ANZAC Day is a landmark day in the Aussie calendar, it is also a day that many who live in the cooler climates use to predict the first frost of the season. With the Evans’ property Ti Tree in Cooma playing host to Round 2 of the 2021 Leatt AMCROSS presented by Dirt Action, those that braved the cold and camped certainly woke up to a little ice on the ground, on their car…well everywhere really.
The Cooma Off Road club and their army of helpers put in a stellar effort marking out the track with bunting, banners, and barriers. For those that have seen their fair share of Cooma AMCROSS tracks would have quickly noted the trademarks of another Flynn track design and sure enough the old master himself was there in person to take in all the action. With over 460 entries large grids were a guarantee to make racing interesting.
Whilst the mornings were chilly the days were a cracker with sunshine and just a light wind providing perfect conditions for the weekend’s racing. On Saturday morning it did not take the juniors long to rip up the grass and start fluffing up the rich red Cooma dirt.
At his first foray into AMCROSS Riley Burgess dominated the 12-13yrs 85cc with a clean sweep of all three races. As usual the Junior Lites 125cc and 250cc classes provided some of the best racing with big grids and starts proving critical in getting to the lead fast.
In the 125cc class, Taylor Thompson secured the overall win however did not have it all her way with Jack Hamilton taking the win in moto 2 and second overall for the day. In a highly competitive class, the minor placings were shared across the top four overall which was rounded out with Rossandich and Locock.
The competition in the 250cc class was no less fierce with O’Meley going 2-3-1 to take the overall over Thompson 3-2-2 with Kingma 4-1-3 for third and Locock rounding out the top four with a 1-4-5 proving that consistency is the key.
In the 50cc Auto class it was another AMCROSS newcomer Kye Sproule who took the overall win over Beau Campbell; however, in the 65cc 7-8yrs it was Campbell who had the upper hand and the result was reversed.
Anzac Day Sunday saw the Rider’s briefing start with an Anzac tribute and the sounds of the last post sounding out before a minute’s silence was observed by all.
On a technical track with tight corners, the riders were put to the test with good starts and flat corner skills being the key differentiator for the weekend. It was great to see Cooma local Jake Barron back on track in the A/B All Powers however Jordan Barham proved too strong taking two out of three moto wins for the overall with Barron finishing 2-2-1 for second overall. In the C Grade All Powers it was James Wilson showing the field a clean set of heels going 1-1-1 for the overall win.
The C Grade Open class was hotly contested as always with Bradley Luff taking the first moto before Phillip Johnson took moto two and three to secure the overall win with Thomas Tuckerman second and Luff finishing third overall. Luff saved his best for the O19 250cc class going 1-1-3 to take the overall win.
It was the start gates that wanted their time in the limelight this round and threatened to hold up racing after the release mechanism snapped. A quick call out to the pits saw a welder, generator and skilful craftsmen come to save the day…. It really is amazing what people have at the track on race day!
Not to be outdone by the gents the ladies had an impressive line up of 16 riders. Sophie Havel was dominant in the first two motos, before Tasmyn Bendall mounted a late charge taking the third moto win. The late charge, however, was not enough and Gavel held on by one point to take the overall.
The event was well supported by sponsors including the round sponsors Leatt as well as, OGIO, Stacyc, O’Neal, Metzler and Bell. Gall Brothers Medical and MCA provided onsite presence to share their knowledge and expertise and TEENCEE Graphics provided the round plaques for the juniors.
Round 3 has competitors heading to Appin for the Stacyc Amcross Round presented by Dirt Action. The full calendar and event details can be found at: Dirtaction.com.au/amcross
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