TOP-5 STARTS FOR SHIFT MOTUL SUZUKI
Team Shift Motul Suzuki claimed fifth place in both the Pro
Open and Pro Lites classes at the weekend's opening round
of the 2007 Australian Supercross Masters Championship at
Wayville Showgrounds, Adelaide.
Fresh from his New Zealand Supercross Championship victory,
Luke Burkhart was on the pace from the outset of the evening
and kept his RM-Z450 among the front runners throughout his
two qualifying heats to progress smoothly into the Superpole
to determine the Pro Open Final starting positions.
The five-lap Superpole battle saw Burkhart caught up in other
riders' crashes which left the talented New Zealander in a
compromised position for the start of evening's main event.
Despite his poor starting gate position for the 20-lap Pro
Open Final, Burkhart managed to charge his way into fifth
place before the race was stopped on lap 13 due to a crashed
rider. Restarting the race to complete the remaining seven
laps, Burkhart's excellent endurance fitness came to the fore
and he again marched through the field to fifth place as other
riders fatigued.
Danny Ham was in strong form and looked set to sail easily
through the qualifying heats before an error on the final
lap saw him stall his race bike and drop back down through
field.
He had to contest the Last Chance Qualifier in order to secure
a berth in the Pro Open Final, but an incident trying to avoid
a collision with another rider saw Ham re-injure his knee
and forced the Suzuki racer to withdraw from the event.
Ham – who underwent a knee operation seven months ago
- will now seek medical attention to ascertain whether he
is able to race for the remainder of the Supercross season.
Debuting the all-new RM-Z250 in the Pro Lites class, Timmy
Weigand cruised easily into the 15-lap SX Lite Final.
Scoring the holeshot in the Lites Superpole, Weigand was
pushed wide by Ryan Marmont and slipped back to seventh place,
garnering a reasonable gate pick for the all-important Final.
Weigand was again in conflict with Marmont and dropped back
to third. Later in the race, a split-second error put Weigand
back to fifth place where he remained to the chequered flag.
Luke Burkhart:
"Fifth is not what I'd hoped for from round one but
it's a solid start to the season and I'm glad to have some
points on the board.
"It's really good to have the first round out of the
way and to see where we are in relation to the other teams.
I've had good season preparation and the new RM-Z450 is awesome
and with a better gate pick I would definitely have been further
up the field.
"That one incident in the Superpole hurt us badly, but
Suzuki has an incredible race package so we'll put this behind
us and move on to round two and aim for race wins."
Danny Ham:
"The RM-Z450 was running really well and I felt very
comfortable throughout the qualifying sessions.
"It's so disappointing to have the season start this
way but I'll get my knee checked out and hopefully I can come
back to race with Suzuki for the remaining three rounds."
Tim Weigand:
"The RM-Z250 is awesome - we made some changes throughout
the night and managed to find even more speed from it.
"I just need to keep building up the strength in my
hand after last year's injury so that we can get the results
that the bike deserves."
Jay Foreman - Team Shift Motul Suzuki Team Manager:
"Given Luke's terrible gate selection in the Final he
did a great job to come through for fifth place and salvage
a solid haul of points from the evening.
"On both starts of the Final Luke was ahead of other
leading riders who had good gates for the best run into the
first corner which was impressive given where he started from.
"Danny was riding really well - he was fast and aggressive
and it's a shame to see an injury end his night. Now we have
to wait to find out the extent of the damage to his knee and
see whether he is able to complete the rest of the Supercross
championship.
"The RM-Z250 is a totally new race machine and so early
in its development phase we already have a very strong race
package. We made more set up changes and improved the bike
throughout the night.
"Timmy was quick; he made great starts and rode really
well but began to struggle a bit with arm pump as the night
wore on because of his old hand injury from last year. More
miles on the bike before the next round should fix that problem
and have him back up the sharp-end of the field.
"The Supercross season is so short this year it will
be difficult to reel in the leaders in each class, but the
championship is a long way from decided - we will fight to
the end and push hard for both titles."
Preparing to build on the foundations laid in round one,
Team Shift Motul Suzuki will contest the second round of the
Australian Supercross Masters at Avalon, Victoria on Saturday
February 24th.
Pro Open Results: 1 Daniel Reardon, 2 Cheyne
Boyd, 3 Craig Anderson, 4 Cody Cooper, 5 Luke Burkhart (Suzuki).
Pro Lites Results: 1 Ryan Marmont, 2 Cameron
Taylor, 3 Robbie Marshall, 4 Daniel McCoy, 5 Tommy Weigand
(Suzuki).
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