Round 1 of the Victorian Junior MX Championships have been run over the weekend at Portland, four hours south-west of Melbourne! The BCP Yoshimura Honda Junior Development Team riders of Cambell Williams and Madi Healey both dominated their classes taking three wins from three starts.
But it was Cambell Williams who put in one of the most incredible races in recent years in moto 1 of the A grade 250cc when after falling heavily in turn two the Honda rider remounted in last place and started his charge through the pack. He picked off riders one at a time and by three quarter race distance was in third place and rapidly making time on the leaders. With one lap to go Cambell made the pass for the lead with the crowd on their feet.
“I made it difficult for myself in the first two races with the starts,” said Williams.
“But we fixed a couple of things before the third race with my concrete start technique and we got a holeshot for the final race. It was good to have a battle with my team mate Ty in that last one and we finished over a minute ahead of third place. Our Honda 250’s are working so well out there on the track.”
William’s team mate Ty Kean had a tough moto one, tangling with a rider half way down the main straight and managed to fight his way back to 6th place by race end. A ten second time penalty for not slowing down enough under a yellow flag was handed out to Ty and he was relegated back to 8th place in moto one. To his credit he bounced back in moto two with a third place and really showed his true colours with a close second place in the final moto of the day. A score card of 8-3-2 giving Ty Kean a solid third place on the podium.
“It felt good to get a win on Saturday but I got off on the wrong foot Sunday morning with a crash and time penalty in moto 1 of the 250,” said Kean.
“I’m happy with moto two and particularly moto three battling with Cambell for the whole race.”
On Saturday morning it was Madi Healey’s chance to start her title defense and she did so in fine fashion. The reigning champ qualified fastest and went on to win all three motos in a clean sweep with sub one minute wins in each race.
“I’m feeling the best I’ve ever felt on the bike at the moment,” commented Healey.
“I just need to work on being stronger when the track roughens up and I’ll be right where I want to be.”
With the ink still drying on his contract Hixson McInnes had his first race on the Honda CRF150R at Portland after having only two rides prior on the red machine. A strong third place in moto one against the older boys 85cc/150cc class was impressive and with just a couple of laps to go in the final moto McInnes was poised to be up in third place on the podium for the day, however a little tip over in a corner would prove costly and knock the NSW rider of the podium. A solid effort for the 12 year old in his first race and third ride on the Honda 150.
“Overall from a team perspective this has to be our most impressive hit out at a Vic state title round in the last 6 years,” said Team manager Lee Hogan.
“We had three class wins (two with a clean sweep), 5 podiums and almost a 6th podium with Hixson’s amazing effort. It really is quite amazing what Cambell is doing at the moment against the older age group A grade boys and we finally saw Ty’s full potential in that final moto. I’m looking forward to watching my young guns progress throughout the year.”
Round 2 of the Victorian Junior MX Titles will head to Robinvale on the 18th and 19th April.
Pic: Ian Duncan