Husqvarna's Zak Small powered his FC 350 to victory in the premier MX1 category at the first round of the Queensland Motocross Championships, at Mackay in north Queensland last weekend.
Just three weeks after wrapping up the Sunshine State series, Small claimed the win ahead of Luke Weaver, and another Husqvarna pilot, Robbie Marshall.
Small finished with 2,1,1 scores for the day and will take a five-point lead in the championship, ahead of next month’s final Queensland title round at Hervey Bay.
For Small it’s a useful confidence boost coming into this weekend, where he’ll go into the ninth round of the MX Nationals at Toowoomba’s Echo Valley circuit in sixth position in the MXD category, and hopeful of an impressive showing from his two home rounds – Toowoomba and Coolum.
MX2 racer and Husqvarna Factory Support rider Nathan Crawford took all three races in the MX2 to win the overall.
Another Queenslander, Crawford will enter this weekend’s MX Nationals round holding a share of the national championship lead, and fully intends to make the best of the Echo Valley and Coolum circuits as the final two rounds of the nation’s most important motocross championship unfolds over the next 10 days.
Zak Small – “I went 2, 1, 1 in the 450s, but not so good in the Lites. I felt like I didn’t really gel with the track, but I definitely improved over the weekend. I felt really comfortable on the Husky 350, I think the track suited it a lot.
“It is nice to be leading the State championship, I knew I could, but it’s a relief to prove it and it’ll be good to try to carry that on to Hervey Bay and wrap it up the weekend after Coolum.
“I’m looking forward to Echo Valley, after the Shell series there we’ve come up with a few little changes we can make to the bike to get it better suited, so hopefully that works. I know the track pretty well, but haven’t had the best of luck there. So I’m just going in there hoping to some good starts and wanting to ride a good clean race. My DNF at Shepparton dropped me back to sixth, so I definitely want to get two solid motos and try and find my way into the top five, to be as far up the ladder as I can be when we hit Coolum.”
MX1
1 Zak Small 102
2 Luke Weaver 97
3 Robbie Marshall 92
MX2
1 Nathan Crawford 105
2 Richie Evans 96
3 Luke Weaver 86
Clubman Support MX1
1 Trae Kuehn 105
2 Robert Polsoni 96
3 Liam Moulding 88
Clubman Support MX2
1 Evan Hood 105
2 Trae Kuehn 96
3 Harrison Burns 90
Junior Lites 2/- 13-15yrs Points
1 Bailey Malkiewicz 97
2 Jake Williams 95
3 Mitchell Dark 91
Mini Lites 14-15yrs Points
1 Bailey Malkiewicz 105
2 Joshua Zorbas 94
3 Dylan Gook 92