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Edited Date/Time
5/13/2014 6:39am
Tell us about Kirk Gibbs and Adam Monea?
Anyone ahead of Billy Mackenzie in points must be pretty fast as far as Im concerned, what are their backgrounds?
(currently 2nd and 3rd in the Australian Nationals for anyone else not familiar with them)
Anyone ahead of Billy Mackenzie in points must be pretty fast as far as Im concerned, what are their backgrounds?
(currently 2nd and 3rd in the Australian Nationals for anyone else not familiar with them)
Started posting a reply last night but got side-tracked.
Both exceptionally talented riders. Gibbs is A South Aussie like myself, remember the first time I seen him, well really noticed him was back in 2006, his first year as a senior and he came out at a local round of our state championship and was hanging up the front with some very talented riders, had the biggest crash I had seen at that point in time, but got back up and kept racing. I was an instant fan.
He finished as runner up in our Nationals Lites championship in 2010 (Just need to check) 2011 to Matt Moss by 10 points, then had a rougher year in lites in 2012 which finished with a big crash at the final round at Coolum, a crash that he was very very very very very lucky to come out the other side from. Scary moments.
Before his crash he had signed with KTM to race the MX1/450 class in 2013, amazingly he not only came back to rider he won a moto last year and finished 5th in the championship.
Again I will have to double check but has qualified fastest at 2 of 3 or all three rounds so far in 2014, but not claimed a Superpole win yet (our top five via for championship points and gate pick with a one lap timed shootout after qualifying, last round all 5 riders were finished their lap on the same 1/10th of a second!) has always been one of the fastest qualifiers when he was in Lites, with pretty much Moss and Ford Dale having his outright pace in qualifying (Ford Dale is his team mate in 2014, he will be running up front when he returns in the second half of the season)
The last round of the Nats Gibbs came from 4-5th to win the opening moto, then in the second moto was struggling for the first half of the race back in 6th then found his groove with about 10 to go, nearly passed both Cody Cooper and Matt Moss in the last lap, did not quite get there so finished on equal 60 points for the round with Monea and Moss.
Yep after 5 riders were nearly tie in time in qualifying three riders finished the day equal first. Aussie racing has been awesome to watch so far this year, really 5 consistent guys who can win at any given moment and probably 8 in total that can win on their day.
Going to take some photos and Watch Gibbsy ride this arvo.
Monea a Victorian rider who looked like he was going to massive things early, he was in line to win one of the Lites SuperX championships, I think the first year Reed was involved with the series, maybe the second year (My memory is crap and it will take to long to get all the facts
He sort of disappeared in and out of the sport over the past few years due to both injuries and being over the sport early in his senior career, just trying to figure out what he wanted to do in life I guess.
Always has been blindingly fast and has really committed himself to racing the past few years. He won moto's in the 450 class last year, but then had a lot of mechanical bad luck in the second half of the year.
I conducted a few interview with Monea over the years, great guy, straight up and says what he is feeling, not afraid to say he is going after the title. Awesome speed, fitter than probably a lot of people give him credit for and another great rider to watch.
Still going to be a hard task for anyone to beat Matt Moss over here this year for the title, but both these boys are in line along with Mackenzie.
Mackenzie has had the speed this year, just a little bad luck and a couple of crashes, he had a big one in practice at the last round of the nationals, could have one the opening race but went in deep on Matt Moss and went down, then cleared out to win the final moto!
Out nationals will be a fight this year between the Moss boys, Monea, Gibbs and Mackenzie. Cooper and Dale when he returns will also fight for round and moto wins and then guys like Mosig and a handful of others might just push for wins and certainly for podium moto results.
Hope that covers it Jamma10
Billy Mac has got 2nd in the MX1 Class here for the last 2 years behind Cody, riding for the Josh Coppins Racing Yamaha team,
KTM Australia has brought their 450 team over for the last 2 years for our 4 round national series as well,
Mackenzie on his way to winning round 3 moto 2
Gibbs on his way to winning at round 3 moto 1
Monea on his way to winning round 1 moto 1
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Next two round should be good, Murray Bridge this weekend then the long trek West next weekend for the toughest round of the year
It will be interesting to see how the Kiwi boys do at Wanaroo, and how Townley does at Manjiump, Carter looked good at Coolum last year in the sand,
Yeah I am expecting the Kiwi boys to be strong at the next two rounds again both Lamont and Hamish looking good this year and ill admit I have been surprised by Carter, doing better than I thought he would. Great to see.
I can see Carter, Mellross, Wright and Martin all having a shot at a top three moto result at some point this year.
That crash shot is brutal.
Rhys rode really good on the 450 last year at the des nations, and seems to be picking it up well in aussie, I would hate to have to make the decision to who to send to the MXdN as the second 450 rider between him and Groombridge,
Who do you guys send for MX2? Do you send your top performing 250F rider or send Lamont or Hamish over on a 250F, or do Cooper and Groombridge go over as MX1 / MX3 and Carter as MX2?
Good position to be in.
LOL though with BT racing Manjiump in a few weeks time maybe there is another rider that could go
It was a big high-side have caught some epic crashed at that track the past few years! Josh Cachia and Ryan Marmont both had big ones in the same place that day, only caught the end of Marmont's and out of focus then missed Cachia clip his bike a few moments later and go down hard.
Surprising that riders always ask to see the shots of their crashes!
Will have to keep a tab on both of them and hopefully we'll see them at the MXdN sometime soon. Sounds like Gibbs is a bit of a Tortelli/Beirer type of racer, fast as shit but prone to some spectacular crashes.
Whats the deal with Townley racing Manjimup, just a one off race I presume? He's obviously still got the itch!
Pit Row
MX1 the pace up front is very close between the Matt Moss #1, Jake Moss #6, Adam Monea #3, Kirk Gibbs#5 and Billy Mackenzie #211 really nothing between them. Add Cody Cooper #10 to that mix not he is healthy after his round one practice crash.
Then Mosig #48 is on the top riders pace some good top 4-5 moto results and should be good in the sand at Wanneroo and don't count out Jay Marmont #2
Mellross, Wright, Martin, Booth-Elliot, Woods, Winston, Carter all capable to run just on the pace of the front guys at any time, the racing inside the top 10-12 has been great so far. (sorry if I forgot anyone)
MX2 is even more wide open, check out he www.mxnationals.com.au web site to see how mixed up the lites results have been, good mix of 250F and 250 Two Strokes. Anyone of 10-15 riders can not only podium but win races, including those darn Kiwis
Looking forward to getting over to Wanneroo, easily the toughest track on the circuit, that place get gnarly, I have never personally seen Lommel, but I would say Wanneroo would rival it, it is a full sand track, photos just don't do it justice. But you would probably already know that Subbsy
Line up is going to be amazing, with BT coming back and most of the national guys hanging around for it, AJ Catzanaro (Sorry if I spelt that wrong) Is heading over from the U.S to race.
W.A has a few one off big events with big prize money.
I was gutted for Waters, he was really starting to settle into the series. That crash was such bad timing.
Also moving to another country full time is not easy. Hopefully they lift the U23 rule and he gets a second year. Waters has been awesome.
Manjimup is just as tough but a lot higher speed and the sand there is deep also.
The old Harley Davidson club was deeper and rougher than the both of them put together.
I haven't been to Lommel but have been to Vaalkensward and that would be as rough as the Harley Davidson track.
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