About 5000 spectators lined the fences to witness intense race action at the sandy Wonthaggi track in Victoria, the opening round of the Australian ProMX Championships at the weekend.
The highly-anticipated debut of Team HRC Honda Racing’s Kyle Webster did not disappoint, as Webster set a blistering time in MX1 qualifying, backing that up by also setting the fastest time in the Top 10 Pole Shootout.
With pole position, Webster holeshot moto 1 and led early, before going down and handing the lead to the defending champion, Luke Clout on his CDR Yamaha Monster Energy machine.
His CDR team-mate Aaron Tanti moved to second, with Todd Waters in third aboard the Husqvarna Australia FC450.
Webster mounted an incredible charge through the field to close up to the rear of race leader Clout, but, with two laps to go, Webster pushed the front wheel in a turn leaving Clout clear to take the moto win ahead of Webster in 2nd, Tanti in 3rd, Todd Waters 4th and Brett Metcalfe in 5th.
Moto two again saw blistering pace from Webster throughout the opening laps, as Tanti ran second, followed by a fierce battle with Metcalfe, Factory KTM’s Kirk Gibbs and Waters rounding out the top five spots.
As the race progressed, Clout charged from outside the top five through to second and take advantage of a late race crash by Webster to take maximum points from Round 1 with the second moto win. Tanti finished 2nd, Waters 3rd, with Gibbs in 4th and Webster remounting to finish 5th.
In the MX2 (250cc) class, the riders did not take long to show that this was going to be an intensely-fought battle in 2022.
In MX2 moto 1, it was Team HRC Honda Racing’s Wilson Todd who found his way to the lead after early race leader, Gas Gas-mounted Noah Ferguson would crash out of proceedings early.
Todd extended a small lead early, only to be challenged for the entire moto by Yamalube Yamaha Racing’s Alex Larwood. Larwood matched the pace of Todd but remained several bike lengths behind throughout the moto, with the pair finishing 1-2 at the flag.
Serco Yamaha’s Jesse Dobson rode a constant moto to finish 3rd, with his team-mate Bailey Malkiewic in 4th and Haruki Yokohama rounding out the top five on his Empire Kawasaki.
Moto 2 was a familiar affair, with Todd leading from the early stages and Larwood charging from a poor start to close in and match the lap times of the leader in second, trailing the previous MX2 champion for multiple laps around the sandy Wonthaggi track.
Late in the moto, Todd was too strong and took the chequered flag, ahead of Larwood in 2nd and Malkiewicz in 3rd, Jesse Dobson 4th and Ryder Kingsford 5th.
New Zealand’s Brodie Connolly managed 11-12 finishes in the two MX2 races and settled for 10th overall for the round.
The women’s (MXW) class and women’s national Motocross racing made a spectacular return at Wonthaggi.
Competitors came from all over the country, and from New Zealand too, to reignite the national level of women’s competition, all eyes were on the stars of the sport to witness the next generation of talent take on the established competitors in the MXW field.
Ride Red Honda’s Emma Millesevic took the qualifying pole position in MXW and set the pace early, showing that she would be the one to beat heading into the races during the day.
Moto 1 however, saw new Factory Yamaha signing and Yamalube team rider Charli Cannon take the holeshot and stretch a lead from the front.
First-lap chaos ensued behind Cannon with several contenders going down in the first section of the track including Maddy Healey and Ebony Harris.
Cannon took the moto win, ahead of Millesevic in 2nd and Ride Red Honda team-mate Maddy Brown in 3rd.
Moto 2 saw Cannon again lead early, however this time Millesevic and Brown battled late in the race, with Cannon taking the moto win and Millesevic maintaining 2nd to the flag ahead of Brown in 3rd.
New Zealand’s Amie Roberts finished the day ranked seventh overall in the women’s class.
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STANDINGS AFTER ROUND ONE:
