Racing at Canberra’s Fairbairn Park Motorsport Complex saw big shake-ups to this year’s 2025 Australian ProMX Championships as the class front-runners tightened their grip at the head of each respective category.
Riders experienced the full spectrum of conditions at round six, as a cold, clear morning gave way to overcast skies, and then chains of heavy showers ensued in the afternoon.
Despite the weather, the class leaders shone brightest, as Australian Jed Beaton and New Zealander Brodie Connolly extended their points lead in the MX1 and MX2 classes respectively.
Additionally, Kayd Kingsford continued to control the MX3 category (despite ceding a moto win to Jet Alsop), and Archie Black dominated the MX65 Futures Class.
Facing a near-full gate of MX2 contenders and contrasting race conditions, Polyflor Honda Racing team rider Connolly was in a class of his own as he rocketed to another perfect day and extended his series points lead.
The defending Australian champion from Tauranga took control of the qualifying session early and never relinquished it, despite some desperate laps by his nearest rivals.
The Kiwi’s quickest time of 1:30.788 was 0.53s faster than Ryder Kingsford (Monster Energy Yamalube Yamaha Racing), with KTM Racing Team’s Byron Dennis another 0.28s back.
Connolly spearheaded the first Pirelli MX2 moto from start to finish, seeing off a sniping attack from KTM Racing Team’s Noah Ferguson midway through to finish with a buffer of 6.4 seconds.
Kingsford worked his way forward from a P9 start to take third behind Ferguson, while Alex Larwood (NFAL Honda Racing) rebounded from a low-side crash to finish P4, and Dennis P5.
Despite rain creating a treacherous race track for the second Pirelli MX2 moto, Connolly again powered to the holeshot and was untroubled as he coasted to a 9.4-second win.
Larwood overcame goggle issues to work his way to a hard-fought second place, ahead of Dennis in P3. Monster Energy Yamalube Yamaha Racing’s Jayce Cosford rode consistently on a technical surface to finish P4, ahead of Ferguson in fifth.
Connolly, Larwood, and Ferguson stood on the round podium, while in the points standings, the Honda rider has a comfortable 37pt margin over Kingsford, with Ferguson a further 32pts back.
Meanwhile, in the MX1 class, Beaton was the standout of the field at Canberra, topping every session and building a comfortable points buffer in the championship fight with two rounds remaining.
Beaton stormed to an emphatic AMX Pole Shootout win after qualifying fastest, with his time of 1:31.466 a full two seconds clear of Nathan Crawford (KTM Racing Team) in P2.
Defending champion Kyle Webster (Boost Mobile Honda Racing) finished third, while Wilson Todd (Repco Honda Racing) and Luke Clout (Penrite Racing Empire Kawasaki) completed the top five.
As ominous clouds gathered near the Fairbairn Park circuit, Beaton overcame a mid-pack start to take a crucial victory in the opening MX1 moto.
It was KTM Racing Team’s Kirk Gibbs who launched to the holeshot, however, as the championship leader found himself outside the top 10 and Webster outside the top five during the early stages.
It would only take a handful of laps for the Yamaha rider to muscle his way past early leader Crawford, then put in some high-intensity laps and capture a 10.9-second win. Crawford finished a distant P2, as Webster clawed his way to third. Todd and Gibbs completed the top five.
Heavy rain made the second moto a challenge, but Beaton was unfazed as he charged to another win and capped off a perfect day. Todd secured the final MX1 class holeshot, but Beaton took the lead within a couple of laps, then checked out by 20.7 seconds over the Honda rider.
Crawford stayed composed to finish third, ahead of Todd Waters (Raceline Husqvarna TDUB Racing) and an embattled Webster, who crashed multiple times in the greasy conditions.
Beaton stood atop the round podium, flanked by Crawford and Todd, while the Victorian extended his points lead to 29pts over Webster, with Crawford a further 15 markers back.
The penultimate round of the Penrite ProMX Championship, presented by AMX Superstores, will be held in Toowoomba, Qld on July 27.
Photo courtesy Honda, Marc Jones
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