YAMAHA RACING:

Yamaha’s Super X success continued at Parramatta Stadium this evening with podium finishes to riders in both Open and Lites classes.

CDR Rockstar Yamaha’s Jay Marmont charged back from near elimination in the Open Survival showdown to take third place and move into the lead of the championship.

Serco Yamaha’s Kyle Cunningham continued his consistent form, earning yet another podium finish and placing one hand on the Lites runner-up trophy with a single round remaining.

Yamaha privateer entrants Brenden Harrison and Luke Styke also impressed aboard their YZ250F machines, each taking a win in the quad challenge format.

Super X will cross the Tasman for the next event on its calendar, with round 6, an Open-only affair, set to be held at Waikato Stadium in Hamilton, New Zealand.

Yamaha Racing Open

CDR Rockstar Yamaha’s Jay Marmont escaped near elimination in the early stages to finish on the podium at tonight’s Parrmatta Super X event, round 5 of the championship.

A week after his incredible victory at Canberra, Marmont was back in form early, placing third in his heat in preparation for the Survival format showdown.

He moved through the opener with ease, finishing 6th. The YZ450F pilot powered to the holeshot in the second 6-lap race but fell heavily in the tricky sand section dropping to the back of the field.

Marmont staged a typically gritty fightback to climb within the top ten and move through to race 3.


Fourth place in the penultimate race of the night assured him a berth in the five-rider final.

Marmont went bar-to-bar with Jeremy McGrath in the final stages, pipped by millimetres at the line to finish third.

“My plan was to stay smart and move through the final races but I had to really fight to stay in the running when I fell in the second race of the night,” said Marmont.

“I just put my head down and went for it to make sure I would get through.

“There was a great battle with (Jeremy) McGrath there at the end, we went through the whoops together and he just beat me to the line.

“It was a great result for my championship, I’m now a point ahead of Chad with two rounds left, I’m really looking forward to the final few weeks of the season.”

Teammate Cheyne Boyd was left to rue a mistake in race three of the final which put him out of the running.

He collected 12 points after finishing ninth and said he had been pushing too hard to stay in the running.

“It was a silly mistake, I was riding to try and secure a place in the final and knew I needed to stick with the bike in front to make it through,” said Boyd.

“I ended up going over the bars and getting hit pretty hard on the elbow as the bike came down.”

He is seventh in the championship on 68 points with two rounds to run.

Yamaha Racing Lites

Yamaha YZ250Fs made up three of the top four Lites finishers at tonight’s Parramatta Super X event, with privateers backing up a solid factory effort.

Kyle Cunningham brought his Serco Yamaha machine home in second, continuing his impressive run of results.

His campaign was built on consistency, with finishes reading 4-3-6-4 at the conclusion of the quad challenge.

Cunningham is now 3 points clear of third place in the class and said he was looking forward to bringing home the runner-up trophy at the final round in Brisbane.

“I had some good battles out there tonight,” said Cunningham. “I wasn’t entirely happy with the first couple of races and made a few mistakes.

“It was good to come back strong in the final race and grab second for the round.

“It’s been a great experience riding for Serco Yamaha and I’d love to wrap up second place when we head to Brisbane in a fortnight.”

Cunningham will head home to his US base to finalise racing plans for the new year before returning to Australia to contest the final round.

Kirk Gibbs was one of many riders caught out by a particularly tough sand section at the Parramatta track, laying his bike down in the final race.

He fought back the pain of a sore knee throughout the night to finish in 6th.

“I had a pretty rusty start to the round but got better,” said Gibbs. “I had a coming together with Danny Anderson in the third race which cost me.

“I also made a mistake in the sand section so to come away with 6th is a pretty good recovery.”

The Serco Yamaha rider sits sixth in the Lites championship.

Yamaha privateer riders bought in to the battle for round honours tonight, with Brenden Harrison and Luke Styke each snaring a race win in the quad challenge.

Harrison stood on the third step of the podium at the conclusion of the night, with Styke a single place shy in fourth.