The much anticipated showdown of last year’s QMX1 Championship winner Caleb Ward fighting to retain his crown over the highly talented pool of Richie Evans, Jesse Dobson, heel clicker Robbie Marshall, Luke Weaver and Mason Rowe didn’t disappoint. Round 1 saw Evans maintain a perfect score for the round with Ward hot on his heels with Rowe and Dobson rounding out the top 4.
In the hotly contested MPE QMX2 class Mason Rowe the Southside Auto Auctions sponsored rider fought off brothers Isaac and Noah Ferguson and Riley Ward to take out the round win with a perfect score, whilst the Ferguson brothers and Riley Ward taking turns for the 2nd place podium, with Isaac eventually taking 2nd place for the round (on count back) over Riley Ward. Second to fifth place was separated by only 3 points, meaning one hiccup would have significant ramifications on the round results.
The Junior Lites 15 years 2 stroke class saw the No 1 of Levi Rogers onboard his Yamaha take home the round results with Logan May, Luke Zielinski and Jake Kowal rounding out the top four in this class. In the 4 stroke class Rogers duplicated his result leaving Kowal, May and Zielinski to fight it out for the remaining podium positions.
The Junior Lites 13-14 years 2 stroke class saw the class dominated by the North Queenslanders with Jesse Holding and Zac Watson coming out on equal points with Holding taking the round win on countback and Watson having to settle for the second step of the podium. Jackson Camilleri (Mackay) and Deegan Mancinelli (Ingham) rounded out the top four.
The Junior Lites 15 years 4 stroke class saw Jackson Camilleri take out the round win with Jesse Holding, Kobe Drew (SE Queensland) and Matthew Plath rounding out the top four positions.
The North Queenslanders certainly exploited their home track advantage with Jackson Camilleri, Deegan Mancinelli and Zachary Watson taking out the podium spots for the Mini Lites 14 to Under 16 year age group leaving Ryley Fitzpatrick from SE Queensland with some ground to catch up at round 2.
Young Braden Plath (North Queensland) won the first two races in the Mini Lites 12 to Under 14 years with Kobe Drew on board his MPE sponsored Husqvarna just one point in arrears and one of our top female participants Charli Cannon flying the flag for the girls rounding out the top three spots with Jayden Binger taking out the fourth spot.
Liam Owens headed the Mini Lites 9 to Under 12 leader board with Koby Tate and Joel Freiberg following in hot pursuit. This was an open class, with the top 7 positions changing throughout the weekend, with Cooper Downing, Zac O’Loan, Casey Wilmington and Darci Whalley all having a top four finish.
The 65cc 10 to under 12 saw Jake Cannon and Casey Wilmington battle it out for the top spot with Jake taking the overall round win over Wilmington. Logan Smith took out the third rung on the ladder.
The 65cc 7 to under 10 saw quite a few in the top four positions but consistency gave Cooper Downing the overall 1st by one point over SEQ rider Peter Wolfe and Lachlan Allen rounding out the top three positions. Lochlan Grant and the KTM rider Bodie Court had some great racing but a DNF and a crash quickly moved them down the results table.
Finally, the smallest capacity class 50cc Auto class saw Kyle Harvey, Jaxon Downing and Clayton Walsh take out the podium positions.
The challenge now is for the South East Queensland riders to return serve on their NQ counterparts, when round 2 of the Series heads to Echo Valley (Toowoomba) on 20th and 21st July 2019.
Full race results from Round 1 can be viewed here.