2019 ISLAND CLASSIC
P92
Feature
side on 152 from Morris (150), Hayes
and Shawn Giles, who tied with Hayes
at 141 but was relegated to fourth after
Hayes' race-four win. Team USA took a
best-ever result of second with 634 with
Team New Zealand third with 460.
For Team USA captain, Dave Crus-
sell, the meeting was a resounding success even
though the win still eludes the United States.
"It's been a pretty interesting weekend," Crus-
sell said. "This weekend started 364 days after
last year's event. We had a taste of running at the
front, so we've been busy building bikes, getting
good riders, and we've put together a
really good team. We knew coming into
this year the odds were stacked against
us but we had good riders who could
be at the pointy end—although there's
12 Aussies who can be there, too. We
needed every one of our guys to finish
each race for the points, they needed half of them.
"Coming here we knew we could be in it for the
win. The way this has progressed, it's given us a
little sniff of the team win. Having Hayes win the
last race was great, so we know we can get up
there next year." CN
Team USA's British-born
captain Dave Crussell
has been coming to
Phillip Island since the
late 1990s and has no
plans to stop racing the
event just yet.
