Marmont and McFarlane steal the show

Yamaha pilots Jay Marmont and Andrew McFarlane swapped first and second places at round three of the Australian Motocross Championship in Toowoomba (Qld) last weekend.

Marmont retained the championship lead after a great day's racing at the undulating Toowoomba layout, and is 13pts (199 to 186) in front of McFarlane, followded by round one winner Todd Waters (Honda, 167pts).

"The track was very difficult here today, if there was going to be a track the Andrew (McFarlane) was good at it was going to be Toowoomba," said Marmont.  "He's got that European background of riding the deep ruts and that's what this track was all about today; you had to be smooth and try to eliminate all mistakes, get out and ride your own race and he seemed to do that in the first moto, and I retaliated in the second one.

"I know everyone is going to come on strong in the next rounds which are going to be the sand rounds and the faster sort of tracks so I'm up for the challenge of running that No. 1 plate and am going to be the No. 1 contender."

In the first 30-minute (plus a lap) race, Craig Anderson took maximum advantage of pole position, but he was behind McFarlane by the end of lap one.

McFarlane then broke out to a comfortable lead, with Marmont battling over second. Anderson eventually fafed to finish fifth, with McFarlane an eight-second winner from Marmont, Cody Mackie (Kawasaki) and Cheyen Boyd.

In race two, Marmont turned the tables and won by four seconds from McFarlane, followed by Boyd, Mackie and Waters.

PRO OPEN RESULTS

In the Pro Lites, Matt Moss (Suzuki) powered to clean sweep and, despite a controversial time penalty in the final moto, Luke George (Kawasaki) retained the championship lead.

"It was great to score maximum points again," said Moss. "The Suzuki is really flying now, and even when things don't always go my way I'm confident in the bike to get me over the line.

"I'm only 3pts away from the red plate now; hopefully I can have them by the time we finish the round at Mackay."

In the first moto, Moss bolted from the start until he put his bike down, allowing George to slip past.

George held onto the lead for several laps until and determined Moss caught and passed him, eventually extending his lead out to seven seconds, with KTM's Tye Simmonds third.

The second moto was riddled with controversy with George handed a 20-second time penalty for cutting the track after getting clipped coming down the steep hill.

"I got off to an okay start in fifth place, and then copped a big hit at the bottom of the hill that put me off into the trees and bushes," said George. "I got back on the track at the closest point I could and knew I'd get penalised, but there was nothing I could do about it. We were told in riders' briefing we'd get a 10-second penalty for cutting the track.

"I got hit with a 20-second double penalty, took it on the chin and got to work. A 20-second penalty was more than fair considering it would've only taken me 6-8 seconds to ride the missed section of the track.

"To get the win I had to beat Moss by 20 seconds, and I knew that wasn't going to happen. I still managed to pass him though and then he punted me which unfortunately cost me a few tenths of a second and cost me second place, putting me back to third.

"That's racing though. I'll train my butt off the next week and show them at Mackay. The whole team was really great this weekend and the bike was running awesome. I think it was the best bike out there. The next two rounds are at my two favourite tracks so I can't wait to get out there and extend my series lead!"

PRO LITES RESULTS

The fourth round of the 2009 Motocross Nationals will be held at Gum Valley Motorcycle Club in Koumala, near Mackay, this weekend.