CDR Yamaha Monster Energy Team rider, Aaron Tanti, has claimed a strong second place finish at the 2022 Manjimup 15000 motocross event, held at the Cosy Creek circuit, in Western Australia.
The iconic and prestigious event, held on one of the most popular tracks in Australia, saw Tanti and his CDR Yamaha team head west to contest the event and came agonisingly close to taking out victory, with just one point separating Tanti and eventual winner, Todd Waters.It is a gruelling day at the office for the riders in the All-Stars event with four, five lap feature races as well as one lap elimination shootout to keep riders and teams busy all day. Tanti was on the pace from the moment he arrived in Manjimup, setting fast times in practice and qualifying and continuing his good form from the recent Pro MX rounds.
Tanti finished the day with 85 points on the back of his 2-8-1-1 results in the four, All-Star main events to finish just one point shy of Waters, while it was Brett Metcalfe in third, just two points behind Tanti.
The YZ450F mounted Tanti showed he was the man to beat throughout the day but the eighth place result in race two after colliding with another rider was the blow that hurt him in the overall points. He narrowly lost race one to Matt Moss and the pair were less than a second apart at the finish, a crash in race two and an eighth place finish then saw him in no mood for messing around in the final two legs and he dominated the final two races to finish on an impressive note.
“Last year was my first experience at this event and it’s great to be back here again on such an awesome track with a crowd atmosphere,” Tanti begins. “I felt great on the bike all weekend and I love riding the track, just that fall in race two cost me the overall win, but I’m happy with how I rode.
“It’s a lot of work for the team to do an event like this so thank you to the CDR Yamaha Monster Energy Team as Craig, Brad and Allister have been on it all weekend as well as Peter Strickland and the Yamaha guys here in WA for hosting us and making sure we have what we need to go racing,” Tanti ends.
The event is also a favourite of team boss, Craig Dack, who enjoyed racing here as a professional rider and now as a team owner, some 30 years later.
“The Manjimup 15,000 is one of the highlights of the year for CDR Yamaha and we love to come over and attend this race. The original plan was to bring the truck over with both Aaron and Luke but when Luke went down with injury, we rivetted back to plan B.
“It is our hope to bring the full CDR setup over for this event as everyone on the team loves doing it and it’s a great way to keep in touch with Yamaha and our dealer network here in Western Australia. The motocross fan base here is strong and the atmosphere at the track rivals that of the US or MXGP.
“Aaron put up a good fight all weekend and just a shame that second race proved the difference. We are pleased with the way Aaron has developed this year and looking forward to seeing him continue to improve as the year progresses,” Dack said.
Manjimup 15,000 Results
1st Todd Waters – 86
2nd Aaron Tanti – 85 (YZ450F)
3rd Brett Metcalfe – 83
4th Jayden Rykers – 69
5th Brock Flynn - 61