Suzuki riders shone in Saturday’s opening round of the new Australian Supercross Championship in Perth, Western Australia with Chad Reed winning the Pro Open and Matt Moss finishing second in the Pro Lites events.
In his first ride on home soil with Suzuki since 1999, reigning AMA Supercross Champion Reed was too good on the Team Rockstar Makita Suzuki RM-Z450: The Australian superstar topped every session he contested and won the 20-lap Pro Open final by over 25 seconds, lapping up to fourth place in the process.
Also in Pro Open, Cameron Taylor had a promising debut ride with Team Shift Motul Suzuki. Having spent limited time on the RM-Z450 prior to the event; the Victorian rider made inroads in each session and recovered from a slow start to finish eighth in the final.
Rising star Moss spent the weekend battling with twin brother Jake for Pro Lites honours, the pair having to miss their sister’s wedding to contest the season opener. Aboard the 2009 RM-Z250, the Team Shift Motul Suzuki ace topped qualifying and won his heat race by 13 seconds.
After dropping to sixth at the start, Moss carved his way back up the leader board and finished second in the final, securing a strong start to his title assault.
Team Shift Motul Suzuki Development rider Lawson Bopping was another standout performer in Pro Lites. In a promising start to the season for Suzuki’s junior squad, Bopping and Kieran Tisdale both qualified for the final, with Bopping going on to finish fourth.
Round Two of the Australasian Supercross Championship will be held at Adelaide Showground, South Australia, on October 18th.
Chad Reed:
“That was awesome out there. It was so satisfying to see it all finally come together. This was my first Supercross race on a Suzuki so I just tried to check out and watch for lapped traffic.
“I know these guys will step it up between now and Adelaide and I am sure the new Super Sprint format will throw up some interesting results.”
Cameron Taylor:
“Overall, it’s been a positive start with Team Shift Motul Suzuki. We would have liked to finish higher in the final, but my start wasn’t the best and from then on we were playing catch-up.
“Our pace in the race was good after that, although we learned a lot throughout the day and picked up a solid bag of points which will put us in good stead for future rounds.”
Matt Moss:
“I’m pleased with the result; it’s a good way to kick off the season. The Suzuki RM-Z250 was quick all day - full credit to the Team Shift Motul Suzuki guys for giving me such a great package.
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