KTM Australia press release:

KTM Motocross Racing Team rider Luke Styke has taken the first MX Nationals premier class race win of his career, then rapidly backed it up with his first MX1 round win, as the 2015 MX Nationals continued at Victoria’s Broadford circuit today.

The class rookie continued to use his combination of speed and composure to fast track himself into title contention, Styke winning the day’s first moto then taking third in the next, to ensure the win ahead of Adam Monea and teammate Kirk Gibbs.

Gibbs extended the championship lead he has held since the very first moto of this year’s series, on the back of a determined and incessant moto one showing where he surged back through the pack after falling not once, but twice.

Gibbs made a better job of showcasing his superior speed and fitness in moto two, surging away from Dan Reardon at the back end of the day’s second moto to gather his third MX1 race win in as many rounds.

Gibbs 7-1 result means he’ll take a 19-point lead into next month’s round in his home state of South Australia, with Styke making it a KTM 1-2 in the championship, 16 points clear of the next placed rider.

Rob Twyerould, KTM Motocross Racing Team Manager – “Kirk’s second in SuperPole put another four points towards the championship, and Luke was disappointed because he hasn’t made it to a SuperPole yet, but sure enough, he won the first race after the two lead riders took each other out. Gibbsy connected while passing young Phillips for fifth and he went down pretty hard and dropped right out of the top 10. He charged through the field setting fastest laps everywhere, but once into third he cartwheeled it down the hill again. It was a big one, and the bike was all twisted but he got up and again he was flying, working his way from 11th to seventh.
After the first moto crash, Kyle had to rebuild the bike, and he did an amazing job. Everyone put in a huge effort, it was brilliant.In the second moto Gibbsy got around Coops pretty quickly for the lead and he and Reardon cleared out with Reardon pressuring then passing Gibbsy. Kirk made a huge mistake and lost nearly 4 seconds in a couple of corners, but with about 5 minutes to go he just lit the fire and took off. He dropped down into the 51s, caught Reardon, went round him and won the moto. Stykesy’s strong third gave him the overall on the day.”

Kirk Gibbs – “Second in the super Pole was good for points, and in the first moto was going all right, but early on I came together with John Phillips and went down so I had to regroup and get going again. I was charging, got up to third and was catching those front two boys, but was just pushing too hard and had another big crash, so it was just sort of damage control from there – trying to ride the best I could with my bike all bent up. It was a decent crash that second one so I’m going to be sore for a couple of days – a stupid mistake that could have been pretty costly. In the second moto I got a great start and I got into the lead pretty quick. Then Reardon had a couple of better lines and was riding well, but I knew if I stayed with him I could pressure towards the end. I made a little mistake and he got away from me, but I just put my head down and charged and chipped away at his lead, got back on and just waited for my move. When I put it on him I just tried to sprint away at the end and I pulled out about a five or six second lead. I’m really happy to bounce back with a win, but I’m going to have to keep my bike off the deck in future, that’s not the way to win a championship, so I’ve got to be a little bit smarter with that.”

Luke Styke – “It was good to get the monkey off the back in the first moto. It was great. I struggled a bit in qualifying, and made a change at the front end. In moto one I started off a little bit tight, and then kind of at the 10 minute mark I fell into a bit of a groove, put my head down and bum up and rode my own race, and just chipped away and got the win. In the second moto I was just concentrating on a good top-three start. That’s all I wanted and we came out second. I made a silly mistake and got passed, but I didn’t let it worry me, I just did my own thing and put in my own laps. There were two guys behind me giving me some heat, but overall we went pretty good – I was pretty happy with my first win.
I’m looking forward to the sand rounds next. I know my bike works really well in the sand, and I ride good in the sand so I’m looking forward to them.”

In MX2 Racing: KTM’s Riley Graham and Hamish Harwood finished on equal points for a share of seventh place on the day in a tough day for the MX2 men. Luke Clout won the round from Jed Beaton with Takeshi Katsuya finishing third.

Hamish Harwood – “I’d call it a less than average weekend; the way I was feeling on the bike coming into it, I could have and should have done better. I came away with fourth in qualifying which was okay, but then I got a pretty average start in race one, and sort of went forward a few, back a few, but didn’t feel too bad. About halfway through I got real tight for a wee bit and I ended up seventh, which I wasn’t really that happy with. In the second I started third or fourth, but on the second or third lap I put my head down to dodge some roost and hit a few big bumps and had quite a big crash. It really annoyed me because I was feeling pretty good, and I hurt my shoulder and bent my bars, but I came back to 10th, but it’s all good we’ll train hard these next three weeks and jump back at Murray Bridge.”

In MXD racing, KTM support rider Wayde Carter finished second on his home track of Broadford, behind Wilson Todd and ahead of Jessie Madden. Fellow support riders Jayden Rykers and Kaleb Barham made it a KTM logjam in the top five, finishing fourth and fifth respectively. Barham and Carter now have an equal share of fourth place in the MXD championship.

Wayde Carter – “I came into the event trying to not get too stressed and in the first moto I was about 15th out of the first turn, and then ran into someone a few corners later and went back to second last. I caught back up to fifth through the moto, so that was good. In the second one I got a good start and was into second behind Jessie Madden, but then after two or three laps I got into the lead, pulled away a little bit, and then just held the lead until the end. I was stoked with that.”

Kaleb Barham – “It was an all right day; I had a bit of bad luck here and there. In the second moto Carter and I collected each other in turn 2, and I ended up losing my front brake, so I didn’t have any front brake for the whole second moto. Still, it ended up a very consistent day with two fourths, which is what I’m looking for – I want to be up there a bit more, but I’m very happy.”

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