The Sukey Hill Circuit in Cranbrook, four hours south of Perth was the setting for the latest rounds of the State Motocross series. Having not seen MX in the area since the eighties the new complex has been set up by the hard working Cranbrook members and a good crowd enjoyed some great racing over the weekend.
Even with a large amount of rain falling during the week a spectacular layout greeted riders for the Saturday’s junior round and though heavy, the terrain coped with the majority of water but still proved to be testing for the entire field.
Jake Turner (Five Star Yamaha) has really stepped up his game recently and reveled in the conditions on both his YZ125cc machine as well as his YZ250F. Turner was clearly in race mode as he won the 250F division and if not for one tough Moto, could have done the same in the 125cc class as well.
Still managing a third overall on the 125 after finishing on equal points to team mate Cody Chittick and being relegated to third on a countback Turner rued a couple of small errors but was happy with his performance on the fast flowing circuit.
“I really enjoyed the new track here as it was challenging and great fun to ride, especially the big fast sweeper that took you up the hill. The rain made it very heavy and meant corner speed was important so I tried to keep my flow and connect each corner” Turner said.
“Both bikes were perfect today, but my starts were not where I needed to be meaning I got closed out most times in the first corner and had to eat plenty of roost making my way through the pack”
“Winning the 250F class is awesome and I really feel like I belong up here racing with the rest of the guys and I managed to get a big haul of points in both classes and have moved into third on the 125 and fourth outright in the 250F class”
Team mate Cody Chittick (Mandurah City Yamaha) was also on a mission and had great results for the day bagging two more podiums for the team and moving into the Championship lead in the Premier 250F division.
“Today I just did what I needed to do and rode consistent, while others had their issues and crashes I flew under the radar a little and the results came to me” Chittick explained.
The track was really tough to ride and there was an off camber corner that was pretty tricky and muddy, but apart from that the circuit was good. However if you made a mistake you lost a lot of ground so I made sure I kept well within my limits and it paid off well”
“It was good for Jake and Cody to go one and two in the 250F’s and podium in the smaller 125 class as it shows they are at the top of their game at the moment. This is the second meeting now they have done that so the results are becoming more consistent” Said team manager Peter Strickland.
“It’s all about confidence and peaking at the right time. Both guys are doing well and getting the results the team needs while inching towards the overall championship so I could not be more excited”
“We have three rounds to go so the trick will be to keep the momentum going and collect good points from every round. We move closer the Perth for the next round and a more familiar circuit in Childow which Cody and Jake have raced a fair bit before, so the expectation is to continue with the podiums”
Cranbrook results
125cc
1st Brock Flynn
2nd Cody Chittick (Yamaha YRT)
3rd Jake turner (Yamaha YRT)
250F
1st Jake Turner (Yamaha YRT)
2nd Cody Chittick (Yamaha YRT)
3rd Liam Atkinson
