In the states right before the first AMA Motocross National there is a race at Glen Helen that they call the Prequel. This is a race that a lot of the top pro’s use as their final tune up going into the Outdoor season. While there is nothing really on the line, it is your one an only opportunity to see where you’re at before the gate drops on the first round.
Since about 2007, the Shell Advanced Sunshine State Series has been the place where an impressive list of MX Nationals front runners come to gauge where they are at in their pre-season. While they are all at the same race you could guarantee that they are all there for their own unique reasons and this year is no different.
In 2010 Craig Anderson headed to Coolum on a new bike with a new team (yes and a new mechanic) and a point to prove. It is by now it is no secret that Ando is racing a Husky but what remained to be unseen was how the veteran would do and more importantly how his “yet to be proven” Husky would stack compare against some high quality competition.
Yarrive Konsky dropped Dean Ferris after an injury riddled 2009 and was out to prove a point in the Open class. He is a rider that has been written off by many and overlooked when it came to team selection for the 2010 season.
Billy MacKenzie used Coolum as his debut ride on Australian soil as the rest of the Open class field look on to see if his time on the GP scene will make him an automatic favorite or if his reputation as a crasher would follow him half way across the globe.
Lewis Stewart was out to prove that he would be a contender while the new breed of Lites riders on the massively successful Yamaha program (Stykes, Beaton and Quinlann) also had to prove that they would be a legitimate threat at Horsham.
These are just some of the names that were on the start-line and some of the personal stories that the Coolum Sunshine States race creates each and every year…
It is also in some ways the official start to the bench racing National Championship as it is the first time we are able to see the riders in action in the new year in a stacked field on a national track.
Coolum also plays host to some awesome Junior talent and each year we see the years previous hottest riders step up into the intermediate Lites class (my opinion of this to come later). This year Yamaha’s Sean Redhead is making the jump into seniors and used Coolum as a warm-up for the Under 19’s championship.
When it all came down to it some questions were answered but only in part. If your wondering why I said in part I think Lewis Stewart summed it up perfectly post race.
“At the end of the day the only guy who this race actually means anything too is the guy that wins. He will take confidence out of beating everyone obviously but to everyone else it doesn’t count because nothing really counts until Horsham. To win here is great but it’s not round one of the nationals.”
This is a pretty fair call one would this and it does make sense. The guy who wins has beat some great competition but everyone else can quiet easily shrug off the defeat.
I was going to do a full race report but the day was cut short due to a torrential downpour just before the start of the second Lites moto (You will see this in the coming video). So instead I will do a bit of a photo report card from the weekend…
LITES START: The riders list in the Lites class looked more like a national with names like Arbon, Marmont, Stykes, Peterson, Beaton, Quinlann, Stewart, Ryan, Gibbs, Harrison, Marshall and more. Here Luke Arbon gets off to a flier while Matt Ryan hushes up the Husky haters by muscling his way to the front! Brock Winston rode well in the opening parts of the moto on his home track but had to deal with a charging Stewart and Peterson as the moto went on.
HARLEY QUNLAN: Harley Quinlann was the fastest guy in the first moto which was pretty in line with what the new look Yamaha team manager Scott Bishop told me on the Saturday.HQ did however have to come through the pack a little to try and track down his team mate Luke Stykes who basically lead the moto from post to post. If there was anyone doubting Stykes speed coming into this then that should be settled now, he is fast as heck. Will he make rookie mistakes stepping into the Lites class and how will he go racing in such a stacked class? Either way he owned the first moto at Coolum and that whole confidence thing I was talking about earlier; Stykes didn't need to win today to have confidence going into Horsham.
LEWIS STEWART: This was everyone's first chance to see Lewis ride his new Top Gear KTM and he looked good until his spark plug cap came off midway through the first moto. Stewart got a terrible start from a terrible gate and sliced his way through the pack moving into 4th at one point. It was a slight case of dejavu for Lewis as he started from gate 13 in the MX Nationals and suffered a mechanical and then had a mechanical again from gate 13. Mechanical or not Stewart showed that he is going to be fit and fast come round one and hunting for a podium spot and it was cool to think that this is the last time Stewart will race out of a van at Coolum in 2010 after finally getting a ride.
RAIN RAIN RAIN: How hard did it rain before the start of the 2nd Lites race? Ask Brenden Harrison, this was the track after 3 minutes of rain and this was Harry after he came down in the first turn. 1 Lap of the race was run before it was called of and everyone was sent home. Harrison has been on fire in other pre-season races while his house-mate, and SERCO rider, Kirk Gibbs has been out with an injured collar bone. Harry ignited in the Super X in 2009 and is looking to start the Outdoor season where he left off indoors.
DEAN FERRIS: Make no mistake about it Dean Ferris in riding unreal right now. In the only Open Moto for the day Dean rocketed out of the gate, hucked the 110 foot extension and said good bye to the rest of the Open field.
It is crazy to think that Dean can't get a ride for 2010 but times are tough. The best thing about going from a factory rider to a privateer is that the victory is sweeter when it happens.
While I won't speculate on whether there are any hard feelings between Dean and the Honda team it will feel good every time he crosses the line in front of his old team and sometimes that motivation can go a long way in the dieing stages of a national.
The other thing that really stood out about Dean's ride was not that he won, but the way he won. He was always on the pegs and I don't think I saw him make a mistake. Dean has obviously done his homework and has gelled nicely with his Honda 450.
CRAIG ANDERSON: Ando has been the talk of the industry in the past week with his open and honest interview on Fullnoise. This generated a bunch of hype and a bunch of trash talk by Alia's on the forum. This weekend was Ando's chance to hit the track on the new Husky and he at least showed us that the Husky was not slow off the mark with his 2nd place start. Ando ran a strong send for 3/4 of a lap until he tipped over in a rut and slid back a number of spots.
And would Charge hard back to 4th by moto's end however but it was not the result he was hoping for. While snooping around the pits I saw that his Husky was running KYB forks which made me wonder what else those guys are running. I am going to investigate further this week.
BILLY MACKENZIE: Billy Mac is the newest edition to the new Factory Kawasaki/Cool Air Racing Team and the Pro Open class here in Australia.
BMac looked fast in practice but made it 100m into turn one of the first moto until a crash smashed his engine case right near the oil filter and his day was done.
Billy is one of the big unknowns in the Open class this year and from the 3 laps I saw him ride he is going to be fast. The talk between the riders though is that he is a crasher and will be fast at every race but finishing will be his challenge, not speed.
The real question is this what the guys are using to make themselves feel comfortable about the British Speedster or a fact that will hold true throughout the season?
We will find out at round one...
TODD WATERS: T_Dubb was fast, simple. He didn't get the best start but made his way into 2nd as Ando fell and then rode around alone. By the time he had moved into 2nd Ferris was gone and Todd really had nothing to drag him forward. While it is clear that Ferris was the fastest rider on the day Todd didn't have anything to race for and we didn't see everything the Factory Honda rider had to offer.
It would have been interesting to see what would have happened if there was a 2nd moto but it wasn't to be and we will never know what would have been. What we do know is that Todd didn't fluke his results last year and if it wasn't for an injury I know he would have challenged for more wins and I think that 2010 will be no different for the likable rider from NQ.
And that is about all I have to write about that. Look out for a video later on in the week to see some crazy footage of the deluge!
Before I finish writing though I need to mention a few things that I think the event organizers can make better for the pro's that use this series as solid testing/preparation for the nationals.
POINT ONE: Gate picks- At every sunnie state there are transponders. These should be used in practice to determine gate pick for the Pro/Expert classes at least. It would not take too much more time but it would make a huge difference to the guys racing and would better replicate proper race situations. Too many guys travel too far to get gate 2 on the very outside when they are easily inside the top ten.
POINT TWO: Gradings- Why is Sean Redhead racing Intermediate Lites? If I am the only one that thinks this is quiet stupid then I will eat my Tech 10's, inner boats and all. If I guy comes out of juniors winning everything and is running times as fast as Pro Lites than that is where he should be. Redhead is not the only one either.
While I know that it is hard to track there should also be a better grading system that would see guys skip Clubman and sometimes Intermediate all together. There is no way a guy who is 16 seconds a lap faster that the guy in 10th and jumping the 110 foot triple should be in Clubman.
