March 29th, 2007
TEAM NORTHSTAR YAMAHA HOG THE LIMELIGHT
Northstar Yamaha’s Robbie Marshall and Matt McKenna attracted plenty of attention at round four of the Sunshine State Series held at the Tivoli Raceway just west of Brisbane over the weekend. Both riders were at the front of the pack all day claiming two of the top four positions in the Pro Open class and a podium in the Pro Lites class.
Robbie Marshall has talent. No other rider in the world can go out and do a backflip in the freestyle show during interval at a supercross, then go out and win a Pro Lites final at a national supercross and back that up a week later with a race victory at a motocross event. No other rider has also beaten Daniel Reardon straight up in 2007, except Robbie Marshall, and he did it again on the weekend.
In the opening Pro Lites moto, Robbie launched his almost standard YZ250F from the gate and rounded the first turn in the lead. He built that lead to over 10 seconds as rival Reardon battled through the pack and then just as Reardon was clear of the traffic and in pursuit of Marshall, the red flag came out as a rider was injured in a nasty fall. So officials racked ‘em back up and let ‘em go again, and Marshall ripped off a carbon copy race to clear out and a take the victory five seconds in advance of Reardon.
Moto two saw the two at the front from the drop of the gate and they went bar to bar for the first 15 minutes. It wasn’t until Marshall made a small mistake in one of the slippery turns that allowed Reardon to sneak by. Marshall stuck with the Kawasaki gun until the final moments when Reardon got a gap over the Yamaha rider and the boys tied on points for the day, splitting a 1-2 each, with Reardon getting the nod on a count-back.
Robbie also kept Reardon honest in the Pro Open class as well. Robbie admits he isn’t an open class rider, although watching him on the weekend you would have to argue with him. He pestered Reardon in the early laps and drew alongside on occasion. He finished the day with a 2-2 result and second overall.
"I am still trying to get back into the swing of things in motocross and my fitness still isn’t quite there for 25 minutes at race pace in this heat. But I enjoyed today and racing with Reardon was good fun. It would have been nice to get the overall but I gave it everything I had and I’m happy with that. I even ride my 450 well today and that excites me the most," said a happy Marshall.
Marshall was well backed up in the Open class with Matt McKenna posting a 4- 6 finish to take 4th overall on the day and bag a heap of points in his pursuit of the series overall. Matt might not have the raw speed of some of his younger opponents but he is plenty fit and can draw on years of racing experience.
A damaged front disc while battling for a top 5 position in the opening Pro Lites moto kept him out of overall contention.
"It was another solid day for me. I just keep trying to accumulate points and to the best I can do each round. Some of these young guys are quick and the speed of the front two today was awesome, but I was able to get near the front and do the job on my Northstar Yamaha," Mckenna said.
ROUND 4 RESULTS
Pro Lites
1st Daniel Reardon
2nd Robbie Marshall
3rd Simon Thompson
Pro Open
1st Daniel Reardon
2nd Robbie Marshall
3rd Joe Hobson
4th Matt McKenna
TEAM SPONSORS
Yamaha Queensland, Northstar Yamaha, MX World, Vortex Ignitions, Answer Racing, Pro Taper, Utopia, Dr. D, Supersprox, Torco, Dunlop, D.I.D, Unit, Alpinestars, Unifilter, Race Elements, Etnies, GYTR, Cti2.
Pic sipplied by Greg Smith @Ikature Images |
