Image: Jeff Crow.

MX1

Kale Makeham (Team Motul Suzuki) – 9th overall:
It was a good day at Appin and there are plenty of positives to take away. I still had a silly little crash that cost me a top overall result, but it was a big step forward from Horsham for sure. I qualified for Super Pole which was a little unexpected this early in the season. I have watched it from the sidelines the last couple of years while racing MX2 and always thought it was a cool concept. It was one of my goals to make Super Pole this year and it to get the first one under the belt early was a great feeling. I got off to a good start in the opening moto and was sitting in third until about half way before I made a silly little mistake and tucked the front end. I finished the race in tenth and was a little frustrated after having a big gap over the riders behind me before the tip over. We made some changes to the bike between the two races and we went in the right direction for sure and the bike was unreal. I managed to work my way through the field after a bad start to finish seventh. It was a good solid 30-minute moto with no mistakes or crashes and gave me a good gauge of where I am at.

Kade Mosig (CDR Yamaha) – 1st overall:
I’m stoked. I didn’t ride great in that last one but Mike kept me informed on the pit board as to what was going on and what I needed to do and we made it happen. I rode pretty tight there at the finish but I wasn’t going to let this slide and I wanted this round win pretty bad. It’s nice to see the results starting to roll in for both myself, Daniel and the whole team as everyone has worked so hard to make this happen. I’m really enjoying my time with this team and the CDR Yamaha YZ450F is an amazing bike. Thank you to everyone on the team, I won’t forget this day for a long time.

Dan Reardon (CDR Yamaha) – 4th overall:
I tell you, it feels nice to get a good start and be able to ride my own race. Every race so far I seem to be working my way through the back after an early incident but to get out front in moto two and just put my head down and go for it was just what I needed. The bike was again working well on the weekend and as a team, it was a great result for CDR. Congratulations to Kade on a great day and hopefully both of us can keep this momentum going from here on.

Kirk Gibbs (KTM Motocross Racing Team) – 2nd overall:
Qualifying went good, I qualified fastest and felt really well. I got the holeshot in the first moto, but then just pushed a little too hard around the second turn and lost the front. After that, it was pick it up and into damage control – just go as hard as I could right to the end. Although it was really disappointing to go down in the first turn it still wasn’t too bad. Let’s hope this is one of my bad days, I had my back brake fade away about 10 min into the second moto, so, trying to ride this track with just a front brake was pretty tricky, but I was still good enough to even close the gap there on Dan. I just had to ride the best I could with what I had. But hats off to the team, the boys had to work very hard between motos because I bent the bike up a little bit.

Luke Styke (KTM Motocross Racing Team) – 3rd overall:
I feel like it wasn’t my track this weekend. With my lines I felt like I couldn’t ride the bike as fast as I wanted to ride, so I guess it was a good weekend. I’m looking forward to some sand tracks coming up in the next couple of rounds. Things are going well, but it’s a long championship, and we’ve just got to keep building.

Cody Cooper (Penrite Honda Racing) – 10th overall:
I rode terrible and tight, the team deserves better and I am disappointed to say the least. I am flying home today and will change up my routine in an effort to shake of the gremlins.

Ford Dale (Penrite Honda Racing) – 21st overall:
I felt great going into the weekend, testing has gone well and I we did some great riding. In the first moto I fell with Mossy and Gibbs. After I got up I started pushing and was riding hard and came down again. The second moto was worse as I didn’t get up from another first turn crash.

Lawson Bopping (DPH Motorsport Peter Stevens Yamaha) – 6th overall:
When I came in at the end of both motos, I wasn’t all that tired, I just wasn’t really fast enough at the finish. But I stayed on my bike which is good and it gave us something to work off. I just need to be able to keep the intensity from the start and take it all the way through the moto I think. My one-lap speed is good, but I just need to be able to ride faster for longer. But it’s a tough field, with all the guys riding great. I’ll get back home and work on a few things and keep chipping away at it.

Jesse Dobson (Husqvarna) – 5th overall:
We stayed off the ground and got our ship together, it was good. We went to Super Pole, but I made a few mistakes and ended up coming out with fifth, but I was happy with that, just to get a good gate choice. The first moto we had a little crash battling with Kale Makeham for fifth about half way, but rebounded and finished behind Gibbsy. In the second one we had an okay start and got caught up behind Boppo for a few laps and just ran out of time to get Mosig by the end of the moto. But overall it’s good, I’m quite happy, everything is working and we’ve kind of ironed out those little mistakes from round one and the result was there.

Aaron Tanti (Craig Anderson Racing Husqvarna) – 11th overall:
I got 13th and 11th for the day. I was running top five for a little while in the first moto, but I must have been holding on too tight and I really hit a wall with my arms and faded back. In the second I ran around eighth off the start, but I made a few mistakes and dropped back to 13th. And the second half of the moto I really put my head down and made a charge, and ended up finishing one place behind Cody Cooper so, my top 10 goal will have to wait another round.

Image: Jeff Crow.

MX2

Luke Clout (Serco Yamaha) – 1st overall:
I was pretty determined to win this round and get that red plate back. It’s my home track so I needed to get it done and get back up front. Jay rode really well today and I had a great time racing him. We were really close in speed so it was always tight but it was fair and it was a good battle. Next round is at Broadford in two weeks so there is no time to rest. We still have eight rounds to go and leading the championship only means something if you win it at the end.

Jed Beaton (Serco Yamaha) – 4th overall:
It was a tough weekend for me as I wasn’t getting great starts and you really need them at a track like this. When you are back in the pack you are always at the mercy of what happens around you and both times I got caught in other riders’ problems. Still, I was able to salvage some reasonable results and keep myself close in the championship but between now and the next round I plan on practicing starts to ensure I can ride my own race.

Caleb Ward (KTM) – DNF:
It’s pretty devastating but there’s not really much I can do about it. I was in a battle for the lead with Clout and Jay Wilson and I just passed back into second and in the corner my leg clipped a deep rut and pushed my knee up into the handlebar and sent it on a weird angle. I’ve done a knee before and I know the feeling. I knew I’d done something straight away. The RACESAFE guys said my MCL could possibly be torn, so we’ve got to go get it checked out this week. From what I’ve heard an MCL isn’t as bad as an ACL, so hopefully I don’t need surgery and can get back out in a couple of weeks.

Hamish Harwood (CMR Red Bull KTM) – 9th overall:
I’d call it an okay day. I couldn’t get a good lap in qualifying, but seventh was okay. In the first race I ended up sixth after moving forward quite a bit. My fitness is still not there, I definitely need to work on that, as well as my intensity. In the second race my start was absolutely terrible, I got caught up in the bog in the first turn and I was well outside the top 20. I made my way back to 10th and that’s probably the best I’ve felt on the bike so far. But none of that matters if you’re getting around in last place. I’m making progress, and we’re getting there.

Nathan Crawford (Husqvarna) – 3rd overall:
I’m pretty pumped with a podium today. I’ve just been working on having fun really. I don’t want to put too much pressure on myself, so I’m just generally concentrating on having fun and letting it come to me. In practice it was super wet and muddy, but I knew the mulch was going to soak up the water and the track turned out real rutty and rough and had multiple lines – it was prepared really well. Top five in the championship is not too bad, but I need to get up there and start battling with the leaders, Clouty and Jay were on it today.

Luke Arbon (SD3 Husqvarna) – 11th overall:
In the first moto I came into the turn a little bit hot and clipped someone’s wheel when I was second or third and went down. I had mud all over my grips so it took a while to get that off and be able to ride properly. I had a lot of work to do, but I got back to maybe 11th in the first one from dead last. In the second I was running fifth, then made a mistake coming up the hill and got passed by a couple of guys. They went to the inside next turn so I went outside, but the lines intersected and another dude cleaned us both out. I got up last again, and got back to 13th or 14th. We made some improvements with the bike and I felt better than at the first round, but obviously the results aren’t where we want them to be yet.

Geran Stapleton (Wilson MX Honda) – 21st overall:
The weekend was pretty tough to be honest. Every time I seemed to get into a rhythm, I would cartwheel and I was back to square one. In moto one I actually crashed three times which put me way back, so it was hard to come back from that. In moto two, I got a good start but crashed again. The track was really technical and hard to pass on, so that crash hurt me a bit. The team and bikes are both at 100 percent, so it’s just a matter of me putting all of the pieces together and getting some good results on the board.”

Luke Wilson (Wilson MX Honda) – 15th overall:
The weekend worked out to be not too bad for and we made some awesome progress. In moto one I felt pretty good and then made a few mistakes and dropped back which was disappointing. In moto two, I was sitting in about top 10 and then had a little crash and dropped back. I was able to make a bunch of passes and get back to 14th which I was happy with. I’m still not exactly where I want to be, but each weekend I’m edging closer to that top ten. In the next few weeks we should be there I think.

Rhys Carter (Raceline Pirelli Suzuki) – 6th overall:
It was a much better weekend than the first round, but still not great. My bike was awesome and handled great which was a massive positive to take out of round two. I had the speed all day but made too many little mistakes which kept me off the podium which I was really gutted about. The team has put together a good package for me though and we are all having fun, which is making racing fun. I know I can be up the front so I”m looking forward to the next round.

Team and privateer competitors can submit comments to [email protected] prior to the Wednesday after events for inclusion in the post-event Quotebook feature.