The tenth and final round of the Australian MX Nationals will be held at the Coolum Pines Motocross Track this weekend, with New Zealand rider Hamish Harwood again right in the mix.

The Motul MX2 class has produced some of the best racing the Motul MX Nationals has ever seen throughout nine rounds of the championship so far, and this weekend it will all come to a head on the Sunshine Coast.

Australasia’s fastest 250cc pilots will go toe to toe for the final time this season, and currently, there are three riders who are well within contention of the Motul MX2 title – Egan Mastin, Wilson Todd and the rookie from Cairns, Mitchell Evans, with Harwood keeping them honest, although a podium finish is now out of reach for the Kiwi hero.

So far this season, the leading trio have each experienced their fair share of race and round wins between them, but Coolum is the last location where it’s really going to matter.

“Even though I have the championship lead, I’m not producing the results that I need to,” said championship leader Todd.

“I know that I’m capable and even though right now I have more pressure on me than I have had all year, it only motivates me more to bring it home strong in Coolum”.

The MX1 class was wrapped up at round nine last weekend and so the pressure is off for back-to-back champion Dean Ferris on Sunday, with Kirk Gibbs nailing down the runner-up spot, although there is still a fight between Kade Mosig, Todd Waters and Luke Styke to decide the rest of the final podium.

As well as the MX Nationals’ regular MX1 and MX2 classes, a number of other National championships will be awarded this weekend including the Women’s and Veteran’s 2017 Australian titles.

Series promoter Kevin Williams said that entries for round 10 are up on previous years, and that this weekend a handful of new Australian Champions will be crowned at Coolum.

“We’ve been on the Sunshine Coast since Monday preparing for this weekend’s event, and already we have seen many of our competitors joining us,” Williams ssaid.

“We are currently at record entries for the Australian Women’s Championship category, there will be qualifying for MX2, and all of our other championship and support classes are looking very healthy.

“Our competitors have travelled from all corners of the country, including a huge contingent from Western Australia, which is very exciting.

“This weekend we will have seven different categories taking to the track to race for the final time this year, and at the end of it all we will be crowning Australia’s newest champions.”

As well as the large number of riders taking to the track this weekend, Coolum will also mark the first opportunity for Australia’s Veteran Motocross des Nation team to get together ahead of the team departing Australia to head to the United Kingdom for one of the biggest ‘Twin Shock’, ‘Evo’, and ‘Superclass’ events globally being held at Farleigh on September 15-17.

The Australian team which is made up of motorcycling legends such as Craig Anderson, Glen Bell, Dave King, Geoff Ballard and more, are just some of the high profile guests who will be attending round 10 to take part in the Grand Finale festivities.

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Thor MX1 – leading championship standings

1 Dean Ferris (2017 Champion) 633 Points

2 Kirk Gibbs 553 Points

3 Kade Mosig 489 Points

4 Todd Waters 468 Points

5 Luke Styke 455 Points

6 Kyle Peters 431 Points

7 Luke Clout 425 Points

8 Brett Metcalfe 375 Points

9 Nathan Crawford 358 Points

10 Joel Green 300 Points

11 James Alen 280 Points

12 Lachlan Davis 278 Points

13 Dylan Long 250 Points

14 Keiron Hall 233 Points

15 Hamish Harwood 231 Points

Motul MX2 – leading championship standings

1 Wilson Todd 550 Points

2 Egan Mastin 547 Points

3 Mitchell Evans 536 Points

4 Hamish Harwood 479 Points

5 Kyle Webster 446 Points

6 Dylan Wills 431 Points

7 Jayden Rykers 414 Points

8 Jackson Richardson 365 Points

9 Richie Evans 350 Points

10 Joel Evans 313 Points

11 Tomas Ravenhorst 281 Points

12 Ricky Latimer 246 Points

13 Aaron Tanti 232 Points

14 Jayden Conforto 209 Points

15 Lochie Latimer 198