duvall (HQV)
4. Steward Baylor Jr. (KTM)
5. Josh Strang (KAW)
6. Josh Toth (KTM)
7. Jordan Ashburn (KAW)
8. Andrew Delong (HON)
9. Cory Buttrick (YAM)
10. Christopher Venditti (KAW)

Overall National Championship Standings

1. Kailub Russell (55)
2. Steward Baylor Jr. (48)
3. Thad Duvall (42)
4. Trevor Bollinger (41)
5. Ben Kelley (32)
6. Josh Strang (30)
7. Josh Toth (30)
8. Andrew Delong (23)
9. Jonathan Girroir (23)
10. Jordan Ashburn (22)

XC2 Report

Beta’s Michael Witkowski grabbed the holeshot but it wouldn’t take long for Ben Kelley to take over the lead and proceed to gap the rest of the field by 2 minutes and 23 seconds at the chequered flag while Evan Smith, Jonathan Girroir, Witkowski and KTM’s Ryder Lafferty rounded out the top five.

XC2 250 Pro Event Results

1. Benjamin Kelley (KTM)
2. Evan Smith (HQV)
3. Jonathan Girroir (KTM)
4. Michael Witkowski (BET)
5. Ryder Lafferty (KTM)
6. Tegan Temple (KTM)
7. Liam Draper (KTM)
8. Austin Lee (HON)
9. Zack Hayes (KTM)
10. Jesse Groemm (KTM)

XC2 250 Pro Series Standings

1. Benjamin Kelley (60)
2. Jonathan Girroir (46)
3. Evan Smith (43)
4. Michael Witkowski (39)
5. Tegan Temple (31)

XC3 Report

In the FMF XC3 125 Pro-Am class, it was Jason Thomas who held the lead position throughout the first lap but Cody Barnes would make the move around Thomas for the lead on the second lap and the Beta rider would not look back after taking the lead. Barnes ultimately finished five minutes ahead of Thomas who was followed by Yamaha’s Jason Raines, while defending Champion Jesse Ansley would find himself only completing four of the six laps after spending a lot of time in his pit area trying to figure out what looks to be a carby issue.

WXC Report

Tayla Jones held the lead in the WXC class but as the women headed out on on lap three Becca Sheets would make her move to take over the lead, with Mackenzie Tricker following her as she moved into the second place. Sheets would hold onto the lead, taking the chequered flag ahead of Tricker, Jones, Rachel Gutish and New Zealand’s Rachael Archer rounding out the top five.

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Bauman Wins Daytona TT

The annual Daytona TT kicked off the 2019 American Flat Track season and it was Indian factory rider Briar Bauman who kicked off his championship campaign with a 5.149-second margin ahead of fellow Indian rider Henry Wiles and Yamaha’s Jake Johnson.

Briar Bauman

“To hop out there in the front — it’s all about trying to put in a gap in the beginning. I’ve been training hard this offseason. I tried to throw down as much as I could and get a little bit of a gap and maintain the rest of the race.”

Bauman’s triumph also brings defending champion Jared Mees’ Daytona TT win streak to a halt at two after Mees retired with a mechanical issue in the Main while running fifth.

AFT Twins – Main Event Daytona – 2019

1. Briar Bauman
2. Henry Wiles +5.149
3. Jake Johnson +16.037
4. Jarod Vanderkooi +19.248
5. Bronson Bauman +22.314
6. Kayl Kolkman +1 Lap
7. Robert Pearson +0.517
8. Brandon Robinson +2.161
9. Donald Mullen II +2.200
10. Jeffrey Carver Jr. +6.174

AFT Twins Standings

1. Briar Bauman 25 points
2. Henry Wiles 20
3. Jake Johnson 17
4. Jarod Vanderkooi 15
5. Bronson Bauman 14
6. Kayl Kolkman 13
7. Robert Pearson 12
8. Brandon Robinson 11
9. Donald Mullen II 10
10. Jeffrey Carver Jr. 9

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Janisch Wins Daytona TT AFT Singles – Max Whale fifth

At the Daytona TT Yamaha’s Jesse Janisch battled hard all day and in particular the AFT Singles main event to take the win ahead of Dalton Gauthier (KTM), Dan Bromley (KTM), Mikey Rush (Honda) and Max Whale (Kawasaki).

Jesse Janisch

“To start off Daytona with a victory… it’s amazing. Last year, we left here with a second, and that was a great way to start off the season. Just putting in all the work over the course of the winter and leaving here with a win is amazing. The Roof Systems team has really made a home for me. We’ve really built a great program.”

After earning last year’s crown on the strength of 13 podiums in 18 races, Bromley began his title defence with a solid third-place result while neither Shayna Texter (KTM) nor Jeff Ward (Honda) qualified for the night program. Former ISDE winner Ryan Sipes (KTM) made the program and rounded out the top 10 in the Singles final after competing in the Daytona Supercross and the GNCC during the previous weekend.

American Flat Track will be back in action for round two of the 2019 season in just over a week’s time as the series travels to Dixie Speedway in Woodstock, Ga., for the Atlanta Short Track presented by Cycle Gear on Saturday, March 23.

AFT Singles – Main Event Daytona – 2019

1. Jesse Janisch
2. Dalton Gauthier +2.577
3. Dan Bromley +4.665
4. Mikey Rush +5.179
5. Max Whale +6.320
6. Ferran Cardus +7.112
7. Jacob Lehmann +9.342
8. Jake Lewis +9.833
9. Oliver Brindley +10.526
10. Ryan Sipes +11.022

AFT Singles Standings

1. Jesse Janisch 25 points
2. Dalton Gauthier 20
3. Dan Bromley 17
4. Mikey Rush 15
5. Max Whale 14
6. Ferran Cardus 13
7. Jacob Lehmann 12
8. Jake Lewis 11
9. Oliver Brindley 10
10. Ryan Sipes 9

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Ferris Replaces Febvre in MXGP

Dean Ferris is arguably the fastest Aussie on the planet right now and on the back of a text to the team manager the multiple Australian champ will join Yamaha Motor Europe into the Monster Energy Yamaha Factory MXGP team as a temporary replacement for the injured Romain Febvre.

After a crash during the second moto at the opening round of the World MX Champs a few weeks ago in Argentina, Febvre underwent a successful operation on Wednesday March 13 at the University Antwerp Hospital (UZA) and it is expected to take six-weeks to heal. Therefore Monster Energy Yamaha Factory MXGP has called upon Ferris to fill the Frenchman’s seat for the next three rounds of the MXGP World Championship.

The next three World Motocross Championship rounds are back-to-back so Ferris will make his 2019 MXGP debut this weekend at Matterley Basin, England before heading to round three in Valkenswaard, The Netherlands, and round four in Pietramurata, Italy.

Dean Ferris

“I’m really grateful for the opportunity. I know the next GP is close but we still have a few days to get comfortable with the bike. I have ridden these three tracks before so I will be pulling on my experience a lot. It’s great that I can stay with Yamaha as I’ve had a great experience with them in the past few years. It’s a bummer that Romain got hurt, we never want to see that but it can happen. I will be trying my very best for these GP’s and I look forward to the experience and opportunity.”

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Ryan Brothers Shine at Canberra Long Track

Connor and Harrison Ryan have dominated the annual Stay Upright Kings and Queens of Canberra two-day long track meeting last weekend.

Since entering the senior ranks Connor Ryan has not had a problem qualifying for finals, but his victory in the Pro 450 final in Canberra ranks as his biggest success to date.

Connor took the lead early in the 6-lap final and the classy line-up could make no impact on his advantage, with David Smith, Thomas Herrick, Michael Vecchi, Jesse Davies and Kale Galeano chasing him home.

Earlier in the Pro Open final the same six riders finished in the top half of the field with Herrick an impressive winner ahead of Vecchi, Smith, Galeano, Davies and Ryan.

The Pro 250 class as usual produced a close tussle on points over the five rounds with Jake Farnsworth outpointing Victorian Bradley Burns and Kye Andrews.

Albury rider Jesse Davies scored a double with victory in the Slider class, after having won the exciting IDH Projects Senior Shoot-out on the Saturday afternoon.

The Canberra Motorcycle Centre Junior Shoot-out started the run of success for 15 year old Harrison Ryan who later went on to win the 2-stroke and Lites classes as well as the Feature Race. Harrison had to overcome some good starts by Victorian Max Berry with Callan Butcher always finishing in third place.

Brothers Kai and Lync Frame dominated the Dirt Track Sidecars while Lawrence Fairey was the stand-out in the racing from the old riders and old bikes.

Besides Harrison Ryan in the juniors there were good displays from Hayden Nelson from Taree, Hugh Hope-Hodgetts from Forbes, Kurtis Jackson and Alexander Codey from Sydney.

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Courtney Duncan joins Bike It DRT Kawasaki for WMX

New Zealander Courtney Duncan joins the Bike It DRT Kawasaki team to compete in the FIM Women’s World Motocross Championship which kicks off at Valkenswaard in The Netherlands later this month.

With two world titles and a further three medals in the Women’s World Championship, Kawasaki is proud to announce that talented New Zealander Courtney Duncan joins the Green family this season to compete in the high-profile five-round series.

The fast twenty-three-year-old young lady has been a major protagonist in the series since her debut three years ago, claiming an amazing seven GP victories and fourteen heat wins from just fifteen starts within that short space of time. Twice she was denied the world title through injury and lost the title by just two points on the other occasion.

More determined than ever to finally achieve her goal Courtney has made the conscious decision to join the highly-experienced British Kawasaki squad run by Steve Dixon to race a KX250 alongside male teammates Darian Sanayei from the USA and Brazilian Gustavo Pessoa in a truly international squad. Apart from the GPs Courtney, currently in Europe to prepare for the GP season, will also race in her native country with the support of Kawasaki New Zealand.

Courtney Duncan

“I’m stoked to announce my signing with the Bike It DRT Kawasaki race team. They’ve given me an awesome opportunity and I’m very motivated to put them on top in 2019. A fresh start is what I needed and I couldn’t be more excited than to do that with Kawasaki. Kawasaki New Zealand have also come on board to support me at home, for which I am also very thankful.”

Steve Dixon, DRT team owner

“It’s ten years since our team was involved in the Women’s World Championship with Tarah Gieger, when she even helped Puerto Rico to qualify for the Motocross of Nations, but we have always maintained a keen interest in the series. It was actually a friend who mentioned to me that Courtney was looking around for a competitive ride in this year’s GPs; it took some thinking about but Kawasaki were keen, especially since their previous champion Livia Lancelot retired. I confidently expect Courtney to bring Kawasaki the world title.”

Source: MCNews.com.au