HQVA press release:

Former MX Pro turned movie stuntman Cody Mackie made it a perfect six wins from six starts to wrap up the inaugural 125cc Gold Cup championship at Port Macquarie, winning the title ahead of multiple Aussie champion Cameron Taylor and Kerrod Morrissey.

Mackie fired his Moto Developments Husqvarna TC 125 – modified with only a stiffer rear spring and an expansion chamber – to the holeshot in both motos.

He blasted away to a 15-second win in the opener, but had to focus much harder to keep Taylor at bay in the second, winning by less than four seconds.

The win gave Mackie victory on the day over Taylor and Morrissey, with Husqvarna TC 125-mounted Geoff Braico fourth, while Mackie took a 22-point win over Taylor for the championship.

In the MXD category’s final round, Jy Roberts had a heartbreaking finish to the Under-19 championship after taking the series lead into the finale.

The Robertson’s Motorcycles rider completed just one lap of the circuit in qualifying, before high-siding and breaking his humerus (upper arm) on the very next rotation – instantly ruling him out of any further part in the day and virtually guaranteeing he would relinquish his position at the head of the championship.

As some consolation, his first and only lap at pace incredibly netted him the fastest qualifying time of the session and allowed him to depart the series with his name at the top of the list.

At the end of the day he would still finish second in the championship, behind Cody Dyce and ahead of Cooper Pozniak.

Also keeping the Husqvarna flag flying high was moto one race winner Kaleb Barham, who took a spectacular wire-to-wire victory in the opening moto on the SD3 Husqvarna FC 250.

He finished fifth in the second moto to conclude his MXD career with another podium, and took seventh position in the championship standings.

Riley Dukes completed an injury-affected rookie season in fifth on the day, having taken the R&D Husqvarna FC 250 to 6-4 finishes.

For more information on Husqvarna motorcycles visit www.husqvarna-motorcycles.com

Cody Mackie (Husqvarna TC 125): “Two wins today, so it was another productive day. Cam Taylor wicked it up in the second and kept me on my toes and I really had to concentrate. It was great fun to battle with him, and to come out with the win was even better. It was good fun out there and I think everyone who did it would agree. Kevvie Williams seems to think he will keep at it with this series. I think it has potential to grow. I see a lot of people beating a dead horse around the tracks on 250s, when for a lot of them a 125 would be a lot cheaper and a lot safer. It’s a no-brainer to me. We’re really the only place around the world that hasn’t pushed a 125 series prior to this year. They do it in Europe and they’ve been doing it in America the last couple of years. I think it’s a good thing. With my Husky I changed the rear shock spring and put an FMF pipe on it, and it pulled two holeshots today, as well as holeshots at the other rounds – and I didn’t even change the jetting! Hopefully that proves to people that you don’t need all the bells and whistles to make it go. They’ve got a good motorcycle there for sure. I need to thank Husqvarna Australia, Moto Development, Terra Firma Equipment Sales and Mac Track who put this whole package together for me.”

Jy Roberts (Husqvarna FC 250): “I got one lap in in qualifying, and then just had a little highside which ended up with me breaking the growth plate where my shoulder connects to the arm at the ball up there. It’s not real good, but, it happens. It wasn’t even a good lap, either, I messed up a couple of times. So, my speed was definitely there, but it wasn’t my day. I wanted the championship, but it can happen to anyone in this sport, everyone knows that you can get injured at any time. There’s nothing really I can do about it, so, I’ll just put it in the past and work on getting better. I’m going to see a specialist during the week, so we’ll know some more information then, but it’s looking like at least six weeks.”

Kaleb Barham (Husqvarna FC 250): “I’m stepping up top MX2 now, so it was a good way to end my Under 19 career off. I qualified okay, and then rocketed off in the first race; jumped straight out of the gate, saw nobody to my left or right, and knew it was going to be a good start. I ran it in nice and deep, got out into the lead, and though the boys were on my tail the majority of the race, I maintained a nice gap and got through for the win with that one. In the second race I made my way up to second pretty quick and onto Cooper, but then I had a small bike problem and a couple of little layovers and got fifth, which put me on the podium for my last MXD round.”

Riley Dukes (Husqvarna FC 250): “Fifth is always a solid result – everyone always wants to be in that top five or top three, but I suffered with bad starts and getting caught behind other riders and didn’t get through as quick as I wanted to or needed to. The track was good here, a little bit sloppy in the morning – I qualified second then – but it dried out over the day and formed a couple of bumps, but the Husky handled it well all day. It wasn’t one-lined, but definitely hard to pass on because there tended to be only the one quick line. It was a fun year in MXD, just learning the craft and what you need to step up into MX2. I had the injury with the collarbone but other than that I really liked it and looked forward to racing every weekend. It was good racing with all the boys.”