BCP Pro Circuit Honda press release:

BCP Pro Circuit Honda Junior Development Team riders Taj Marshall and Trent Collins found themselves at the pointy end of the field throughout most of the day during this weekend’s Round 3 of the Victorian Junior State MX Championships. The event held at Ararat in Western Victoria hosted some of the best junior MX racers in Australia as they battled amongst themselves for valuable championship points.

The A grade 250cc star studded field got underway in moto one with a holeshot from current National Champion Taj Marshall. Marshall held the lead for the first half of the race and looked to have everything under control when landing off a jump the bike cut out and Marshall rolled to the side of the track. Fortunately the bike restarted first kick and he entered the track back in fifth place where he would stay for the remaining five minutes of the race.

A three way battle between current state champion Cody Dyce, former World Junior Champion Caleb Grothues and BCP Pro Circuit Honda rider Trent Collins erupted late in Moto 1 after Collins charged from outside of the top five reeling the pair in. Less than point five of a second separated the top three as they crossed the line with Collins in third place.

Moto 2 of the A grade 250 got underway with Trent Collins slotting into the lead by the end of lap one and from there the kiwi stretched out a seven second lead over Dyce and Grothues. With just a couple of laps to go Collins had a front wheel washout in a corner which dropped him back to third place once the chequered flag was waved. A second turn crash for Taj Marshall saw the number 32 Honda rider charge from last place up to ninth in the dusty conditions.

The final 250 moto of the day saw Taj Marshall’s second holeshot of the day. Marshall lead from wire to wire and took a comfortable win on the tricky hard pack surface.

“I’m happy to get that first win under my belt,” said Marshall.
“Our bikes are awesome with both Trent and myself spending a lot of time up the front today. My strength is normally the sand and soft dirt tracks so I’m stoked to get a moto win on such a blue groove, hard pack track. But little mistakes cost me the overall today and I need to get that sorted.”

With consistent results all day Trent Collins found himself on the box for the second round in a row, this time in third overall.

“There were some real positives taken from today, even though we didn’t end up with the result we wanted,” said Collins. “I was really happy to have the fastest lap times during moto 1 and moto 2 but that crash in the second race really threw me out of rhythm. I know what I need to work on and I’m looking forward to the final round at Mildura. I know I’m out of championship contention due to missing round one but if I can stay on the box each round and get some more race wins then I’ll carry some good momentum into the National Junior Titles which is my main priority.”

Tom Bell took some small steps forward at Ararat but the sand specialist continued to struggle with form on the rock hard surfaces, finishing fifth overall on the CRF150R and tenth overall in the super competitive A grade 250cc class.

“I’ve been working really hard to get back up to where I should be,” said Bell. “The bikes are going great, I just need to step up and make it happen. I’m looking forward to both the final round of the Vics and the Aussie Juniors having some softer dirt to work with.”

The final round of the Victorian Junior MX Titles will be held at the Mildura Motocross Complex on the 11th and 12th June.