Heading into this round, Jay Marmont had a hold on the series lead, despite the devastating news mid season of his daughters passing. With only 2 rounds remaining, the pressure was really on the top guys to perform, and just to throw a spanner in the works, Pro Lites champion Matt Moss was stepping up to test his skills in the Opens after sealing the Lites class the previous week.

It is common knowledge that former world champ Chad Reed will always be a contender for the Win, but a handful riders showed they had the pace early in the Man on Man challenge, which really set for a firey finale in the Quad Challenge. The format was 4 x 5 lap races, with only a 5 minute break between each.

Unit athlete Tye Simmonds had a strong showing in the Man on Man races, but after an awkward fall on his knee after losing the front end, he was not expected to come back for the final. Medics advised he could risk much more damage if he raced on, but the youngster from Bourke commited to the finals, and has been striving hard all year to be on the podium.

This commitment payed off early, and in the first race came out 2nd from the race start, and chased Chad Reed all the way to the line. Reardon improved on his previous weeks horrific performance, with a strong 3rd. Unfortunately series leader Jay Marmont had a hard time on the soft rutted track and was no where to be seen with the front runners.

Race No. 2 flowed much the same way, and injured Simmonds secured another amazing 2nd place behind Reed. Once again Marmont had a hard time, and his series lead was fast slipping out of his hands. Matt Moss had a better start, and finished with a strong 3rd.

After the 3rd start, familiar names were running up front, but all the action was back with Mossy and Marmont, coming together and both going down. Reed was on fire again, taking the hole shot and running the lead all the way to the line. Reardon was back on form also, had a very strong start and secured 2nd for the 3rd race. Simmonds fought hard to ride through the pain of his knee injury, and came up with an incredible 4th.

In the final race, 1st and 2nd spots were all but secured, with Reed and Simmonds respetively. But mistakes could be made, and podiums could still be secured. Reed blew the start, and gave Reardon the hole shot, followed by Simmonds. This was the break both riders were looking for. Jay Marmont and Troy Carroll both went down very hard, holding up the field, and left Reed and Reardon fighting it out for 1st. Simmonds running in 3rd. Seemingly out of nowhere, Matt Moss flew past Simmonds, and seconds later Reardon, giving him a short run at chasing down Reed, but with only a 5 lap race, there was not enough time. So in race 4, we were left with Reed, Moss, Reardon and Simmonds taking out the top 4, and unfortunately Jay Marmont drops further out of contension with a DNF.

Overall, Reed takes the Win, giving him a strong lead for the series. Simmonds comes through with an amazing 2nd, riding with an injury cloud over his head. Reardon secures a very strong 3rd overall, which is a great turnaround from last weeks downer result. Jay Marmont ends up with a 14th overall, which must be a huge dissapointment considering his super strong and consistent performance all year. Jay still holds down 3rd in the overall series, Reardon regains 2nd and Reed gets the jump into the final round in Brisbane, but with rumors of numerous USA riders coming over the finale, it could be anyones!

• By Allan H

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Hey everyone,

At the moment I'm at the end of my tour in Europe for 2009, i broke my right hand in China 2 weeks ago at race of Champions so I'm seeing a specialist today to see what the damage is and if i can ride in 10 days in Prague at the Gladiator Games which might be dreaming, i struggle to hold a glass as is. Its a sad end to a good year so i can't winge too much, I've ridden about 45 shows in over 20 different countries this year and still have more in NZ in December, I'm defiantly looking forward to getting home.

Peace!

• By Allan H

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