KTM Australia press release:

In the weekend’s retro round of the MX Nationals at Shepparton, Kirk Gibbs’ greatest display may have been one of old-fashioned toughness. Incredibly, Gibbs dug a podium finish out of yesterday’s round despite riding through the substantial pain of a fractured shoulder blade, which he suffered in a practice crash early last week.

Gibbs had medical advice that he could ride without harming the fracture or its recovery, but that it would hurt – a lot. With the ongoing support of Race Safe medicos on the day however, and a good deal of teeth gritting, he somehow helped himself to third behind Kade Mosig and Adam Monea, and actually extended his lead in the championship by three points.

Team mate Luke Styke took fourth on the day after beginning in brilliant style with a second in the opening Moto. He was unable to garner the finish he deserved however, after he was taken out not once, but twice by other riders during the second moto, on his way to sixth overall and forth on the day – enough to maintain his championship second position in what has been a stellar premier class debut year.

Rob Twyerould, KTM Motocross Racing Team Manager – “Considering everything, Kirk rode amazingly well. In the first moto he had one really big moment and we could see it in his body language that it hurt. Race Safe were amazing today with him, they just really kept him going and looked after him – they were incredible and they got him back out there again. In the second he fell and dropped back to second-last, but just gritted his teeth and made it all the way back to fourth. Luke had a brilliant first moto, absolutely sprinted home – caught and passed Gibbsy on the last lap, but in his second he got hit from behind at the start and got sent off the track. Be charged back through the field with Gibbsy, but then late in the moto, he got taken out by a lapper, again! Both boys are still first and second in the championship, and two weeks will make a huge difference to Kirk, he’ll feel a lot better at the next round.”

Kirk Gibbs – “That’s probably the toughest day pain-wise that I’ve had – ever, probably. That first moto nearly had me in tears at the end of it, that’s how bad the pain was. I just thank God for the adrenaline – once it kicks in. I could have done a lot better today, it was the sort of track that suits me with big deep ruts and all that. But in the condition that I was in, I’m easily happy to come away with third overall today. Now I just want to go away and get this thing back two 100% and just come out at Nowra injury-free and have a good go.”

Luke Styke – “I was riding real good today, it’s a shame the result doesn’t show it. I was really happy with the first one, I passed all the good guys for second and made a good late charge at the end of the moto. I had a terrible second race though; I got a good start but then I got cleaned out in the first turn and pushed off the track. I came from dead last, only to have some turkey T-bone me half way through the moto. A lapper too! I would have gotten a fifth, and that would have given me the podium for the day.” But we are healthy and we are rolling out, and I’ve got my home track for the next round.”

In MX2 Racing: KTM Factory Support rider Caleb Ward stacked up his fourth consecutive round win at Shepparton aboard his KTM 250 SX-F. He didn’t do it easily though, with 2 – 3 finishes in what was a very tightly stacked top five finishers and class.

Caleb Ward– “The track was pretty technical with a lot of different lines and stuff, pretty rough. First moto I spun on the concrete a bit, and I think I was in 12th on the second lap. I made my way through to second, up to Takka, and I was going for the pass for the lead, and I sort of dropped it in the corner. I managed to get back up for second, but Takka was gone. Second moto I got off the concrete okay, but when I hit the dirt I wheelied a bit and had to pull the clutch in. It took me longer to make my way through the pack in that one, but it turns out that was good enough for the overall win, by one point, so I can’t really complain.”

In MXD racing, a relieved KTM Factory Support racer Jayden Rykers took the very first MXD win of his career in demonstrative fashion – with a pair of race wins giving him overall honours ahead of Mitchell Evans and Wilson Todd.

Jayden Rykers – “I’ve always known I could win, it’s just been a long time coming with little things on my behalf that have prevented it from happening. Good starts made it a little bit easier! I qualified well and I got two good starts, and finished 1, 1 on the day. The first one I made a pass, and then had another guy on my tail the whole race pressuring me, then in the second one I got into first, and another guy he came past me, but then I put some pressure on him and ended up getting by on the last lap when he went down.”

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