TEN YEAR TURN-BACK: 8th to the 14th of July 2004

Queensland's Echo Valley held the final round of the Shell Advance / Sunshine State MX Series on the weekend (Jul-11). A total of 340 riders had entered 380 motorcycles to compete for prize money and the possibility for a few to become the 2004 Shell Advance Series Champions.

With a few showers on Saturday the crowd was kept to a minimum but when the blue sky turned up on Sunday so did the spectators. The spectator area near the control tower was filled with smiling locals. Guest appearances by CDR Boost Yamaha's Troy Carroll and Whales Kawasaki's Daniel Reardon in the Pro Open and Pro Lites Classes respectively as well as Serco Team riders Robbie Marshall and Adam Cini made sure the crowd would be entertained.

The track had been prepped to its highest standard and was in great condition on Saturday morning with just the right amount of water in the surface to hold off the dust. However showers on Saturday night made the track a little too wet for Sunday morning's practice but with a little help from the sun it was fine for the racing

Pro Lites Moto 1: With a few national competitors competing in the Pro Lites it was going to be a hard race to win for anybody so the start was crucial.

Peter Rabjones #21 got the holeshot and led for the first half of lap while Reardon / Adam Cini and Robbie Marshall sliced through the field. By the end of Lap3 it was Reardon leading Chris Urquhart - Cini - Marshall and Ben Schodel in the top 5. Throughout the next couple of laps Robbie Marshall pulled off some incredibly fast laps to pass everybody that was between him and Reardon.

While pressuring Reardon for the lead Marshall faltered on a small but slippery tabletop jump busting his bike and causing a DNF in the process. While the leaders were dicing Adam Cini was able to catch up close behind, so with fellow SERCO racer Marshall watching from the sidelines Cini forced his way past Reardon into first only to lose it on the l ast corner handing Reardon the Moto1 win and 25 points. Cini placed second and Chris Urquhart third.

Pro Lites Moto 2: As it did in moto1 the holeshot went to Peter Rabjones only this time he had full control of the lead until he was passed by Daniel Reardon on the main straight while starting Lap2. Rabjones looked over at Reardon while he was passing him and just shook his head as if to say "What do I have to do". On lap 3 #99 Braith Hoopert's KTM went up in a puff of smoke causing him a DNF.

By the end of Lap 5 Marshall had moved into second and was looking for revenge after his moto1 mistake. Lap 9 and Marshall was all over Reardon with the two of them trading places quite a few times during the lap. Adam Cini's YZ250F was starting to blow smoke as he pushed really hard to catch Reardon. In the end it was Marshall taking the win, with Reardon - Cini and a great ride from Travis Regeling to finish fourth. Reardon took the overall win with a total of 47points.

Pro Open Moto1: Due to an empty weekend in his competition calendar Boost Yamaha's Troy Carroll competed at Echo Valley. Throughout practice Troy showed his skills by lapping the wet circuit with relative ease.

Carroll #96 seemed to get the holeshot only to have a cheap shot put on him in the first corner by #13 Jason Watson. Watson tried to take out Carroll's front wheel in a failed attempt to put him out of the race (my opinion backed by images! - see main photo). Once the field made it to turn 4, #7 Travis Regeling was in the lead with #12 Ben Schodel - #96 T Carroll - #77 Cayle Beauchamp and #50 Chris Urquhart in the top 5.

By the end of lap3 Carroll was leading Regeling and Urquhart with Carroll's lap times in the low 1:40's. Lap4 and #4 Brett Bellairs made an error in one of the tight downhill corners forcing him back from 8th to 11th. By the half way mark of the race Carroll had pulled a 20sec lead and didn't show any signs of slowing, consistently lapping in the low 1:40's.

Pro Open Moto2: Moto2 and Troy Carroll took the holeshot this time with no intimidation tactics by anyone. Urquhart is in 2nd with Schodel in 3rd. At the end of Lap2 Carroll has built an 8 second buffer over the rest of the field. Lap 4 and Carroll's lap time was 1:39.2 which compares well to 1:44 by now second placed Travis Regeling #7.

Lap7 and #4 Brett Bellairs are having a great race against #111 Scott Bishop for 5th position. Lap 10 and Carroll is 45 sec in front of 2nd place Regeling and has lapped everybody up to 7th. At the checker's it was #96 Carroll first - #7 Regeling second - #12 Schodel third. Carroll scored 50 points and took home the winners cheque.

Caldecott aiming for 5th Australian Safari crown: