KAWASAKI AUSTRALIA:

In his first year in the Pro Open class, Cool Air Kawasaki’s Cody Mackie has impressed many by finishing in a very commendable 6th place at the 2009 Monster Energy SuperX Championship. Team mate Jake Pengelly looks forward to saying goodbye to an injury ravished 2009 season as he gets healthy for 2010 and Troy Carroll competed for the very last time at the final round of Superx in Brisbane, retiring from racing and capping off an immensely successful career that includes no less than twelve Australian Championships.

After spending almost the entirety of 2008 on the sidelines due to a potential career ending injury, Cody Mackie was intent on reinventing himself in 2009. Stepping up to the bigger 450 and switching from the factory Kawasaki team to Cool Air Kawasaki, Cody Mackie has indeed reinvented himself, shrugged off the injury demons from ’08 and demanded the attention of his peers by being a serious contender in the Open class at the 2009 Monster Energy SuperX Championship. Cody made his intentions clear right from the very first round when he came out firing, setting a blistering pace and looked set to take out his first race and round win until, in heartbreaking fashion, he took a knock from eventual series winner, Chad Reed, on the very last corner of the very last lap, sending him off his KX450F and out of contention. Cody still posted consistently strong results throughout the entire SuperX Championship to eventually take 6th place in the series and set himself up for bigger and better things in 2010.

Cody says, “It’s been good to get a full year of racing under my belt. It’s not always easy coming back from a big injury into a whole new class. It was going to make me or break me but luckily I got some really good results including 4th overall in the MX series and proved to myself that I can do it. I can’t wait for 2010.”

What could’ve been for Open rider Jake Pengelly in 2009 if injury didn’t hold him back? A knee re-construction in December 2008 put him out of action until mid 2009 then a broken femur sustained in practise in July put an end to his year.

Jake says, “2009 was a year to forget. My leg is all good now but I’m still working to get the overall fitness back. I’m feeling fitter every day and will easily be 100% by the beginning of the 2010 season. I’ll be running a full privateer effort in 2010 but still on board the Kawasaki KX450F. Even though I didn’t spend as much time on the bike as I would’ve liked in 2009, it was long enough to realise that it’s a great bike. I’m looking forward to a huge 2010 season.”

Recovering from shoulder surgery at the beginning of this year, the 2009 racing season didn’t yield the results that Cool Air Kawasaki’s Troy Carroll was capable of. Notably Troy’s results throughout the rounds of SuperX got better as he got fitter proving that he is still, after many years of racing, a rider of incredible strength and talent. Troy finished the 2009 Monster Energy SuperX series just outside the top ten in 11th place.

Very few have achieved as much in Australian Motocross and Supercross as Troy Carroll. Troy started riding motorcycles at the age of 6 and 24 years later, bows out after winning a massive 12 Junior Titles and a further 12 Australian Titles. Troy will not be able to rest for too long though. He steps into a factory Kawasaki team management role in 2010.

Troy says, “I’d really like to thank my Mum and Dad. If it wasn’t for them I wouldn’t have been able to achieve what I did. I’d also like to thank Cool Air Conditioning who came on board at the end of my career and a big thanks to everyone else in between. Also a big thanks to Kawasaki for their support over the last two years, it’s been great. I’m really looking forward to working even closer with Kawasaki in 2010 with the factory racing team.”

Cool Air Kawasaki Team Manager Kevin Crutcher was happy overall with the performance of his team throughout 2009.

He says, “Overall 2009 has been a great year for Cody. It’s been so valuable for him to get a full year on board the KX under his belt, uninjured. Jake has had an unfortunate year due to injury but I know he will come out fighting next year and a big congratulations to Troy on a great career.”

“As I said to Troy, this chapter in his life now comes to a close and he’s now ready to move on to the next chapter. The presentation they did for him in Brisbane was special and the highlight of my night was Troy’s burnout.”

“At the end of the 2009 season, I’d like to thank firstly my wife Sheree and my kids for their support. Thanks to the mechanics. Without the total dedication and professionalism of Ian, Kyle and Ryan, the Cool Air Kawasaki bikes would not look or perform as good as they did.”

“Thanks to Ted, Rob, Glenn and Rudi at Kawasaki for all their help and support and finally a big thank you to all of our sponsors. Without them we couldn’t have looked or performed as well as we did. Merry Christmas to everybody and I can’t wait for 2010.”

With the retirement of KRT’s manager, Brett Whale, at the end of the 2009 SuperX series, Kevin Crutcher and Troy Carroll step into Team Management roles in 2010. Stay tuned for full rider and sponsor announcements in coming weeks.