KTM Australia press release:

The KTM Motocross Racing Team’s Kirk Gibbs is tonight holding the coveted red plate of the MX Nationals Championship Leader for the very first time in his professional career after he dominated the opening round of the 2015 series at Horsham on the weekend.

Gibbs qualified second fastest for the round, then on the back of two excellent starts, launched into early leads in both 30-minute motos, and was never headed in either.
His closest challenge in the first race came from none other than his teammate Luke Styke, who topped off a brilliant runner-up finish in Moto One with an arguably more spectacular ride the second.

In Race Two he toiled his way through to fifth place despite finding himself outside the top 10 coming out of the first turn – and it was enough to secure a podium finish for his very first MX1 national championship race in Australia (prior to Super Pole points), behind Gibbs and Kade Mosig.

Rob Twyerould, KTM Motocross Racing Team Manager – “It’s brilliant, for Gibbsy to have the red plate for the first time is pretty amazing. The day started off really good with Kirk unlucky not to win Super Pole. He made a couple of little errors, but still knocked nearly a second of his qualifying time. Luke just didn’t quite get a clean lap, but he used his frustration in the race and came out of the start three bike lengths ahead of everyone. Gibbsy was then in the lead after a couple of laps and it was just amazing to watch the boys go one to around the track for the rest of the moto in their neon orange gear.
In Moto 2 Gibbsy had the lead after a lap and rode very sensibly. Luke got a great jump but his gate didn’t drop all the way, and his back wheel hit it and it nearly threw him over the handlebars. That put him about 12th around the first corner, but he got through pretty quick and on the first lap and he got up to seventh or eighth, and then just worked hard, plugging away and at the end he was unlucky not to get Bopping. It was a huge effort and I’m really proud of him. He was suffering, he’s been a little bit sick and off the bike for a week, but he never gave in, it was really impressive.
It’s only the first round, so we have to keep a lid on it and be realistic, but we’ll enjoy this for a little while, then focus on the next round.”

Kirk Gibbs – “It feels good, I was only one point off being perfect for the day. I got a good start and put myself in good positions to lead some laps and ride my own lines, which was nice. I was really comfortable today with the track and everything and my bike was awesome, so I’m really happy, but like everything there’s always next week. So I’ll just keep building it and keep getting after it. There are still a lot of rounds a lot of racing to go so anything can happen, so we’ll just keep our head down but up, and keep moving forward.”

Luke Styke – “I feel like my first 450 race in Australia went well. There were some people out there making it hard for me to get a lap in, but I put that behind me and got the holeshot in moto one, which felt great. I just tried to chip away and not do anything too stupid in the first moto. Gibbsy and I pulled a bit of a gap, and I felt it was a good race. Going into the second one I intended to get a good position again, but I had a problem with the start and came out of the first turn in 12th place or something and fought my way back to fifth. I definitely had to have a dig in that last one. It was a hard Moto but I’m looking forward to the second round and just keeping on building.”

In MX2 Racing: Dylan Wills was the highest KTM finisher in sixth place, one point ahead of Factory Support rider Caleb Ward, who shook off a few mistakes and a 12th place finish in the opening moto to scythe through the pack after a terrible moto 2 start and salvage an incredible fifth place.

Caleb Ward – “I think I had some nerves at the start of the first race. I didn’t get a real good start, and then I was coming through but fell twice. The second time my gearlever and foot peg filled up with sticky mud and I couldn’t change gears, so I had to do two thirds of the race in third gear! Getting 12th was frustrating, but then in the second my boot bumped the gearshift into neutral off the start and everyone shot ahead of me so I was like dead last into the first corner. But I found a few decent lines, and spent the whole race coming through the pack. I passed some pretty fast guys and managed to get back into fifth, so I felt I rode pretty good on that one, I just needed a start.”

In MXD, racing was shortened to just one moto after a crash caused the second race to be red flagged. KTM support rider Jayden Rykers (Mandurah City KTM) put in an ironman effort to claim a podium finish in the class minus his seat, while Wayde Carter finished fifth.

Jayden Rykers – “It felt great to score a podium here. In the first three rounds the tracks aren’t that great, so it’s important to score good solid points. I got a top-10 start and started to pick off a few other guys, and by the second lap I was second and reeling in first place. But suddenly my seat came off, so I had to stand up for 15 minutes of the race. I dropped one place on the last lap and finished third. It wasn’t easy!”