Team Motul Suzuki press release:

Image: Jeff Crow.

The opening round of the 2015 MX Nationals held at Horsham, Victoria on Sunday the 29th of March proved to be a testing day for both of the Team Motul Suzuki riders.

On a tough and technical circuit both riders showed tremendous pace with Matt Moss able to challenge for the race lead during moto two, while Kale Makeham consistently set lap times well inside the top ten throughout both motos. Unfortunately crashes in each of the two 30 minute MX1 motos for both riders left the team looking towards a more positive outcome heading into round two.

For Moss the opening round of 2015 proved to be a painful day, as the two times reigning MX1 champion battled to salvage vital championship points after leaving the Horsham bruised and battered in 13th place overall with two 14th place moto finishes.

“It was a tough day! I was feeling good going into the opening race but I had a big crash in turn two that really hurt my shoulder and done some damage to my neck.” Moss explained. “I got up and tried to charge but I was in a lot of pain but ended up salvaging some points.

“I was not sure if I was going to be able to line up for race two. I managed to get to the line and was able to catch the lead guys and was challenging for first until another crash all but ended my day. “It is only round one and there is a long way to go. We head home to Appin for round two in a couple of weeks time and we will look to get back out front.”

Makeham in his rookie season in the MX1 class leaves Horsham with plenty of positives to build on. While the Victorian’s 11-11 results for 11th overall were not quite what he was chasing, posting consistent lap times inside the top ten and the 8th fastest lap time in the opening moto, Makeham is confident that he will move deep inside the top ten as the series continues.

“The final result today was not that great, I don’t think is represents the overall performance,” Makeham commented. “The first race I was happy with, I got a good start and rode to my potential and my fitness was good, my speed was good, I just put it down on lap two and had to charge from the back of the pack.””Race two I made some bad choices and it showed on track. A crash in the second race cost me a top ten result as I finished in 11th.”

“I actually learned a lot in that second moto, it was not like or crashed out or DNF’d and though it was not the result I was chasing there were some valuable lessons I will take heading into Appin and going forward.

Team Manager Jay Foreman knows it is a long season and is confident the team will re-set and get their championship aspirations on track in two weeks time at Appin. “Matt crashed in the second corner and it left left him pretty banged up and all he could do was salvage as many points as he could.” Foreman explained.”Kale showed good speed today, but he crashed in both motos and you are never going to have the perfect day doing that.”

“The chase starts from here, we will move on to Appin and there is only one way we can go and that is up.” Foreman added.

Team Motul Suzuki will next be in action when round two of the MX Nationals heads to Appin, NSW on the 12th of April.