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A coolish cloudy night was the setting for Round 8 of the SEL Supercross
series held in Newcastle on Saturday. With only a touch of rain gracing the
field just prior to the main events, and respectable finishes in their heats and
semis, it looked as though it would be a promising night of racing for the No
Fear Honda Team.
With a slick and highly technical track featuring a 180 degree first corner
and two sets of complex whoops, there were more spills than usual in this highly
competitive series. Having the ability to avoid the frequent pile ups in the
first couple of tricky corners became all important as a number of high profile
riders continued to vie for the holeshot, often resulting in the front runners
coming to grief.
Though Honda’s factory riders Cody Cooper, Jye Harvey and Troy Dorron each
managed to avoid any major obstacles in the lead up to the final, they
unfortunately ran into trouble in their main events.
Consistency, however, is one asset all three of these professionals have and
the No Fear lads each stuck it out to finish their race and collect those all
important championship points.
Pro Open rider Troy Dorron battled hard throughout the night managing to
finish in second place in both his heat and final. A red flag in the latter
meant a restart but this didn’t deter Doz from pulling away quickly into the
leader’s pack.
With those two sessions under his belt, Troy was confident going into the
final. In heat one, he secured third position behind Boyd (KTM) and Carroll
(Yamaha) who Doz eventually managed to pass. The semi was more or less a repeat
effort, and again he made his way up to the number two position.
Come the final, the veteran racer did not manage to get quite the start he
would have liked and found it difficult to make any ground on the leaders over
the next 20 laps. Finishing in seventh position was not the result he would have
liked, but he was philosophical about the night.
“I didn’t feel all that great on this track tonight but was happy enough with
the heats. I’m glad I managed to avoid getting caught up in any of the crashes
that were happening. There seemed to be a lot of them and it’s always a
challenge to try and get through with that kind of traffic. I am disappointed
with the final but I did pick up 10 points and I’m still in second on the ladder
so its not over yet.”
Pro Lite riders Cooper and Harvey had the exact same results in their heats
with both looking very strong throughout and finishing in second position. Cody
put in a great effort first time out as he worked his way up from fifth showing
a superb pace through the rhythm section.
Again Cody didn’t get the best start in his final and had to push the
envelope somewhat to try and make up time on the first lap. Although he was on
the pace, Cooper came off as a result of trying to avoid another rider who had
come down. By the time he got back up and racing, Cody was a lap down which
meant all he could do was finish his race and pick up points.
“I had a pretty big off when I came down from the triples into Broomy (Paul
Broomfield, Kawasaki). It was unintentional – I just couldn’t avoid him. I’ve
pulled up with a bit of a sore shoulder so it could have been worse. I’m pretty
unhappy about how it all went for me, especially coming off my first win last
weekend,” Cody said. “There’s always next week though.”
Jye Harvey also had a difficult race but not after pulling off the holeshot
in the semi and leading from Daniel McCoy (Yamaha) for much of the race. McCoy
eventually passed him but Harvey was feeling fit and ready for the main event.
Again, as a result of crash traffic on lap one, Harvey managed to lose his
front brake lever which meant he had to finish the round with no brakes – not an
easy feat.
“I just had to cruise around after losing my brakes but it was still pretty
hairy,” Harvey said. “I wanted to finish regardless to try and get some points.
I suppose anything can happen at these races and it did to me tonight!”
Team Manager Peter Luczkowski was a bit disappointed with the results, but is
positive about the last two rounds of the series. “The bikes are running
extremely well. We had a big clean up job to do after Wollongong and the
mechanics worked hard to get everything ready for Newcastle.”
“The riders did have come up against a few tough situations tonight which is
frustrating, but they still performed well and I believe they each have it in
them to be a champion of their class. Racing isn’t over yet and we have every
opportunity to finish on the podium at the grand final in Melbourne.”
Round nine of the SEL series will be held on Saturday, March 27th in
Brisbane.
Current positions on the championship ladder are:
Pro Open
Troy Dorron – 2nd
Shane Metcalfe – out injured
Pro Lite
Jye Harvey – 4th
Cody Cooper – 5th
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