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Ando flexes his muscles again, but Hurley still leads
On the back of another exquisite performance from Craig Anderson (CRF450R), the Melbourne-based No Fear Honda team has dominated round five of the 2006 Nokia MX Nationals at Barrabool (Vic) on May 21.
Anderson’s second successive clean sweep in the Pro Open class was complemented by an overall win for Troy Dorron (CRF250R) in Pro Lites, as the national championship reached the halfway mark in frightfully cold conditions.
The free-wheeling Anderson, 28, was in swashbuckling form, as he led home Daryl Hurley (Shift Motul Suzuki RM-Z450) and Team Kawasaki’s Daniel Reardon (KX450F) in both 16-lap motos, with Darryll King (CDR Nokia Yamaha YZ450F) and polesitter Cody Cooper (No Fear Honda CRF450R) sharing the fourth places.
With his third and fourth wins in a row, Anderson further whittled Hurley’s Pro Open lead back to 10pts (221 to 211), with the championship set to continue at Newcastle (NSW) next Sunday.
“I had a fantastic round today, and I am really happy to finish the midway point of the season with another two wins,” said Anderson. “I had to work pretty hard in the first race to get past the lead guys, but moto two went all to plan – I got away cleanly and was able to get a decent gap.”
After five of 10 rounds, the catalogues of Anderson and Hurley nearly make for identical reading – four wins and eight podiums apiece. The only major difference – and hence the bulk of the 10pt deficit – is that Anderson’s worst result has been a distant 12th place finish, while the unerringly consistent Hurley has finished no lower than fifth.
Hurley, who scored the fastest laps in both motos at Barrabool, was quite happy with his day’s work, although he is now ready to usurp Anderson and reinvigorate his championship defence.
“I didn’t get a good start in the first race, and Ando was really on his game today; I just couldn’t peg him back,” said Hurley, who has led the title since round one. “I would have liked it to rain more in race two; it was starting to remind me of racing at home in Zealand.
“I won both races at Newcastle last year – it’s my adopted home track in Australia and I really like racing there, so bring on next weekend.”
Elsewhere, it was a bittersweet day for CDR Nokia Yamaha at Barrabool, with Darryll King’s confidence-building fourth overall the high point, and Matt Moss’ broken collarbone the nadir. The teenager will now miss the final balance of the Nokia MX Nationals, while DK continues to build momentum in what may be his farewell tour to Australian fans.
“While I did not have the ideal start to the season, we are now chipping away and being as consistent as possible – and it seems to be working,” said Darryll. “… I want to keep the momentum going, and wait for one of the guys in front to slip-up.”
DK remains in fifth place on 158pts, behind Reardon (172) and Cooper (160). Unless something goes seriously amiss with Anderson and Hurley, that troika and Shayne King (Team Kawasaki KX450F, 152pts) will probably spend the rest of the championship in a joust for third.
Cheyne Boyd (CDR Nokia Yamaha YZ450F, 130pts) and American Timmy Weigand (Motorex KTM 450SX, 104) complete the top eight.
In Pro Lite, 34-year-old Dorron puffed his chest in front of a home crowd, scoring his first chequered flag since round two of 2005 – 22 races ago. Dorron, who lives just up the road from Barrabool in Geelong, also finished second behind Mitch Hoad (Team Kawasaki KX250F) in the opening moto to complete the day on 47pts, ahead of Hoad (43), Cameron Taylor (Serco Yamaha YZ250F, 42), title leader Ryan Marmont (Motorex KTM 250SX-F, 38) and a resurgent Robbie Marshall (Serco Yamaha YZ250F, 31).
“It’s always good to win at your home track, so I’m rapt,” said Dorron, who led from wire to wire in moto two. “I was annoyed that I couldn’t quite catch Hoad in moto one, but I think that even pumped me up more to win the second race.”
The Pro Lite brigade set a cracking pace at Barrabool, with Head’s elapsed time in race one 0.363sec slicker than Anderson’s corresponding success in Pro Open.
That helped the 21-year-old New South Welshman to his fourth win of the year – out of the same number of podium appearance. However, Hoad has also taken unpredictability to new heights in this campaign, with his 100pts from four wins balanced out by another 47pts eked out over six races.
Still, Hoad made up two spots yesterday to move into fourth on 147pts, behind Marmont (204), Dorron (195) and Taylor (178), and in front of young turk Kade Mosig (Fox Full Throttle Sports CRF250R, 135).
On the strength of some recent changes to the Barrabool circuit, both Pro Lite races were extremely close affairs, with just 3.573sec separating the top four in moto one, and 6.696sec in the second.
Taylor and Marmont were third and fourth in moto one – the latter led until half way - before both jumping a spot in the finale as Hoad moved back to fourth. Marshall and Mosig shared fifth places.
In the Motul-backed National Cup support, Victorian Mark Grove (Honda CRF250R) claimed a hard-fought double, winning easily from Matthew Arnautovic (CRF250R) and Kym Wright (YZ250F) in moto one, before Tom Ovens (CRF250R) made him work a bit harder in moto two. Kyle Di-Cecco (CRF250) was third in that one.
Ovens is now on 116pts, from Grove (115) and Jarrod Long (YZ250F, 93).
Barrabool results
