The Conondale round of the 2016 Motul MX Nationals saw CDR Yamaha’s Dean Ferris claim his second-straight overall win in the premier MX1 ranks, while fellow Yamaha-mounted rider Jed Beaton edged his way to victory in the quarter-litre MX2 class. MotoOnline.com.au speak with both round winners post-race in Queensland.

MX1

Image: MXN.

Dean Ferris, another overall victory at the Conondale round of the 2016 MX Nationals, where you’ve now put yourself a little closer to championship lead. You must be really happy at what is your home round?

I’m definitely really happy, it is my home club and I love coming to this place, it’s really special. The track is only a few hours up the road and it really feels like Kyogle, I have many practice tracks similar to this – it’s my grassroots. Like I said, I’m really happy. I won my first MX Nationals motos here in 2007, so it’s a nice place for me to come too.

Four Super Pole wins in a row, that’s good points towards the championship. It looks like you have that one-lap speed dialled…

It’s one of those things, I think. Maybe I gained some experience over in Europe where qualifying is so important, so it’s good to bring that back, especially because it pays points now. When I was here in 2011 I was also good at getting pole. I got a lot of them, but they didn’t pay points then. Four in-a-row, that’s 12 points, so it’s adding up.

In the opening moto where you were chasing Todd Waters, you guys just ran away from the field. What was going through your mind?

I think the same thing as Todd, just playing it smart. I could see he wasn’t rushing anything and I wasn’t riding over my head either. We got in a groove and towards the end of the moto it got a little bit sketchy and he started to pull a few seconds on me. I thought that I would just take what I can and not do anything crazy, it would’ve been hard to pass around here anyway – Todd would’ve had more speed if he needed to have it. I just played it smart, something can go wrong really easily in the muddy conditions, so it was important to keep it upright.

In moto two you were leading from the front. Did the track change much between motos?

It did a little bit, the ruts got deeper, rougher and more slick. At the same time, the lap times dropped for the second moto. You just had to keep your eye out for those little one-inch lines that you see here and there. It was really important today.

No worries, thank you.

Thanks.

MX2

Image: MXN.

Jed Beaton with the moto two victory and overall win. You must be happy with a great result?

I’m pretty happy with it. The first moto didn’t really go to plan after I got off to a really shocking start, I think I was second last into the first turn, but I came back to second. I gained a bit of confidence from that and I really wanted to put my head down and get it done in the last moto. I got a good start and I began to click off my laps. I got arm-pump there for a little bit, but I just tried to breathe and relax. I got into a groove, but the track was brutal – it really chopped up with bumps everywhere. It’s good to get the win.

Once you finished that opening moto and came through the field, did you know that if you had the track position, you could’ve come through with the win?

I had a look at my lap times and they were pretty decent in the first race. I knew if I got off to a good start, I could just click my laps off and hopefully get the win. I ended up getting it, so I’m pretty pumped with that.

There has been a bit of rain in the lead-up to the event. Did the track change much throughout the day?

This morning during practice, I actually had a paddle tyre on. It worked for the first five laps, but it went to that hard base pretty much straight away. I changed back to the MX3S and the track dried out during the day. It just chopped out with a lot of bumps, but all in all it was pretty good.

No worries mate, well done.

Thank you.