Sizzling Simmonds qualifies fastest in Taupo
Australian 125cc rider Tye Simmonds has qualified fastest for tomorrow's 2009 FIM Junior Motocross World Championship ahead of Holland's Glenn Coldenhoff and the USA's Eli Tomac, while fellow Aussie Josh Cachia was in fourth.
With driving rain showering riders and spectators, Australian Team Coach Greg Moss instructed Simmonds and his teammates to attack the Taupo track hard from the outset of the session, confident that a faster lap time would be more achievable early on before conditions deteriorated.
Moss’ tactic proved decisive as Simmonds completed the Qualifying session with a time of 2:09.670, half a second ahead of Coldenhoff, while Tomac and Cachia were a further second adrift.
“I think we’re learning more as we go along, and we were pretty smart with that one so we’re not getting too carried away” Moss said.
“We took off early as we knew it would be muddy, and it was important to get those lap times in early in the day.”
Simmonds was equally as pleased to have qualified fastest, but remains focused on the task ahead of him.
“I was really happy with that session,” Simmonds said.
“I struggled in that first practice session but I really wanted to go out there, put the first four hard laps in and see how I went from there... I did that and it paid off.
Ross Beaton and Luke Styke were two more Australians who impressed in Saturday’s Qualifying session, finishing in 7th and 10th respectively.
Styke recently captures the Australian Under 19 title at the MX Nationals and was stoked with his final position.
“I’m definitely rapt with tenth spot,” Styke said.
“I struggled out there, it was very soupy conditions,” Styke continued, “but winning the Under 19’s has put my confidence through the roof.
“I feel great on my bike at the moment... in practice I felt a bit tight but I loosened up during Qualifying and I feel like I’m going to go well tomorrow.”
Of the other Australians competing in the 125cc class in Taupo, Dylan Peterson – who was the fastest around the track in this morning’s Practice session – qualified in 12th position, while Jason Reed (14th), Harley Quinlan (17th) and Matt Phillips (24th) rounded out the Aussie results.
Stay tuned to the Motorcycling Australia website as we continue our comprehensive coverage of the 2009 FIM Junior Motocross World Championship into tomorrow’s final day –all of the news, results, photo galleries, interviews and more from Taupo can be found at www.ma.org.au/2009worldjuniormx.
