JDR Motorsports:

FOLLOWING the shock-loss of team member, Ryan Marmont, to injury and some less-than-perfect results in recent times, the JDR Motorsports MX Team could have quite easily made the long trip West to Wanneroo, W.A, for round six of the MX Nationals, with nothing more than a frown own their faces.

However, this is far from the style for the new kids on the block, as they have taken all of the lows on-board, banded together and continued to motivate one-another and come out on-top with new highs – such was the case for round six.

Coming into the round, the MXRAD-backed team knew they were on the back foot and were down on points across the classes, so the JDR crew pulled together for a team meeting before riders briefing in W.A. With a brief outlining of the current situation and a motivational talk, all of the boys walked away in typical high-spirits and full of optimism for the day – and it showed.

Blasting out in qualifying, U/19s charger, Josh Cachia, was on a mission to show everyone he was ready to stand-out from the pack and when the flag fell on qualifying and Cachia was standing on top by three-seconds – his statement had been made.

In the Pro Lites session, Danny Anderson, was once-more surrounded by soft terrain – as with Murray Bride a week earlier – and struggled to come to terms with the track. However, just like last week, he put his preference for hard-pack soil behind him to still manage a creditable 18th pick on the gates.

After a rough weekend in S.A, Pro Open pilot, Beau Ralston, was ready to turn his luck around in Wanneroo, and made the best possible start to his weekend by qualifying in 11th – his best-ever qualifying result to date.

JDR Motorsports’ Pro Open contender, Andrew McFarlane, continued to show why he is considered one of the best in the business when he put aside a tender back to push through qualifying and still manage an impressive fourth place result.

Cachia has shown his determination, speed and ability all season – reiterating that no matter what hand he is dealt, he can pick himself up and carry on – and Wanneroo was another example of such character. In moto-one, Josh got away to a reasonable start only to get landed on by another competitor and crash on lap one. Undeterred, Cachia remounted and fought on, catching up several positions before throwing it away on lap seven. From dead last he dusted himself off and fought back through the pack to finish in 21st.

Ready to turn his day around, Josh came out swing in race two and sat inside the top-ten out of the first corner – however, he wasn’t staying there for long – making his moves early, the 250F pilot raced up front and began battling with Yamaha rider, Luke Styke. The pair went head-to-head for the duration of the race, concluding with a photo-finish between the duo.

Unfortunately for Cachia, Styke held on for the win, but his second-place finish sent out plenty of warning to the rest of the field. On a high, Cachia belted out for the holeshot in moto-three and took control for the opening three laps. As luck would have it though, Josh was forced to relinquish his lead as the race was red-flagged on lap four. Not getting quite the same jump on the restart, Cachia came to trouble mid-way through lap two and was forced to remount in last place. In a show of true team determination, he battle on regardless and still managed to secure an eighth place finish for the race and the round. Josh now sits in third place in the series – just 10 points shy of second.

Left with the Pro Lites duties in the absence of Marmont, Danny Anderson went into round six hoping to leave his troubles of last weekend behind him and all looked good when he scored the hole-shot and early lead in moto-one. Unfortunately for ‘Digsy’, the soft terrain forced him to move away from his standard riding style and subsequently started to move him down the order. Race two and three were similar scenarios for the Newcastle rider, as he would again struggle in the loamy dirt and find himself down on the results list. Even with his dramas, Anderson still rounded out the weekend with a top-20 result overall.

After a season-best qualifying performance, Beau Ralston, backed it up in moto-one, pulling his best start of the season, running well inside the top-10 with factory riders such as Suzuki’s, Cameron Taylor. Just when he started to look like he’d found a rhythm and potentially start making his move forward, Ralston had a slip-up whilst trying to rip a tear-off and went down. Remounting well down the order, he still managed to salvage a top-20 finish.

Moto-two saw the Pro Open rider get a mediocre jump off-the-line and bang ’bars mid-pack. But it wasn’t for long as he began to find his feet and settle into his new found speed, making his way forward to finish a season-best eighth place. Race three was almost a carbon copy of race two, from an average start, Ralston gradually made his way through the pack to finish just outside the top-10 in 12th. His consistent results turned in a fantastic 10th place result overall for the young-gun and will see him go into round seven full of confidence.

As one of the only riders to look like they can challenge the series leader, Andrew McFarlane, was ready to shake things up in W.A. Following a decent jump from the line, he set about chasing down hole-shot winner and series leader, Cheyne Boyd. The pair began to check-out on the rest of the pack and were almost 15-seconds clear by mid-race. Doing everything he could to get on the tail of Boyd, McFarlane had a bobble in the dying laps. Fortunately, he and Boyd had built a comfortable buffer between themselves and third place, leaving ‘Sharky’ to remount and finish – without dropping a spot – in second.

Missing the jump in moto-two, the MX veteran made all the right moves as he picked off riders early, coming through from mid-pack. It was another text-book display of riding as he made his way into the top-three and held onto third until the flag. Finding himself in a similar position in moto-three, McFarlane again went about picking-off riders and moving up the order but was forced to back-off when an old back injury started to flare up and give him some grief mid-race. Knowing he had two great results already locked away, McFarlane had the presence of mind to consolidate on the teams behalf and not push himself, still finishing an incredible ninth place despite the pain. Regardless of his moto-three result, Andrew still managed to walk away with the third spot on the podium for the round and secure plenty of points for the championship.

“The day started with a team meeting and it was a true testament to the team’s cohesion to see all the guys still in high spirits and optimistic about the season, despite recent bad luck and results, and it shows as everyone is still giving 100% and training harder than ever”, said Team Manager, Jay Rynenberg.

“Today was a great effort from all of the guys and turned in some great results for us – as a team. Now we will concentrate on the next round which we are all excited about, as it is effectively our home track and both Beau [Ralston] and Danny [Anderson] are kind of local heros up there. We’ll definitely be looking to improve even further at Lakes that’s for sure,” added Rynenberg.

The JDR Motorsports MX Team will now head north to the Hunter Valley, NSW for round seven of the series at Lakes.