KTM Australia press release:

KTM Off-Road Racing Team rider Toby Price has wrapped up his Australian enduro cross season with a second-place behind runaway winner and enduro cross specialist, Husqvarna’s Mike Brown, in the weekend’s third and final round of the InsureMyRide Australian Enduro-X Nationals at Melbourne’s Calder Park raceway.

It was the second runner-up finish in as many rounds for Price, who has been the only Australian to take a race win off Brown throughout the series, and took a third and two second-place finishes in Melbourne on his KTM 350 EXC-F.

KTM teammate Tye Simmonds was forced to overcome a bizarre heat race incident in which he was hit by and trapped under a trackside barrier which had been torpedoed by a competitor from another part of the track. Simmons posted sixth on the night, and secured an impressive fourth in the Australian enduro-cross nationals championship, a sport he never knew existed just six months ago!

KTM 300 EXC rider Daniel Sanders show blinding speed when he set the third fastest time in the qualifying shootout, but struggled with mistakes and misfortune in the finals and finished ninth overall, yet still maintained his creditable fifth place in the championship.

Flair Action Sports KTM rider Kristie McKinnon made it two championship round wins for the KTM Freeride 250R and went within just two points of stealing the national title, taking second overall behind Taylor Jones.

McKinnon’s teammate Rhianna Buchanan finished ninth in Melbourne after a horrendous crash, but walked away relatively unscathed, and with seventh in the national championship.

Tye Simmonds – “We had a shocking first heat; the sad part was I had the holeshot and it wasn’t even my fault that I got smashed! Tom McCormack went through two fences and a banner and cleaned me up and it rung my bell pretty good, but that’s the way it goes. We didn’t really pull it back together after that. I got in via the LCQ, and got sixth for the night, and fourth overall in the championship – so we did well to hold on to that and I don’t know how we did! At least I will know for next year what it’s all about and what we’re getting into. Next year I’ll have a track set up and get more time on the bike getting ready for that sort of stuff. It will be good. ”

Toby Price – “Definitely I felt a lot better tonight, in the first two rounds the body wasn’t quite there after Dakar, but tonight I felt like I could push and have a good pace for Brownie. It was a bit of a bummer that I couldn’t quite capitalise on some good starts and keep with him, but at the end of the day we finished second on the night and we’re stoked with that result. Mainly I’m just glad I’m starting to feel like my old self again. I can’t thank all the team enough, Grabbo, and Mick, Mikey and Trav for working hard, and Tim Cole for coming along to the races to help out. It’s been a bloody good series.”

Daniel ‘Chucky’ Sanders – “I had a complete shocker, I just really don’t know how to put it. I had a pretty good practice and got through the heats really clean and had heaps of speed there. I got third in the shootout, but just didn’t get good starts in the mains and spent the night going down and then pushing to catch up. A disastrous night and I feel like I let down heaps of people. They say don’t worry about it and all that, but I have busted my butt all through the off-season and to finish like that is so frustrating. It just wasn’t my night.”

Ben Grabham – “It was a good night for Toby, he showed that he is pretty close to being back to where he should be, and he could actually fight and move forward after some average starts. He got the fastest lap of the night too so that was very promising. We came within seven points of getting second in the championship, which is still awesome for him having come straight from Dakar into this. Tye looked good in practice and holeshot the first heat but someone shot through the infield, took out a massive fence and it landed on his head. I think it knocked him out actually. I told him he didn’t have to ride, but he’s a pretty tough feller, and he kept going. He fought hard for sixth overall tonight and got fourth in the championship, which is pretty good for a guy who didn’t even know what enduro-cross was a few months ago! Daniel was as fast and strong as everyone but just made little mistakes that compounded tonight, but he kept enough points to hang on to fifth place, so we got third fourth and fifth in the championship. We like to win, but the riders, the mechanics and all of us gave it everything so that’s not too bad for us.”

For more information on KTM motorcycles visit www.ktm.com.au or www.facebook.com/KTMAustralia.