COOL AIR KAWASAKI:

Cool Air Kawasaki’s Cody Mackie has made an impressive and memorable SuperX Pro Open debut at the first round of the 2009 Australasian SuperX Championship at Launceston, TAS on 17 Oct 2009. In a phenomenal display of speed and strength, Cody fought his way to the front of the pack at the series opener, proving he is a front running rider and a genuine threat in the ’09 Championship. Whilst his round results do not reflect his performance or efforts, Cody still came away with many valuable Championship points going 4-9 to take 6th place overall in the series. Fellow KX450F team rider Troy Carroll made a welcome return to racing after a long injury break going 13-12 to sit just outside the top ten in the Championship in 12th place. The team’s third rider Jake Pengelly will miss the first 2 or 3 rounds due to injury.

After an impressive 2009 MX season that saw Cody go from strength to strength on board the KX450F, the 23 year old from Kiama NSW has now demanded the attention of the SX racing community with an extremely impressive performance at the SuperX opener. Cody qualified well in 7th place before taking to the track for his heat race. Being his first year on board the 450, Cody lined up against fellow unseeded riders to battle for a spot in the main event. A 3rd place position after the first corner was good news for Cody until a crash put him back to last place. From there Cody fought back, passing riders one after the other to cross the finish line in 6th place, securing himself a place in the finals.

Cody didn’t get the best start in main event race number one but still managed to race his way to a 4th place finish however it was to be the second moto where Cody would really shine. The gate dropped and Cody quickly found 4th place out of turn one, then 3rd place after turn two. From there Cody rode brilliantly amongst the field of world class riders. Cody fought hard to pass all other riders and find the lead on lap five. Cody then held onto that race lead right up until the final turn on the final lap when, in heartbreaking fashion, Cody was knocked from his bike with the waving chequered flag only metres away. Cody scrambled back onto his Kawasaki as quickly as he could to cross the line in 9th place.

Although the race result wasn’t what he had hoped for, Cody has still taken away valuable Championship points for his efforts and has well and truly proven himself as a rider to watch in this series.

Cody says, “That second moto was the best race of my life up until the last turn, then it became the most disappointing. As for being knocked off my bike, it all happened way too fast. It is what it is!”

“After this round I think I’ve exceeded people’s expectations of myself which is good. I’m really thankful for all the support I constantly receive from all my loyal fans and I’m now totally focussed on this weekend.”

Cool Air Kawasaki Team Manager Kevin Crutcher says, “Cody just rode so well on the KX450F and has shown his team and his fans that he is well and truly capable of running at the pointy end of the SuperX series. The team, Sheree and I are so proud of what Cody’s achieved so far this year and we know that he is yet to really shine in 2009.”

“Troy got some good points after being off the bike for so long. We have no doubt he will come back even stronger next round and we’re also looking forward to Jake returning in the next few weeks. We’d really like to thank all of our fans, Kawasaki and our sponsors for their support. Without them we wouldn’t be where we are.”

Cool Air Kawasaki now heads to Geelong, VIC for the second round of the Australasian SuperX Championship on this Saturday 24 October.