Todd Waters won the second round of the 2010 Australian Motocross Championships in Canberra on Sunday, triumphing in the gruelling four-moto sprint format.

Winning two of the four back-to-back motos, and placing second in the remaining two was enough to secure the Honda rider a 13-point lead in the Pro Open Championship class, ahead of second-placed CDR Rockstar Yamaha rider Jay Marmont, and JDR Motorex KTM’s Tye Simmonds.

New Zealand’s Cody Cooper (Suzuki) finished 7-7-16-10 in his four outings in the Pro Open class, good enough for ninth overall on the day.

Cooper (pictured above) is also now ninth in the championship standings.

While it was a dream day for Waters, Kawasaki Racing Team’s Scottish import, Billy Mackenzie, had a day to forget despite coming into the round as Series leader and race favourite.

Mackenzie was fastest in qualifying and dominated the first moto; however his day came unstuck in the second moto when a crash forced him to end his race early with bike problems and a possible injury.

After leaving the second moto with no points in hand, Mackenzie lined up for the third, however one lap in and he was at the back of the field and appeared to be in pain before returning to the pits for the rest of the day.

In the second moto, Privateer and Honda-mounted Dean Ferris, was the one to watch pulling out to an impressive lead ahead of Simmonds and JDR Motorex KTM’s Andrew McFarlane.

Waters gradually picked his way through the field, charging past the front runners to eventually challenge Ferris and overtake in the last lap while Marmont gradually found form on the Canberra track working his way up to third.

As moto three got underway, Ferris once again charged to the front of the field, this time chased down by Marmont and Simmonds.

Ferris and Marmont spent the entire moto tussling for the lead, with Ferris holding his own despite facing phenomenal pressure from the reigning champion.

Yet it wasn’t to be for the young rider, as Marmont summoned his years of experience, reigning in Ferris and bringing the moto to a photo finish with only .004 seconds separating the two riders.

With exhaustion setting in, riders lined up for the fourth and final moto, which saw Simmonds find form on the new KTM 350 SX-F.

With only five weeks riding time on the new bike, Simmonds settled into the moto lead while battles raged behind him, and Waters began to chip away at Simmonds’ lead.

Simmonds held of the charge from Waters until the second to last turn, with Waters anticipating his line and charging past to take the lead and

“I gave my all today, and it came out in my favour,” Waters said.

“I got bad starts all day but I just put my head down and ended up getting two moto wins and two thirds which I’m absolutely pumped with.

“In that last moto, I was sitting behind Tye [Simmonds] and just watching where he was going and he picked up on a lot of my lines so I had to make a bit of an aggressive move.

“So, sorry to Tye, we’re good mates but that’s racing and I wanted the move and I took it and it paid off.”

Marmont said his starts were not helping him.

“I always had to come from the back but at the end of the day I’m still in it for the Championship – it’s still early days and once I win one hopefully I can keep rolling on.

“There’s always one or two guys in there who will step it up on the day and you could really see the guys who were fast here with Todd [Waters] and Tye [Simmonds] – they got off to good starts and they were hard to catch.

“The speed has got a lot faster this year and these sprint races are what these young guys do best.

“It’s what they practice during the week and what they did as juniors as well so it’s only making racing in Australia closer and closer and it’s great for the fans and great for the guys too!”

Simmonds was thrilled with his afternoon.

“We had a great day today – we just had to work on the little things and we got those right by the last race,” said Simmonds.

“All our hard work is paying off – we’re slowly getting there so it should be good at the next round.

“I should be proud of how I’ve done, with only five weeks on the bike and it being a new bike, but you still feel a bit bummed after all the hard work you put in during the week only to lead for that long and screw the race up in the last two corners – but bring on the next round.”

RESULTS

Pro Open

Qualifying

1: Billie Mackenzie (Kawasaki)

2: Todd Waters (Honda)

3: Cheyne Boyd (Yamaha)

4: Jay Marmont (Yamaha)

5: Cody Cooper (NZ, Suzuki)

Race 1

1: Mackenzie

2: Tye Simmonds (KTM)

3: Waters

4: Andrew McFarlane (KTM)

5: Dean Ferris (Honda)

Race 2

1: Waters

2: Ferris

3: Marmont

4: McFarlane

5: Simmonds

Race 3

1: Marmont

2: Ferris

3: Waters

4: Simmonds

5: Boyd

Race 4

1: Waters

2: Simmonds

3: Marmont

4: McFarlane

5: Boyd

Round two results:

1. Todd Waters, 90pts

2. Jay Marmont, 80pts

3. Tye Simmonds, 78pts

4. Dean Ferris, 73pts

5. Andrew McFarlane, 65pts

6. Cheyne Boyd, 59pts

7. Daniel McCoy, 55pts

8. Lewis Woods, 44pts

9. Cody Cooper (NZ, Suzuki) 44pts

10. Beau Ralston, 43pts

Pro Open championship standings after two rounds:

1. Todd Waters, 149pts

2. Jay Marmont, 136pts

3. Tye Simmonds, 130pts

4. Dean Ferris, 127pts

5. Andrew McFarlane, 111pts

6. Cheyne Boyd, 103pts

7. Daniel McCoy, 96pts

8. Billy McKenzie, 92pts

9. Cody Cooper, 84pts

10. Lewis Woods, 65pts

The third round of the 2010 Rockstar Energy Drink MX Nationals will be held on Sunday, May 2, at McAdam Park, Barrabool, Geelong, Victoria.

© Photo by Andy McGechan, www.BikesportNZ.com