Kawasaki’s Jake Moss qualified fastest in the MX1 class at the 10th and final round of the Australian Motocross Championships during preliminaries to racing on Saturday.

The NPS Monster Energy Kawasaki rider will therefore rank among the favourites to win in racing proper today, although the clearest title contender remains his brother Matt Moss (Team Motul Suzuki), who leads the series standings by a massive 37 points from KTM’s Kirk Gibbs.

Three races today will decide the title outcome.

Jake Moss set a scorching time of 1m47.983, heading off CDR Yamaha rider Billy Mackenzie’s 1m48.598, while defending champion Matt Moss was third with a 1m48.659.

New Zealanders Ben Townley (Honda) and Brad Groombridge (Husqvarna) chimed in with the seventh and 13th best times respectively.

Meanwhile, in the MX2 class, Caleb Ward (Axis Motorsports KTM) set fastest qualifying time on Saturday, heading off series leader Luke Clout (Serco Yamaha).

Ward posted a 1m52.005 lap at Coolum, 0.071s quicker than Clout.

Clout starts the day today with a 32-point advantage over Luke Arbon (SD3 Husqvarna) in the championship, with New Zealand’s Hamish Harwood (CMR Red Bull KTM) just seven points adrift in third.

Harwood and his New Zealand Motocross of Nations team-mate Hamish Dobbyn (CMR Red Bull KTM) qualified fourth and seventh respectively yesterday.

 

2014 Monster Energy MX Nationals

Round 10 – Coolum, Queensland

 

MX1 qualifying results

(Super Pole to run Sunday):

1. Jake Moss 1m47.983

2. Billy Mackenzie 1m48.598

3. Matt Moss 1m48.659

4. Jacob Wright 1m48.887

5. Kirk Gibbs 1m49.100

6. Adam Monea 1m50.294

7. Ben Townley 1m50.887

8. Sam Martin 1m51.146

9. Lawson Bopping 1m52.097

10. Brock Winston 1m53.245

11. Jesse Dobson 1m53.470

12. Jay Marmont 1m53.740

13. Brad Groombridge 1m53.940

14. Kade Mosig 1m54.201

15. Dean Porter 1m54.811

16. Lewis Woods 1m55.024

17. Hayden Mellross 1m56.209

18. Robert Lovett 1m56.398

19. James Booth Elliott 1m57.878

20. Tim Vare 1m59.088

 

MX2 qualifying results:

1. Caleb Ward 1m52.005

2. Luke Clout 1m52.676

3. Kale Makeham 1m52.971

4. Hamish Harwood 1m52.998

5. Jay Wilson 1m53.195

6. Takeshi Katsuya 1m53.411

7. Hamish Dobbyn 1m53.452

8. Luke Arbon 1m53.501

9. Riley Graham 1m53.958

10. Josh Cachia 1m54.940

11. Dylan Peterson 1m55.134

12. Errol Willis 1m56.365

13. Dylan Long 1m57.028

14. Lachlan Stanford 1m57.548

15. Luke Reardon 1m58.116

16. Joel Green 1m58.534

17. Jack Judge 2m00.219

18. Josh Adams 2m00.404

19. Nick Sutherland 2m00.427

20. Tomas Ravenhorst 2m01.070

© Words and photo by Andy McGechan, www.BikesportNZ.com

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