RM-Z250 PODIUMS IN AUSTRALIA
 Team
Shift Motul Suzuki racer Tim Weigand trudged through torrential
rain and mud to score a well-earned podium finish in the 2007
Australian Supercross Pro Lites Championship final round at
Dapto Showground, New South Wales at the weekend.
American Weigand had never ridden in such treacherous conditions,
but was quick to find his feet in the first five-lap qualifying
heat where he raced to second place behind Suzuki's star-of-the-future
Lawson Bopping.
Weigand found the limit in the second qualifying session,
crashing and finishing 12th ahead of the important point-scoring
15-lap Final. He headed into the Final in strong form and
held second place for most of the distance before slipping
back into third spot where he greeted the chequered flag.
Weigand's third place in the final round secured him fourth
place overall in the series followed by Bopping. The result
sees two Suzukis in the top five for the championship; a strong
result on debut for the all-Suzuki RM-Z250.
In contrast, the Suzuki Pro Open squad suffered through a
difficult event with both Luke Burkhart and Danny Ham struggling
through their qualifying heats to the Pro Open Final.
In the Final, Burkhart was running competitively in fifth
spot aboard the RM-Z450 before a crash dropped him down the
order, with damage sustained to his bike ultimately ending
his night on lap 18 of 20.
Ham, who was riding with a damaged AC ligament in his knee,
battled bravely through the difficult slippery conditions
to cross the finish line in 12th place.
Tim Weigand:
"The RM-Z250 coped really well in difficult conditions
tonight. It was so muddy tonight, I've never raced in anything
like it - I'm really glad to come out with a good result.
Congrats to Ryan Marmont for the series win - such a short
championship doesn't allow any room for error because there's
no time to fight back and he's been up there each round.
"The team has some good momentum going and I'm really
looking forward to starting the motocross series; we've been
working really hard on our motocross set up and we'll be going
full tilt at Broadford."
Jay Foreman - Team Manager:
"Congratulations to Daniel Reardon for his second consecutive
Australian Supercross title and Ryan Marmont in the Pro Lites
class.
"Timmy hasn't raced in such extreme muddy conditions
like this before so he did a really good job to get on top
of it as quickly as he did; it was a strong result for the
night. We've been working really hard with Timmy out testing
the new RM-Z250 to develop our motocross settings; it's been
very positive so far and we're looking forward to the start
of the Australian Motocross Championship next month.
"The team is also looking forward to having Daryl Hurley
back out in the Pro Open class with Luke on the RM-Z450's
for the motocross season."
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