News 16 Oct 2013

High-speed Australian SX tracks present unique challenge for Hill

Mount Gambier winner Josh Hill says it's taken some time to adapt to the fast-paced track layouts of the Australian Supercross Championship in comparison to the more technical circuits in the US.

Josh Hill continues his adaption to Australian Supercross. Image: Grant Reynolds/FiftySix Clix.

Josh Hill continues his adaption to Australian Supercross. Image: Grant Reynolds/FiftySix Clix.

Mount Gambier winner Josh Hill says it’s taken some time to adapt to the fast-paced track layouts of the Australian Supercross Championship in comparison to the more technical circuits in the US.

Hill, who won a heat race at the Minneapolis round of Monster Energy AMA Supercross earlier this year, was impressive in South Australia last weekend to clinch his first main event victory of the season.

The Hart & Huntington/InsureMyRide/Suzuki rider struggled in Darwin’s opening rounds last month, however bike adjustments and additional time to acclimatise to Australia racing saw him climb into title contention last weekend.

“The tracks are a bit different,” Hill explained. “Here they’re more spread out, the jumps are faster and aren’t as steep or as tall as what I was expecting. As well as that there’s more space between the jumps and the corners, so the race pace is higher.

“It’s funny because I’ve been practicing at Kade Mosig’s track, which is more based around a US style track with big, steep jumps, then I come to the races and everything’s more mellow and faster.”

With that presents a challenge in itself, as Hill faces a race against time to have his RM-Z450 set up for the Australian track layouts.

“We’ve only got one set of suspension over here so we’re messing with the clickers a lot to try and find something that works,” he added. “We’ll test some softer set-ups this week and hopefully that’ll help too.

“It’s funny because I watched a bunch of videos of Australian supercrosses before I came down and expected the jumps to be as big and steep – if not bigger – than what we have back home, but this year everything is low and tapered.

“Maybe they’re trying to break everyone into supercross mode from the outdoors, but I hope we see it get steeper this weekend at Phillip Island.”

Hill’s result elevated him to fourth ahead of this weekend’s fourth and fifth double-header rounds at Phillip Island.

Click here to read yesterday’s Race Recap interview with Hill on MotoOnline.com.au.

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