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KAWASAKI MEN ON THE MOVE IN AUSTRALIA
JUNE 19, 2006: Rotorua’s Michael Phillips is on the move across the Tasman.
The 19-year-old, a key member of the Australian Teknik Racing Kawasaki outfit, raced with the leaders at the seventh of 10 rounds in this year’s Australian Motocross Championships, at Toowoomba, Queensland, on Sunday.
It was only a dose of bad luck that saw him slip to seventh overall on the day, although it was still good enough to move him up to eighth overall in the Pro Lites class standings with three rounds remaining.
His Teknik Kawasaki team-mate, fellow Kiwi Nick Saunders, from Taupo, managed 14th overall at Toowoomba and is now 13th in the series standings.
Phillips suffered an “average” start in the day’s first Pro Lites race but pushed hard early on to quickly move up to third position. He held on to that spot, despite intense pressure from his rivals in a class where the leading riders were all lapping tithing three seconds of one another, and finished third, the first Kawasaki rider home.
Unfortunately for Saunders, he struck neutral as the bikes launched out of the start gate but fought back to 12th spot by the finish.
Phillips was again looking strong in the second outing, in third position on lap three, but then disaster struck. He crashed heavily but quickly remounted his Kawasaki KX250F and recovered his wits to engage in a thrilling charge back. He eventually battled his way up to 12th place by race end.
“I felt nice and strong on the bike. It was going great. But I came out of a rut sideways as I went off a jump and it just flicked me over the bars. I got going again quickly and caught up a few places again but the main bunch had long gone. I was quick annoyed with myself actually,” said Phillips.
Meanwhile, Saunders struggled in race two and managed just 15th place.
The weekend’s result perhaps signals a breakthrough for Phillips, with him able to prove he has the pace of the series frontrunners and, despite his misfortune at Toowoomba, he improved his series ranking by two positions, from 10th to 8th.
“I’m just eight points behind seventh place in the standings, so anything’s possible now. It’s very tight in the points calculations but, if I can repeat this performance, or even go better, I can definitely move up,” Phillips said.
