Kawasaki Motors Australia press release:

Adam Monea of the NPS Monster Energy Kawasaki Racing Team has finished the 2015 MX Nationals series in 3rd place on his Kawasaki KX450F.

Adam Monea was sitting in 4th place overall leading into the final MX Nationals round at Coolum Pines Motocross track over the weekend. A 5th place result in the first moto and a win in the second race granted him 2nd overall for the day.

Adam dived into the final round with the 3rd fastest Superpole qualifying lap. The first moto proved challenging after dirt thrown up from another riders rear wheel damaged Adam’s goggles, causing him to drop his KX450F and putting him into last place. Adam knuckled down and dug deep to comeback and finish the first race in 5th place.

Thanks to a second lap charge, Adam found himself tussling with Ben Townley for the lead in the second moto, until he finally made a spectacular pass and flawlessly tore through the dark Coolum sands to cross the line first. Adam’s win in the final moto put him into equal 3rd overall on the championship leaderboard with Luke Styke, however a countback would grant Adam 3rd place overall in the 2015 MX Nationals.

Following his race two win, Adam said, “I don’t know whether to believe it or not. I crossed the line happy with my race win and thought I didn’t get the 3rd overall, but if those are the legitimate points, then woohoo! I didn’t want to get 4th overall again like last year. It was tough out there with the sun beating and the track being blown. I said to Troy Carroll before the race that something special was going to happen and I had to back that up with a win. I can’t thank the team enough, they put in so much effort and I’m happy with the results.”

“I one-upped my motocross racing this year so hopefully that’s a sign that I’ll do on better and take out the Supercross this year as well. Congratulations to Kade and Gibbs for their racing this year, three deserving place getters this year.”

“In that last race I just wanted a win. While the race was on I was thinking to just do whatever it takes to win and get the best result possible. In the last couple of laps I knew where the competitors were and I wanted to get the win so I focused and made it happen.”

“Myself and the team are always chasing bigger and better but we had a goal coming into the weekend and to meet that goal really gave a sense of accomplishment and reinforcement in bettering myself and that is always a bonus so I am happy how it worked out.”

“I had a couple of hiccups here and there with inconsistent results at the beginning of the series. It goes without saying that to get onto the overall series podium is great but I definitely wanted to get that series title,” Adam commented.

Dylan Long joined the NPS Monster Energy Kawasaki Racing Team midway through the MX Nationals series with a promising track record backed up by a race winning attitude. Leading into the final round Dylan was in 7th place overall, which is where he ended his first season racing in the MX1 class.

The first race of the last round saw Dylan’s vision become impaired after a mishap with his goggles. After removing them halfway into the moto and struggling to see, Dylan dropped back to finish in 8th. In the second moto, Dylan came from a long way back and charged his way into finishing 3rd after an average start.

Dylan reflected on his 2015 MX season saying, “I started as a privateer until I got the opportunity to race with the NPS Monster Energy Kawasaki factory team which has been awesome. I picked up my racing when I got the team ride and it shows the support from a factory team is a great help. The bike was awesome. Extremely fast and all the mechanics know how to manage the suspension and everything else so my KX450F handles amazingly and I couldn’t fault it. It was just awesome. ”

“I wanted to stay in the top ten for the year and I did that and I actually finished a couple of races in the top five so I’m really happy with that in my first year of racing 450’s at a national level.”

“I haven’t finished a year of racing in two years due to injuries so this year I was determined to finish and to do a full year. I know where my speed is now and I’ll be coming into next year looking to take out a place in the top five or even top three,” Dylan said.

Team Manager and Australian motocross legend, Troy Carroll, said “This is what we were chasing with Adam (a podium). There is always an expectancy to win and we have had everything in place to make that happen but a 3rd overall is a great achievement.” “Leading into the final round, second place was certainly within our reach so we didn’t leave any stones unturned with training and setup.”

“Adam had a very up and down year. Bad starts in the first half of the series translated into bad finishes so we mostly worked on that. Once we improved Adam’s starts, we began to see him get up there and run in the front with some wins. We worked with Adam on a day to day basis this year and he was absolutely determined so we are happy with the overall result.”

“Dylan has been a joy since he joined us as a replacement for Jake Moss midway through the series. He’s young, energetic and just fantastic. He needs to work on his general strength and fitness being his first year on the 450’s, otherwise he has great traits and he will build his skills to become a real first place contender next year.” “Both riders ran really well, they improved throughout the year a lot and it showed in the results.”

“Big thanks to NPS, Monster Energy, Kawasaki and all of our sponsors for their support this year. Our team mechanics Michael Marty and Paul Teasdale have been amazing not to mention Vince Carroll who drove the team transporter and helped out at each round. We had an amazing team this year and we should all be proud of our result!” commented Troy.

Celebrations will be short lived for the Australian Kawasaki factory racing team as they begin testing and training for the upcoming Australian Supercross Championship with the first round due to kick off on 17th October in Jimboomba, QLD.

Keep up to date with the NPS Monster Energy Kawasaki Racing Team by following us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/KawasakiAustraliaMXRacingTeam.