The Hart and Huntington / InsureMyRide race team completes round 1 of the Monster Energy MX Nationals season opener last week at Conondale QLD.

With perfect weather conditions forecast at Conondale we were set for a great days racing. A terrific crowd made the day even better and the track was in mint condition as it showed the track crew had put ion some hours prepping it for the weekend. With not much engine testing time on the race bikes due to parts only arriving the week prior to last weekend’s race, both riders showed they had adapted to their race bike nicely for the series opener.
First off the rank was MX2 rider Lewis Woods with 2 x7 lap moto’s back to back. Moto 1 Lewis was mid pack coming out of the first turn, he then fought his way hard through the pack to finish the race in 10th place. Moto 2 start was almost the same as moto 1 with Lewis coming out of turn 1 again mid pack. Fighting his way through 10 or so riders, Lewis crossed the line in 8th place. With an hour or so break Lewis prepared for moto 3 which was a 14 lap moto (around 30 minutes). Again struggling with his start Lewis charged home in 10th place leaving him in equal 8th place overall on the day and in the championship. *During Moto 3 Lewis actually encountered a bee sting during his race. Monday he was unable to open his eye and was treated for a bee sting.

Showcasing in the MX1 class was Daniel McCoy. Again with little time on his race bike due to parts arriving that week of the first round, Dan looked smooth in practice with his custom fitted KYB fork on his Suzuki RMZ450. Moto 1 and 2 were again back to back with 10 laps in each moto. With a decent start in a packed MX1 class Dan charged his way to around 6th place before disaster struck, with his bike blowing up only 4 laps in leaving him with a DNF for moto 1. Moto 2 Dan was aboard his spare bike which was completely stock which hadn’t even been kicked over. With a mid pack start on a dead stock bike, Dan climbed his way to finish the race in 15th position. With an hour’s break before moto 3 this gave the mechanics enough time to swap suspension over. With a mid pack start again Dan sat just behind mid pack after the first turn. With moto 3 being a x16 lap race (approx 35 minutes) this would come down to endurance. Dan proved that his off season training had paid off with him finished up in 12th place in moto 3 and coming out of the first round in 15th place overall in the championship.

We would like to thanks all sponsors on board for the 2012 season, and extra thanks to Pro Circuit for supplying the team with exhaust system’s for 2012, Ringmaster Images for turning around our re-worked graphics kits so quickly, JTR for building our wheels (SM Pro Platinum rims with Talon hubs) on short notice, Exotic Graphix for pulling off some amazing looking custom helmet’s and EBT Performance for the quality work on Lewis Wood’s race bike.

The Hart and Huntington / InsureMyRide team heads to Coonabarabran, NSW next weekend on Saturday April 14th and Sunday April 15th for the second round of the 2012 Monster Energy MX Nationals.