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1 • Event: 2005 Maxxis Australian Motocross Championship – Round Three • Event Location: Echo Valley, Toowoomba, Queensland • Event Date: April 24, 2005 Marmont continues winning ways at Toowoomba
The biggest crowd of the series thus far turned up to witness thrills
and spills aplenty at Toowoomba’s Echo Valley circuit over the Anzac Day long weekend for
the third round of the 2005 Australian Motocross Championships. The hard packed and hilly Queensland circuit proved a happy hunting
ground for Motorex KTM teamster Ryan Marmont who took his first ever outdoor motocross round
win at the controls of KTM’s new 250 SXF Pro Lite weapon. Daniel McCoy got the holeshot in the opening Pro Lite moto and had
built up a solid lead over the first five laps before being caught out on a large uphill triple
jump. McCoy hit the ground very hard and was wearing some marks across his face from an impact
with his bars. It took a little while for McCoy to compose himself and lost a lap but did
manage to finish the race, albeit out of the points. That was quite a blow for the Camden youngster after holding down such
a dominant position in the race but he bounced back in the second moto for a podium finish
to take some reasonable points for the round that sees him only a handful of points
away from the top five in the championship. Marmont also had not had a fruitful start to the day with a fall in
the first moto leaving him to battle his way back through the pack for 5th.
He made amends for that in the final bout by dominating proceedings and led every lap on his way to a clear victory
over Queensland local Daniel Reardon. The combination of those two results was enough to give Marmont the
overall Pro Lite round win from Troy Carroll and he will try to back that up at Coolum this
weekend in an effort to overcome Cameron Taylor for the outright championship lead. Such was Marmont’s pace in the second Pro Lite moto that his laptimes
were quicker than all but three of the bigger engined Pro Open competitors around the long
Toowoomba track. Lee Ellis was scintillatingly quick in practice and also nailed the
starts in the Pro Open category. Ellis ran with new championship leader Daryl Hurley for some
time in the opening bout before getting cross-rutted on a very fast downhill section. A
sickening impact with the ground left the Victorian winded and nursing the wrist he damaged
earlier in the season. Ellis bounced back in the second moto with another great start and was
running in 3rd place before the pain from his wrist slowed his pace. His suffering allowed
Hurley, Carmichael and Ham to push him back to 6th place as the race wound down to add
insult to the injury. Motorex KTM Team Manager Rob Twyerould was impressed with the pace
shown by Ellis before that race one incident and is confident that it is only a
matter of time before the results start coming for Ellis. “Lee’s pace was great and he nailed both
starts today but that impact at the fastest part of the track in the opening moto really made him
suffer. He battled on to take some reasonable points in the second moto but if not for that race
one impact I am sure we would have seen some great results from Lee today. “The boys will test this week before we head to Coolum where hopefully
all of our riders can keep their machines upright so we can take away some top results in
both classes.” Rider Quotes Ryan Marmont – “The track was
really muddy in practice and I couldn’t really get a clear lap and thus got a poor pick of the grid. That cost me in the opening moto
as I was running around 9th early on in the race before I went down after coming together with
another rider. Thankfully the bike remained running and I managed to rejoin the race
in 14th. From thereon I concentrated on trying to just put together some clean laps to work my
way forward and managed to salvage 5th for that race. I knew my pace was good
and I just had to get a decent start in the final moto for me to able to put that pace to best use. “I did manage to get that good start in the second moto and pretty
much rode the whole race by myself. I got a little bit of pressure in the closing stages from
Daniel Reardon but it was nothing major and I went on to take the win reasonably easy.” “Next up we go to Coolum which is a track I quite like and we know
what to expect there. I head there with plenty of confidence and am determined to try and put
together some back to back victories so I can start narrowing the gap to Cam Taylor.” Daniel McCoy – “I had to lift
really hard to try and make the biggest triple on the track but came up a little short and got hammered. My head impacted with the
bars pretty hard which left me a little dizzy. I did manage to finish but didn’t score any
points unfortunately. “I got squeezed out a little in the start of the second moto but
quickly made my way up to 3rd. I did then take a little tumble which lost me a couple of positions
but I got straight back on and managed to get back up to 3rd before
the race wrapped up. “We are going to stay up here this week and continue with some testing
on the new bike and hopefully I can keep it on two wheels at Coolum this weekend so we can
have both Motorex KTM Pro Lite riders on the podium come this time next Sunday.” Lee Ellis – “I went really well in qualifying and set the 2nd quickest
time and capitalised on a good gate pick by actually managing to nail the starts but
unfortunately then everything else went wrong. “I got a great start in the opening moto and was running with the race
leader over the opening laps before going down real hard. The impact was pretty severe and
along with winding myself I managed to give my already injured wrist a good whack which put me
out of that race. “Again got a good run off the line in the second moto to be running a
strong 3rd but as the race wore on my wrist really started giving me hell and thus I drifted back
a little as the race went on and ended up taking 6th. I also split the webbing in my hand
and had to go to hospital to get that stitched up. “We did manage to take some points but it is a little disappointing
that we had such great pace only to be brought undone by that really fast section in the
opening moto. Our speed is really encouraging though and now it is just the matter of keeping it
altogether in order to score some consistent top results.” 2005 Australian Motocross Championship – Round Three –
Toowoomba
Round Points
Pro Lite Round Points
1. Ryan Marmont 41 2. Troy Carroll 41 3. Cameron Taylor 40 4. Daniel Reardon 37 5. Robbie Marshall 35 6. Troy Dorron 31 7. Warren Smart 27 8. Luke Burkhart 24 9. Mitch Hoad 23 10. Cody Cooper 21 Pro Open Round Points 1. Darryll King 47 2. Daryl Hurley 45 3. Shayne King 42 4. Craig Carmichael 31 5. Nick Saunders 27 6. Adam Cini 27 7. Nathan Brochtrup 26 8. Mick Cook 24 9. Dean Porter 20 10. Barry Surawski 18 Championship Standings Pro Lite Season Standings 1. Cameron Taylor 118 2. Ryan Marmont 99 3. Robbie Marshall 97 4. Troy Carroll 93 5. Luke Burkhart 83 6. Daniel Reardon 81 7. Troy Dorron 81 8. Daniel McCoy 78 9. Warren Smart 77 10. Danny Anderson 73 Pro Open Season Standings1. Daryl Hurley 136 2. Darryll King 129 3. Shayne King 116 4. Craig Anderson 93 5. Danny Ham 71 6. Lee Ellis 69 7. Adam Cini 68 8. Nathan Brochtrup 61 9. Peter Broxholme 59 10. Thomas Jones 58 |
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