Yamaha Motor Australia press release:

The Serco Yamaha team are out for redemption after a challenging weekend at round six of the MX Nationals over the weekend. Yamaha’s official MX2 team were plagued with bad luck and bad starts and neither Luke Clout nor Jed Beaton made the podium at Raymond Terrace but are out to make amends at the Shepparton round on July 19.

Clout came into the weekend with a slender championship but a rear brake failure as he went on the parade lap for the opening moto meant he was immediately behind the 8 ball. For the next 30 minutes he rode valiantly despite no rear brakes to come home in seventh place.

With the rear brake issue fixed for moto two, Clout was in the thick of the action in the second race. He started outside the top 10 on the first lap but continually moved his way forward throughout the race and had dragged himself to fourth place at the end of the race.

His 7-4 scores gave him fourth overall for the round and while he slipped to second on the points’ ladder, he is just five points out of the lead and with four rounds remaining there is still a lot of racing to be done.

“No doubt it was a frustrating weekend,” Clout said. “The rear brake just blew through as I went to do the sight lap and because we had already lined up, we can’t change bikes so I just had to do what I could with the bike the way it was and to finish seventh was a pretty good outcome.

“Moto two and I just didn’t get the start I needed and was buried on the opening lap. I made it to fourth but I expect more of myself and that’s not the results I want so I will be working hard to make sure we never have a repeat of this weekend,” he finishes.

A first lap crash in moto one damaged any chance of a podium finish for team mate Jed Beaton. Falling just three corners into the race and with a full 40 rider, Beaton picked up near last and began the hard task of racing back to a respectable finish. He made it back to 11th place but was disappointed in his riding and the first lap incident.

Race two righted the ship a little as Beaton made a top seven start and then made some passes to finish third and finish the day on a positive note. The 11-3 finishes landed him in sixth for the round and he still maintains fourth in the championship.

“I need to get a start and not get caught up in the carnage that always happens in the opening laps,” Beaton laments. “It’s not bad luck, it’s me putting myself in a bad situation that I need to address. “If I can get through the first lap safely and inside the top five, I think I can run the pace of anyone in the class so I have to stop giving them a head start.”

Both riders are still well entrenched in the championship hunt with 43 points separating the top four riders in the MX2 class. With eight races left and 35 points on offer each race, this championship promises to go down to the wire.

For more information on the MX Nationals, www.mxnationals.com.au. To follow the Serco Yamaha team on social media, www.facebook.com/sercoyamaha or @sercoyamaha.