Newcastle SX Nationals

Local Danny Ham, became the hometown hero tonight, when he took his first victory of the season with a convincing win in the 20 lap Pro Open class at round eight of the Australian Supercross Nationals staged in dry conditions at the Newcastle's Energy Australia Stadium.
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Twenty five year old Ham from Team Shift Motul Suzuki (no 5) dominated the night, winning the hole shot, taking an early lead, setting the fastest lap of the race - a 39.441s lap, and only being challenged by a determined Jay Marmont (Motorex KTM - no 1)as he pursued Ham in the closing laps. . Ham rode superbly, flying over the triples, and smoothly running the stutters to complete a near perfect race in front of a home crowd of more than 7000.

"I said I wouldn't be happy until I got first win, and I am damn happy now! I won the holeshot and I don't know, it just clicked and I got my bum into gear. I was just out of there and once I heard the crowd cheering I was away," said an ecstatic Ham.

While series leader Jay Marmont - who has been undefeated for five races - crossed second he was later disqualified for cutting the track on several laps; allowing the CDR Boost Mobile Yamaha pair of Toowoomba's Troy Carroll (no 6) and Melbourne's Cameron Taylor (no 11) to come home.

After a bad start Marmont had to work himself back from fourth, and my mid race was on Carroll's tail providing an exciting battle for several laps.

But the superfit Marmont eventually won the duel, and took 2nd on lap 14. But he ignored the several pit board warnings of his team to stop cutting a corner out of the rhythm section and paid the penalty big time post race with DQ.

"It's not that he was cheating," said KTM team manager, Rob Twyerold. "It's just that he gets tunnel vision when he's chasing someone. He didn't see the lap board and we had it out there five times."

Cessnock's Brad Hibbard (no 22) crashed out of the race and was taken to hospital with a possible dislocation of the shoulder. Earlier in the night, Pro Open competitors Brenton Ivers (no 32) from Oberon and Jason Redding (no 52) were both injured and transported to hospital with suspected broken femurs. In practice, Chris Brown (no 93) was injured and has a suspected broken ankle.

Despite his disqualification, Marmont contines to lead the championship on 115 points; with No Fear Honda's Troy Dorron 2nd (98 points) and KTM's Cheyne Boyd third on 96 points.

PRO LITE
After an intense 15 lap Pro Lite battle, American Greg Schnell (no S - Red Bull KTM) stole the limelight from Camden's Daniel McCoy (no 3 - CDR Boost Mobile Yamaha) , pipping the 19 year old Aussie on the 14th lap and crossing to win the round eight race in a time of 10m32.83s with a disappointed McCoy coming in second in 10m36.47s.

It was an exhausting battle for Schnell and McCoy, with McCoy winning the start and taking the lead. Despite a couple of lead changes between the duo, McCoy seemed to have Schnell's measure, making headway on the jumps and in the corners, with Schnell reeling him back in the stutters.

But with just one lap to go and relentless in his pursuit of the young Aussie, Schnell overhauled McCoy at the end of the stutters and shot to victory.

"That was probably one of my favourite races ever. I had a decent start, got out there and just had fun which is what racing is all about. Me and McCoy just kept going back and forth but I hung in there and I am glad I came out on top. It was a dog fight and was so much fun," said Schnell, who has been a guest rider in Australia since round five as a replacement for the injured Danny Anderson.

Third was Wales Kawasaki SIC Motul rider Daniel Reardon(no 15) from the Gold Coast, who never challenged the leading pair, and crossed in 10m41.49s

Despite a lowly 7th place tonight, Wollongong's Ryan Marmont (no 1 - Motorex KTM) continues to lead the series on 95 points; with the Gold Coast's Daniel Reardon 2nd (93 points) overall and Daniel McCoy 3rd on 80 points.

1800 REVERSE JUNIOR DEVELOPMENT SERIES
Series leader Adelaide's 15 year old Wade Thompson (no 26) returned to the victory dias tonight, winning all three races aboard his Serco Yamaha in the 1800 Reverse Junior Development Series.

Second overall was Adelaide's Gianni Dalle- Molle (no 50 - Team Fly Kawasaki) ; with Sussex Inlet twins Jake (no 3) and Matt Moss (no 2) third and fourth on their AXO Yamahas.

SCHICK XTREME3 BIG AIR NATIONALS
Newcastle's Matt Schuhbring returned to match winning form, thrilling the local crowd with his big tricks including a huge Look Back Ruler and sensational Cliffhanger to win the Shick Xtreme3 Big Air Nationals tonight.

It was a welcome return for Robbie Maddison - who has been away competing in Europe for much of the year - when the Kiama thrillseeker sent the crowd wild as he performed the biggest whips of the season to take second. Third was Newcastle's Luke Cole with such tricks as the Double Nac Nac and the Jackhammer.

Catch all the up close action on Network Ten's wrap of Newcastle next Sunday, 21 March at 12.30pm.

Riders take a well deserved break next week, but all the action resumes in Brisbane at the Entertainment Centre on 27 March. Good seats still available through Ticketek.