Husqvarna and Yamaha shared the spoils at round six of the Australian Motocross Championships at the weekend.
DPH Motorsports Husqvarna’s Todd Waters (pictured here) now heads the MX1 class and fellow Husqvarna rider Wilson Todd heads the MX2 class, but it was Yamalube Yamaha’s Jay Wilson who claimed victory in the MX2 class at the Pirelli MX Nationals event at Gympie, in Queensland, on Sunday.
Wilson remains third overall in the MX2 class after six of 10 rounds for the series.
It’s worth noting that Rotorua’s Josh Bourke-Palmer (Yamaha) finished fifth overall in the 125cc Gold Cup class, the weekend’s second of three rounds for that series sharing the programme with the MX1 and MX2 racing.
He is ninth overall for the series and that’s even after he didn’t contest round one.
MX1 CLASS
Monster Energy CDR Yamaha’s Kirk Gibbs snared the holeshot as the gate dropped on the Thor MX1 class, with Penrite Honda Racing’s Brett Metcalfe and DPH Motosports’ Todd Waters in second and third respectively and the series leader after five rounds, Luke Clout, was in fourth.
Hayden Mellross, second in the championship, had poor start and was outside the top 10. Waters took the lead from Gibbs before the end of the opening lap. Metcalfe took advantage of a mistake by Gibbs to move into second. Clout also took advantage of Gibbs’ mistake to move into third.
Waters rode on to eventually take the win, with Metcalfe runner-up.
Team-mates Gibbs and Clout maintained station for the duration to finish third and fourth respectively, more than 20 seconds behind Metcalfe, while Mellross made a sold climb through the field to finish fifth. Superpole winner Jesse Dobson was sixth.
Moto two saw Dylan Long and Lawson Bopping hit turn one first with Todd Waters close by and he was soon in front. Clout crashed on the second corner, lucky to land in the soft loam, leaving himself a lot of work to do.
It took Gibbs until the 20-minute mark to snatch second from Mellross, while Metcalfe also started to apply pressure. Clout had made his way back from last to tenth.
With a few laps to go Gibbs made the move past Waters into the lead and then went toe to toe until the before Mellross and Metcalfe closed in to make it a four-way battle for the lead and the round overall win. As close as they got, they would maintain those positions until the flag.
Dobson came home fifth ahead of Long. Clout minimised the damage from his crash to climb back to seventh by the chequered flag.
Waters 1-2 was enough to give him the overall round win while Gibbs’ 3-1 was good for second while Brett Metcalfe was third overall.
MX2 CLASS
Moto one for the two-part MX2 back to back format saw fastest qualifier and current championship leader Todd get the holeshot from the inside gate and go unchallenged for a dominant win.
Aaron Tanti passed Kyle Webster early in the race to claim second while Webster was left to fend of Tanti’s Serco Yamaha team-mate Nathan Crawford for third for most of the moto. Crawford crashed on the final lap but was able to hold off Bailey Malkiewicz and Jay Wilson for fourth. Wilson had been battling for the lead in the opening laps before crashing came home sixth.
The second moto of the double-header saw a carbon copy of the moto one start with Wilson Todd once again coming out of turn one with Jay Wilson, Crawford, Tanti and Webster in tow. Jay Wilson once again threw away another opportunity with a crash while running second.
Wilson Todd was on his A game though and once again was never headed, despite a challenge from Crawford, Crawford eventually crashing trying a make a pass on the red plate holder and dropped back through the field. Webster inherited second after Tanti dropped his bike to claim second at the conclusion of the ten-minute moto while Crawford rebounded for third ahead of Tanti. Jay Wilson recovered to claim another fifth.
When the gates dropped on the third and final MX2 race of the day it was Husqvarna privateer Joel Evans who drag raced the field to the first turn grabbing a huge holeshot aboard his 250 two stroke, with Luke Reardon in second and Wilson Todd in third.
Unfortunately for Evans the lead was short lived as he hit the deck a few corners in the race along with championship leader Todd, leaving Reardon to take the race lead.
Former MX2 champion and current Australian SX2 champ Jay Wilson did not allow Reardon to complete the opening lap in the lead as he pushed through to take the lead and quickly went to work on separating himself from the field.
Webster, Crawford and Will’s also went to work on moving around Reardon, while Todd went into full championship damage control picking off riders one by one and by the half way mark of the moto was already inside the top ten.
By the closing stages of the race, Wilson continued to lead, but had plenty of pressure from a fast finishing Crawford, with Wilson hanging on to win by just over one second.
Crawford’s team-mate Tanti crossed the line in 3rd, just ahead of Webster, with Wilson Todd finishing in a fine 5th position to maintain his championship lead.
Jay Wilson as a result of his win in the final moto, claimed the round win, ahead of a hard charging Wilson Todd in second, with Nathan Crawford rounding out the podium.
MX DEVELOPMENT (Under-19) CLASS
Noah Ferguson took the holeshot in moto one of the MXD class with Mason Semmens, Championship leader Regan Duffy and New Zealand’s Maximus Purvis hot on his heels.
Mason Semmens demoted Ferguson by lap two as the duo battled closely for the lead as Regan Duffy dropped back to fourth as Purvis moved forward.
Purvis was on a mission though and made his way to the front and went onto a six-second win. Duffy was dropping fastest laps as he clawed his way back from his mistake to take second ahead of Ferguson after taking some smart line choices on the last lap.
Semmens finished fourth with Jai Walker fifth.
Duffy then turned the table in the second moto, taking the race win to claim another round win and increase his championship lead, Purvis finished the moto in second position with Mason Rowe in third.
Purvis finished the day second overall while Noah Ferguson claimed his maiden MXD podium result finishing in 3rd for the round.
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RESULTS AND STANDINGS:
MX1 – Superpole
1 Jesse Dobson – 1:59.656
2 Luke Clout +1:59.866
3 Kirk Gibbs +2:00.924
4 Brett Metcalfe +2:01.014
5 Todd Waters +2:21.576
MX1 Moto 1 – Top Ten
1 Todd Waters 14 Laps Race Time: 29:25.020
2 Brett Metcalfe +0.773
3 Kirk Gibbs +23.767
4 Luke Clout +24.851
5 Hayden Mellross +37.623
6 Jesse Dobson +47.614
7 Caleb Ward +51.167
8 Jayden Rykers +1:07.289
9 Richie Evans +1:23.398
10 Connor Tierney +1:29.192
Fastest Lap: Todd Waters – 2:03.970
MX1 Moto 2 – Top Ten
1 Kirk Gibbs 14 Laps – Race Time: 29:55.384
2 Todd Waters +0.679
3 Hayden Mellross +1.855
4 Brett Metcalfe +3.307
5 Jesse Dobson +15.624
6 Dylan Long +19.231
7 Luke Clout +31.941
8 Jayden Rykers +32.080
9 Caleb Ward +45.700
10 Richie Evans +1:02.154
Fastest Lap: Todd Waters – 2:05.823
MX1 Round 6 Overall Top Ten
- Todd Waters – 67
- Kirk Gibbs – 65
- Brett Metcalfe – 60
- Hayden Mellross – 56
- Luke Clout – 52
- Jesse Dobson – 51
- Jayden Rykers – 46
- Caleb Ward – 46
- Richie Evans – 43
- Dylan Long – 42
MX1 Championship Top Ten After Round 6
- Todd Waters – 332 Pts
- Luke Clout – 329 Pts
- Hayden Mellross – 327 Pts
- Jayden Rykers – 253 Pts
- Justin Rodbell – 24 Pts
- Kirk Gibbs – 245 Pts
- Brett Metcalfe – 241 Pts
- Jesse Dobson – 227 Pts
- Richie Evans – 217 Pts
- Erki Kahro – 190 Pts
MX2 – Timed Qualifying
1 Wilson Todd 1:58.538
2 Nathan Crawford 1:59.300
3 Jay Wilson 1:59.491
4 Aaron Tanti 2:00.394
5 Kyle Webster 2:01.055
6 Bailey Malkiewicz 2:02.047
7 Isaac Ferguson 2:02.539
8 Dylan Wills 2:03.321
9 Tomas Ravenhorst 2:03.336
10 Morgan Fogarty 2:04.256
MX2 – Back to Back Race 1 Top Ten
1 Wilson Todd 7 Laps – Race Time: 14:42.760
2 Aaron Tanti +3.244
3 Kyle Webster +8.533
4 Nathan Crawford +16.917
5 Bailey Malkiewicz +21.017
6 Jay Wilson +21.830
7 Dylan Wills +33.230
8 Cooper Pozniak +40.975
9 Joel Evans +42.885
10 Isaac Ferguson +43.419
Fastest Lap: Wilson Todd – 2:03.718
MX2 – Back to Back Race 2 Top Ten
1 Wilson Todd 7 Laps – Race Time: 14:49.408
2 Kyle Webster +4.477
3 Nathan Crawford +10.396
4 Aaron Tanti +12.672
5 Jay Wilson +13.589
6 Dylan Wills +26.099
7 Morgan Fogarty +27.054
8 Isaac Ferguson +34.180
9 Bailey Malkiewicz +35.273
10 Cooper Pozniak +51.539
Fastest Lap: Wilson Todd – 2:04.020
MX2 – Moto 3 – Top Ten
1 Jay Wilson 9 Laps – Race Time: 19:20.620
2 Nathan Crawford +1.057
3 Aaron Tanti +3.006
4 Kyle Webster +13.190
5 Wilson Todd +33.362
6 Dylan Wills +36.061
7 Bailey Malkiewicz +40.524
8 Morgan Fogarty +50.981
9 Luke Reardon +56.701
10 Ricky Latimer +1:02.519
Fastest Lap: Nathan Crawford – 2:06.677
MX2 Round 6 Overall Top Ten
- Jay Wilson – 61 Pts
- Wilson Todd – 61 Pts
- Nathan Crawford – 60 Pts
- Aaron Tanti – 60 Pts
- Kyle Webster – 60 Pts
- Dylan Wills – 50 Pts
- Bailey Malkiewicz – 48 Pts
- Morgan Fogarty – 43 Pts
- Isaac Ferguson – 39 Pts
- Tomas Ravenhorst – 38 Pts
MX2 Championship Top Ten After Round 6
- Wilson Todd – 344 Pts
- Kyle Webster – 320 Pts
- Jay Wilson – 319 Pts
- Nathan Crawford – 272 Pts
- Aaron Tanti – 272 Pts
- Dylan Wills – 256 Pts
- Bailey Malkiewicz – 246 Pts
- Ricky Latimer – 209 Pts
- Cooper Pozniak – 206 Pts
- Riley Dukes – 202 Pts
MX Development – Timed Qualifying
1 Regan Duffy – 2:02.150
2 Noah Ferguson – 2:02.454
3 Maximus Purvis – 2:02.454
4 Rhys Budd – 2:02.951
5 Mason Semmens – 2:03.794
6 Brodie Ellis – 2:04.167
7 Liam Walsh – 2:04.763
8 Mason Rowe – 2:05.351
9 Jai Walker – 2:05.455
10 Jack Kukas – 2:05.848
MXD Round 6 Overall Top Ten
- Regan Duffy – 67 Pts
- Maximus Purvis – 67 Pts
- Noah Ferguson – 56 Pts
- Mason Rowe – 54 Pts
- Jayce Cosford – 53 Pts
- Jai Walker – 49 Pts
- Tye Jones – 46 Pts
- Brodie Ellis – 45 Pts
- Liam Walsh – 44 Pts
- Mackenzie O’Bree – 41 Pts
MXD Championship Top Ten After Round 6
- Regan Duffy – 356 Pts
- Maximus Purvis – 339 Pts
- Rhys Budd – 293 Pts
- Brodie Ellis – 263 Pts
- Mason Rowe – 261 Pts
- Noah Ferguson – 253 Pts
- Jack Kukas – 233 Pts
- Jayce Cosford – 231 Pts
- Jai Walker – 230 Pts
- Liam Walsh – 223 Pts