It was a solid start to the championship for the team but one that will need to be improved on if they seriously want to challenge for the 2023 championship title. All three riders showed flashes of their potential but not consistently enough to finish on the podium for the night.
To view the CDR Yamaha round review: https://youtu.be/h0NZkLR3XJc
Josh Hill was the best placed rider taking fourth place in a very consistent night. Hill made it comfortably though to the 20-lap main event and was hoping to take the win when it all mattered in the final.
Hill was mid pack into the first turn but hustled his way through to fourth on the first lap. From there he shadowed the leading trio of Dean Wilson, Matt Moss and Justin Brayton, but could never get close enough to make a passing attempt. By the time the halfway board came out, Hill was a couple of seconds back from the top three but well clear of fifth place in somewhat of a lonely ride.
He kept at it but couldn’t bridge the gap to the podium positions and was forced to take fourth.
“It was an ok ride,” Hill laments after the race. “I didn’t quite have the pace to match the top three and I’m not sure where they were able edge away from me. In the heat of the battle, its hard to spot where those extra tenths of a second are coming from so I will go back and look at the race and see where they were putting some time on me.
“It’s awesome to be racing back in Australia again and I love working with the CDR Yamaha team and spending time down here. We have about a month before the next round so we can get back to work on a couple of things and be out for a better result in Newcastle.”
Luke Clout was content with his fifth pace finishing consider it was his first race back in some time after coming off a wrist injury. Clout missed the 2022 Australia Supercross Championship due to injury and then also had an injury interrupted motocross season, so round one of the Australian Supercross Championship was about building a base as he gets back to peak race speed and fitness.
“It’s so good to be back racing supercross as it’s always been my favourite style of racing. It took a bit to get back into being on such a small track but that’s the nature of an indoor venue and it’s the same for everyone.
“I felt rusty in the first practice, but things got better with each session, and we made some adjustments to the bike that really helped.
“In the main event, I just didn’t get the start I needed and was caught up in too much bar banging at the back of the pack. It turns into a hectic race back there while the leaders are able to open the track up and break away so my focus on the next couple of rounds will be about getting better track position early in the race,” Clout said.
A crash marred Aaron Tanti’s final result as he miscued a rut in the first turn and spun out while in fifth place. The fall sent him well down the field and while he was able to fight all the way to the end and claw back a few spots to take sixth, any mistake on a track that is only 22 seconds is bound to be costly.
“It was an up and down day for me as I was able to put in some good laps in each of the sessions and races, but not enough to really threaten the best guys on the night. My start wasn’t great in the main event and its so easy to get shuffled around as there are bikes and riders going everyone for the first few laps until things settled down.
“We are back to a regular size track and the next round so looking forward to that and getting back on the podium where I should be,” Tanti affirms.
The CDR Yamaha Team will now refocus on the Newcastle round on November 12 with a view to improve the results of all three riders.
