Raceline Pirelli Suzuki press release:

Raceline Pirelli Suzuki has displayed promising results in an epic round one of the MX Nationals series in Horsham over the weekend. With their one-man show in Rhys Carter, the Raceline privateer team displayed consistent results across two motos in a stacked MX2 field.

Carter, who has recently returned from injury, and made the switch to the MX2 class for 2015, showed his speed on the track despite little time on the bike to prepare for round one. After qualifying in an outstanding fifth position, Carter managed a ninth and tenth to eventually deliver the team with an 11th overall for the series opener.

Rhys Carter MX2 – 11th Overall – (9th, 10th)

“Round one was up and down, qualifying went good and I came away with fifth gate pick which was a great way to start the series,” he said. “The first moto was going well – I got a bad start but I came back to fifth and then got cleaned up and dropped back to 12th. I managed to make some passes though and finished in ninth. “In the last moto I got a good start, but I again got cleaned up in the first lap, so I was pretty much in last after that, but found my way back to tenth so it was an interesting day, I’ll call it that.

“I didn’t really know where I was going to be at round one, because I haven’t spent much time riding on the 250 and I’ve been racing a 450 in New Zealand. “Round one was my first race on a 250 since the start of last year, so it’s been a while since jumping on the smaller bike.

“I know where I should have been now so I’m pretty annoyed about where I finished, but it’s all alright we are healthy, we are close on points, and we will just keep ticking along.”

Jesse Wallace – Raceline Pirelli Suzuki Team Manager

“We had a good start in the first race and Rhys was looking pretty good, unfortunately he crashed but he worked his way back up which was great to see,” he said. “Second one Rhys was a bit unlucky he didn’t get such a great start but worked his way back up to tenth so with two top tens for the day we are pretty happy with that.

“The team knows on what we have to work on now. We are going to try a few new ignition maps, and get Rhys back early from New Zealand to do more testing. “We do have to be realistic, he has only had a handful of rides and he’s only had two days worth of testing on the little bike. So we are pretty happy overall in how the day has gone.

“His fitness is fine, you obviously have to be pretty fit to hang on, so it’s more just a lack of ride time on the 250 and being limited to testing. “Hopefully we can sort it all out over the next two weeks and come out stronger at Appin.”

The Raceline Pirelli Suzuki Team will head to Appin on April 12 for round two of the MX Nationals.

To stay updated with all team progress, ‘like’ Raceline on Facebook, follow their Instagram via Raceline_motosport or on Twiter via Raceline_