Marmont still leads the Open class after taking third at Wodonga. Image: Stephen Piper.

Defending dual Pro Open Rockstar Energy MX Nationals Champion Jay Marmont maintains the red number plate to signify his championship leader status after finishing third overall at Albury Wodonga’s sixth round of 2010 in Victoria on Sunday, but says he expected more from himself over the weekend.

The Wollongong local rode his CDR Rockstar Energy Yamaha YZ450F to third overall after scoring 4-5-3 results in the trio of action-packed races contested for the round, finishing behind New Zealand’s Cody Cooper and Scotland’s Billy Mackenzie to be the first Aussie finisher for the round.

“I’m a little bit disappointed with the way that I rode because I really thought I was going to do a lot better than I did,” Marmont admitted. “My preparation was so good and I’ve been feeling good on the bike during the week, but it wasn’t to be.”

The 27-year-old continued his consistent run of results, fighting hard for position throughout the motos in a bid to score his first overall victory of the season.

“I qualified fourth, but got messed up by a slower rider on my quickest lap and thought that I had the speed to qualify first,” he added. “In race one my arms got really tight when I was in second place, battling with Cody Cooper, who went on to win the race while I drifted back to fourth.

“So I went out in the second race and it was a similar sort of thing, I just couldn’t get into a groove and ended up fifth in that one, which was disappointing. For the final moto, I was third in the last race off the start and that’s pretty much how the race ended – Tye [Simmonds], Billy [Mackenzie] and I all racing close to the end.”

Marmont now sits 16 points ahead of ex-world championship grand prix race winner Mackenzie with just three rounds of racing remaining.

“Billy gained a lot of points on me, which is tough because the championship’s coming to the end,” he said. “I feel like I’ve been given a bit of a gift in this championship and I’m not taking advantage of it, so I need to change up my ways a little bit and refine my preparation.

“I just got done running sand dunes here on Monday afternoon, so I need to try and do as much as I can to give it the best shot I can at keeping this championship and the number one plate for 2010.”

The series will continue at Moree in New South Wales on 18 July, marking the penultimate weekend of racing before a mega double-header round is planned for Coolum in Queensland on 25 July.