Australian Michael Byrne podiums at Redbud in 2008
Photos: [Left]: Australian Michael Byrne at an earlier round in the AMA 450 Championship at Hangtown; Byrne won hi sfirst podium for the year at RedBud on 4 July and went on to finish 4th overall in the 2008 AMA 450 Championship (By Peter Coward)
Australian Michael Byrne's first podium finish in 2008 at RedBud in the USA
On 6 July 2008, Australian motocross rider Michael Byrne finished on the podium in the AMA 450 Championship at the RedBud Track ‘n Trail motocross track aboard a Suzuki RM-Z450.
After battling with injuries and recovering from a knee reconstruction, the Rockstar/Makita Suzuki rider from Rockhampton in Queensland continued to improve with each outing in 2008. At RedBud he finished 4-4 to finish third overall behind James Stewart (1-1 Kawasaki KX450F) and Andrew Short (3-3 Honda CRF450R).
Suzuki rider Mike Alessi finished second to Stewart in Moto 1. In Moto 2, Stewart shot to the early lead off the start, breaking Alessi’s streak of seven consecutive holeshots. But four turns into the race Alessi crashed hard after the ski jump and laid on the ground for several minutes, causing AMA Officials to red flag the race.
2008 Steel City Toyota Motocross (450cc) Championship (Final Round) | MathewV’s Sports Media & Games
The second moto restart saw Stewart again grab the holeshot ahead of Short in second and was pulling away from Ferry, who was running in third. Albertson was running in fourth before getting passed by Wey, Cooper and Byrne.
Cooper dropped back and left the battle between Wey and Byrne, which would also determine the final podium position. Byrne would get the best of this battle after going around the outside of Wey before the end of lap nine.
The overall podium was Stewart, Short, and Byrne with a season-best result. Stewart would go onto convincingly win the Championship on 600 points ahead of Tim Ferry (414), Short (392) and Byrne (377) – his best ever result since moving to the United States in 2001.
Following RedBud, Byrne podiumed again at Unadilla (2nd) on 20 July, Washougal (3rd) on 27 July and Spring Creek (3rd) 17 August.
Results AMA 450 Pro Motocross, RedBud 2008
RedBud – 4 July
1 James Stewart, Kawasaki KX450F (1–1)
2 Andrew Short Honda CRF450R (3-3)
3 Michael Byrne (AUS) Suzuki RM-Z450 (4-4)
4 Nicholas Wey KTM 450 SX-F (5-5)
5 Josh Summey Yamaha YZ450F (9-7).
Final Overall Championship
1 James Stewart, Kawasaki KX450F (600 points)
2 Tim Ferry, Kawasaki KX450F (414)
3 Andrew Short, Honda CRF450R (392)
4 Michael Byrne Suzuki (AUS) RM-Z450 (377)
5 Cody Cooper (NZ) Suzuki RM-Z450 (266)
Credits:
MathewV’s Sports Media & Games
