HQVA press release:

Husqvarna’s Former Aussie Motocross and Supercross Champion Jay Marmont has made the final stop on his Australian Supercross Championship comeback tour a memorable one, cracking a podium on night one at the Aus-X Open in Sydney on Saturday.

In distinguished company which included the likes of Aussie icon Chad Reed, Cooper Webb and Ryan Villopoto, Husqvarna FC 450-mounted Marmont resisted the late challenges of Webb to finish third behind Reed and championship winner Justin Brayton.

On the back of three consecutive top-five round finishes, the signs were building that Marmont was cooking up a big performance for his home round, and the result ensured he would finish fifth in the Australian Supercross Championship.

Last night’s sixth and final round of the championship began similarly for Marmont with an easy transition through heats and semis to the final, but a crash in the whoop section while running mid-pack dropped him out of contention and he was credited with twelfth.

Reed took a second consecutive win, ahead of Webb and Brayton.

In SX2 racing Nathan Crawford powered his Husqvarna FC 250 to a spectacular fourth place on Saturday night behind Gavin Faith, Jackson Richardson and Hayden Melross – the best result of his maiden Aussie supercross championship.

Crawford failed to qualify last night and finished the season in 15th.

SD3 Husqvarna’s Kaleb Barham had his first indoor Supercross race as a senior, and was unlucky to crash out of a qualification position on Saturday evening, and then managed to damage his fuel line during Sunday’s program.

After winning the last two rounds of the Australian Junior Lites championship, Husqvarna Factory junior team rider Callum Norton decided to try his hand against the big boys in Sydney.

Norton narrowly failed to qualify on both nights, but gained valuable experience in the much more cut-throat senior competition.

Away from the event, injured Husqvarna Factory Support racer Connor Tierney was a very interested spectator, after he was knocked out and sustained a fracture to one of the processes in his Lumbar spine in the previous round in Melbourne.

Tierney will take advantage of the down time to undergo a knee reconstruction this Friday and then turned his attention to season 2017.

Jay Marmont – “The last time I experienced a high like last night was back in 2012. My last championship. It was very special. It’s always the goal to be on the podium, but to do it in that kind of field was awesome. In the Saturday final I lined up on the outside of Chad, and just snuck around the middle of the field. I overtook Villopoto on the first lap, found myself in third, and after that it seemed like it was a race between me and Cooper. I calmed down a little and put a few good laps together and just put a nice little buffer of a bike length or so on him, then, two laps to go I made a couple of small mistakes in the whoops and he got back on me. I came across the line and got it by a half a bike length, and the crowd really responded and roared – it was awesome! Tonight was very similar – I progressed me straight through to the final. I turned maybe eighth, passed Jesse Dobson and Will Hahn through the whoops on the first laps and just started ticking off the laps. I just made a silly mistake in the whoops – went sideways and the back wheel got traction and speared me off left into the tuff blocks and I got stuck under the bike. I lost three laps and bent the bike, but overall I think it was a great weekend. It was great to be able to secure fifth place in the championship. It was a great year for myself and my team and all the sponsors including Husqvarna and my brother’s shop MX R&D, to get those results against the factory boys was a credit to us. I basically spent my own money to back myself so I’ll weigh it up and see where it puts me for next year. I’ve got no idea as yet. I’ve had a great year and I definitely feel as though my home is racing so hopefully we can make something happen next year.”

Kaleb Barham – “It was all a good experience, the reason we came down was to see where I was at, because the first two rounds I wasn’t at 100%. So it was nice to come out of is not feeling good and see what I could do. My starts were on point at the weekend, I’m pretty sure I walked away with two holeshots and the other two I was second, so I wasn’t starting any worse than top-two most of the time. The first night I was leading the semi for well over half the moto and then tucked the front end and went down pretty hard on my shoulder, then the second night I put a hole in the fuel line, and we bodgied it up just before qualifying, but it wasn’t the same, so I didn’t end up qualifying.”

Callum Norton – “It was a bit nerve racking, but it was awesome, being in with the big boys. It was a really good experience to see how it’s all done. They’re really aggressive and especially on the first turn you’ve really just got to go in with your elbows up and go in hard, otherwise, they don’t care, they’ll just push you straight out the way. It is so important to get the start because the times are so close, so if you don’t get it, it’s just too hard to pass and the top guys are gone. Saturday night I missed out by point one of a second or something ridiculous, it was really close. Yesterday, I qualified fifth in my heat and 15th outright. It got me into the night show, which was good. My first big race of the night yesterday I got a great start and had a pretty comfortable race with some big names, Jackson Richardson and Hayden Melross, Nathan Crawford and a lot of others and I got a third behind Hayden and Richardson. The semi and the LCQ didn’t go to plan and I couldn’t make up ground to get into the main, but still it was a decent night. I really enjoyed it.”

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