Woodstock Honda press release:

Popular Victorian motocrosser, Brent Landman has been called into duty by Woodstock Honda Thor Racing to replace injured rider Ford Dale ahead of round three of the Australian Motocross Championship at the Toowoomba Motocross Club (QLD), this weekend.

Officially joining the factory Honda squad for the remainder of the 2009 Australian Motocross Championship, Landman is in strong form and will be out to improve on his current top-ten placing.

Landman’s opportunity comes following a devastating crash that ended the 2009 Australian Motocross title chase of Woodstock Honda’s regular rider, Dale.

Dale suffered a minor crash with a sickening aftermath on day two of the Queensland State Motocross titles’ opening round in Townsville on 3 May.

While battling for the race lead with Woodstock Honda team-mate Todd Waters, Dale crashed his Honda CRF450R on the first lap and, as he tried to get himself up to rejoin the race, was run over by several riders.

Dale’s list of injuries includes a broken leg, broken left forearm and broken nose, which is expected to sideline the Honda rider for eight to 12 weeks.

Having subbed with the team for the absent Peter Boyle in the previous round in Canberra, Landman will make his first appearance as a full factory rider alongside Woodstock Honda Thor Racing’s championship contender Waters for round three of the 2009 Australian Motocross Championship at the Toowoomba Motocross Club on Sunday 17 May.

BRENT LANDMAN:

“Ford being out injured is obviously not good. Scoring a ride at someone else’s expense is never the way you want to step up to a factory team, but this is a good of opportunity for me and I’m going to give it everything I can to do well for myself and for Woodstock Honda Thor Racing.

“As a satellite rider I was already getting a lot of support from the team, but now I’ll get more trick factory gear and I’ve got a top mechanic, Marko, to work on my bike between rounds as well as at the track.

“Being properly on the Woodstock Honda team, I’ve already done some tyre testing this week with the factory Michelin hard pack tyres for Toowoomba. The tyres are great and should work really well this weekend.

“Michelin’s got a huge range of factory tyres and the team has a lot of experience with picking the best compound to suit all different types of tracks.

“Being able to go and test them out and select the best tyres for each round is going to be one of the biggest advantages and I’m looking forward to doing as much of that as I can.”

YARRIVE KONSKY:

“It’s obviously a shattering to blow to Ford’s motocross season, particularly with the series heading to his home state in Queensland, this weekend.

“He was riding super fast and it was only a matter of time before he cracked a win in the Nationals Pro Open class.

“Fortunately, it is only a temporary setback and he will be back with plenty of time to prepare for the Super X season later this year.

“At this stage of the season, the Woodstock Honda Thor team is very lucky to be able recruit such a strong racer like Brent to stand in for the remainder of the motocross series.

“As a Honda satellite rider, Brent has been performing extremely well and has been consistently running in the top ten.

“With extra factory support behind him, I’m sure he will continue to make gains and be an asset to the team.”