Courtesy of Suzuki New Zealand
Team Suzuki Press Office – February 9.
MC2
Suzuki Racing’s Todd Waters raced to a podium position in the opening
round of the New Zealand Motocross Championship at Timaru on Sunday.
Waters
and team-mate Brad Groombridge battled treacherous mud, deep ruts and a
talent-packed field of international and Kiwi stars to eventually
occupy two of the top-six spots in the MX1 class.
The class was
won by Australian Dean Ferris, with defending national MX1 champion Cody
Cooper finishing runner-up, just ahead of Waters, who claimed the third
podium step.
Waters (25), like fellow Australian Ferris - a
former Grand Prix racer in Europe - was quick to adapt to the changing
conditions of the track, bulldozing through clinging mud early in the
day, after overnight watering by track staff, before using his vast
international racing experience to find fast lines as the soil hardened
and formed deep grooves.
Waters and MC2 Suzuki team-mates
Groombridge and Argentinian Joaquin Fernandez, swapped notes on how to
deal with the rough terrain; Groombridge passing on his fast-starting
techniques and Gold Coast racer Waters offering-up a few choice lines.
Waters
finished the day with a 3-2-3 score-card, while Groombridge posted a
5-6-5 and finished sixth overall, just two points off fourth.
A
crash in the last race of the day cost Fernandez dearly. He had been
featuring among the leading riders in the class before the incident, but
was unable to finish and this saw him drop down the rankings and finish
the day 14th overall.
Said MC2 Team Manager Andrew Hardisty:
“It was a solid performance from the boys and the team is on track for a
great finish to this series. With Brad's slick starting and Todd's vast
international experience, we were able to showcase the winning
potential of the Suzuki RM-Z450.
“We have opened our account for
2016 with Todd third and Brad sixth and I'm satisfied with that. We can
build positively on that. We knew this first round was going to be
tough, but there are still nine races to go (three at each of the
remaining rounds) and I think we're on track to grab some silverware.”
With
Sunday's series opener in Timaru behind them, the riders now head to
Manawatu for round two on February 28th, with round three to follow at
the Rotorua Motorcycle Club's track on March 13th. The championship
trophies get handed out at the Taupo finale on March 20th.
Words and photo courtesy of Andy McGechan @ www.bikesportnz.com
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