A selection of riders detail their day at Toowoomba’s ninth round of the 2016 Motul MX Nationals. Team and privateer competitors can submit comments to [email protected] prior to the Wednesday after events for inclusion in the post-event Quotebook feature.

MX1

Image: MXN.

Kyle Peters (National Pump Monster Energy Kawasaki Racing Team) – second overall:
Everything worked really, really good all day. It started off great with qualifying and the Super Pole win, then I was able to holeshot the first moto and ride my own race. The second moto was a little tough as I didn’t get as good a start, but I had a lot of fun battling with the two front-runners. My goal was to come out and win races, so I’m happy to have done that in my first event with the Natioanl Pump Monster Energy Kawasaki Racing Team. Now our focus turns to Coolum this weekend and I feel like it will be another strong round for us – the bike, team and everything has been great since arriving in Australia.

Kade Mosig (National Pump Monster Energy Kawasaki Racing Team) – sixth overall:
It was one of those days for me, really. I’m disappointed with my results, especially in that second race. I’m still comfortably placed in fourth in the championship, but I want to put this race behind me and look to finish the season strongly at Coolum next weekend.

Kirk Gibbs (KTM Motocross Racing Team) – third overall:
I felt like I rode pretty good all day, just having that lay down in that first moto just put a big dampener on things. Dean made three points on us today and without that crash it could have been a two or three point swing my way there instead. I definitely knew I had to make that pass on Kyle on the last lap and it just worked out perfectly, I made that right-hander and then the left at the top of the track really well and just drove down the hill really hard and threw it up the inside. So we take the points lead into Coolum and we’ll put 120 percent in and hopefully it’s good enough, and if not, it’s been an amazing championship and I’ll still look forward to heading over to the des Nations.

Jesse Dobson (KTM Motocross Racing Team) – DNF:
I don’t remember much about today, so this will be a short report. It’s a bit fuzzy but I remember being tight and struggling in qualifying, then in moto one I was riding good at the start, but I pumped up so bad and went backwards. I got passed by three guys and then saw the guy in front slow a little bit, so I decided to have another dig and then the show was over. Apparently when they stood me up I threw the crowd the horns and got a cheer, so that was good… but I don’t even remember walking into the RACESAFE truck, so it must have been a decent hit.

Todd Waters (Wilson’s Coolair Motul Factory Suzuki) – fourth overall:
It was a hard day for me, but unfortunately that’s how racing goes sometimes. Toowoomba is normally rutty and quite technical, but the track didn’t form up like that and both Dean Ferris and Kirk Gibbs ride hard-pack tracks very well. In the past I’ve had a lot of success here, but it was hard to make advantages on other riders today, and our starts just weren’t there this weekend. Even though today wasn’t the result we were looking for, we are by no means counting ourselves out of this championship. I like Coolum, I ride well in the sand, so I just need to do what I know I can do and see where we end up next weekend.

Luke Wilson (Wilson’s Coolair Motul Factory Suzuki) – 18th overall:
It was a bit of a tough day for me, we had an issue with the bike in the first race and that ended up in me having a DNF, which was a bit disappointing. After that we made some changes to the bike and I lined up for moto two. I didn’t get the best start and I actually crashed on the first lap and had to pull in to the mechanic’s area, but I went back out and managed to get all the way back to 10th position which we were really happy with. We have to take the positives from the weekend, I made a big comeback in race two, so it’s good to know that if I didn’t crash I would have been well inside that top 10.

Jay Wilson (Crankt Protein Honda Racing) – seventh overall:
Today was a much better day for myself and the team. We managed to make some solid improvements and it showed on track. At this point, I’m not exactly where I want to be, but we have a much clearer idea of where we need to improve, and how I can better myself as a rider going forward. We were lucky enough to have Craig Anderson in our corner mentoring us at round nine, which was really cool, so we’re all looking forward to building off the results from this weekend and seeing what we can do at the final round at Coolum in a week’s time.

Dylan Long (Crankt Protein Honda Racing) – fifth overall:
It was a really good weekend for me, having had so much time off the bike, it’s good to know that I’m not too far behind the eight ball and still able to finish inside that top five. As a team, we made a lot of positive progress today. We have some great people in our corner and it paid off on the track. I’m currently sitting in fifth in the championship which we’re happy with considering I was out of round eight, so hopefully I can maintain that and finish off with a good result at Coolum next weekend.

Jacob Wright (DPH Motorsport Yamaha) – eighth overall:
Poor starts cost me a top five overall at Toowoomba. I felt my speed was good and felt good on the track, but it didn’t come together.

Dean Ferris (CDR Yamaha) – first overall:
Toowoomba has always been one of my favourite tracks and I have always done pretty well here even back to my Junior and Under 19 days. I was confident I would do well here, but also know that I must be at my best to race with Kirk every weekend. It was good to have Kyle in the mix with us and he brings some excitement to the championship and can also take some points away from any of us if someone isn’t having a great day. The last round at Coolum is going to be good and hopefully we can get a big crowd along to watch the final round of the championship. Thank you to the CDR Yamaha team, who continue to do whatever it takes to get me the best result possible and we are going give it our best shot next weekend.

MX2

Image: MXN.

Jed Beaton (DPH Motorsport Yamaha) – third overall:
Not happy with Toowoomba. I had really bad starts and couldn’t find my groove on the track. I am really keen for this last round.

Dylan Wills (Raceline Pirelli KTM) – fifth overall:
Toowoomba was pretty crazy! We had few little issues throughout the day but the whole team worked together super-professionally and we put it all behind us and went racing. We scored fifth overall for the day which was awesome, my riding was pretty good and I battled with the guys that are going for the championship in moto one so that was good. Moto two I made a few little mistakes on my behalf, which cost me a fair bit. I sound like a broken record saying it’s only a matter of time, but it really is. As a team we improve each round and as a rider I improve every round. So we’ll go into Coolum and give it 110 percent and then turn our focus to supercross, which I’m really excited about!

Kyle Webster (CRF Honda Racing) – 16th overall:
It felt awesome to be back on the bike and even better to be back out in front of a moto again, but then after leading for about three laps my bike had a problem and stopped. It turned out the stator let go, which is pretty rare these days, but that’s racing sometimes. I can’t wait for next weekend because I reckon I really am due for some better luck at these Queensland races, because the Conondale and Toowoomba rounds this year certainly have not gone my way!

Joel Wightman (CRF Honda Racing) – ninth overall:
Overall it was another solid round for me. Once again I didn’t find myself where I wanted to be off the starts of my motos, but I charged through to get two tenth place finishes. A mistake that resulted in a fall towards the end of the second moto cost me two places, however I fought back to regain one of those positions. I was only one point off eighth overall for the day, which was a little frustrating knowing that mistake cost me possibly getting that result. I’m feeling really pumped about racing at Coolum next weekend, because it is a track where I have had some good results over the years. I am really hoping for some top seven placings on the day, and maintaining my eighth overall in the championship. But that said, Coolum is a sand-based track, and anything can happen in those conditions, however hopefully I can bump it up a little more and bring home a big result to wrap up the championship.

Caleb Ward (KTM Motocross Racing Team) – second overall:
Bit of a would’ve, could’ve, should’ve kind of a day. In the first I worked my way from the seventh or eighth, through to second and just had a random crash coming into a corner. I hit a little edge or something and the bars just tucked. I got up as quick as I could, but I rode a little bit tight after that and only managed to get back to fourth. But I felt like I should have won that moto, it was a 30 and I had plenty of time left. In the second moto I had better start and managed to get into the top three not far in. Wilson and Nathan had a good pace going, but I found a bit of a flow and put it on a charge. I caught Nathan and managed to put on a bit of a pass, and we came around the corner and Wilson had had bike trouble so that gave me the win. You never want to win that way, but I’ve had bad luck before. I lost a few points to Nathan, but we’ll just move on to Coolum and keep trying our hardest. It’s never over until it’s over, so hopefully I can just keep going and get another couple of moto wins.

Jayden Rykers (Davey Motorsports KTM) – 14th overall:
We got off to a really good start, I got the holeshot, got passed once, then about the 10 minute mark went back to third and just wasn’t finding the fastest lines. In the last 10 I started picking up again and in the last five was fastest on track. I found a flow, but a little bit too late. Still, I’m pretty happy with a third place. I was sitting in fifth in the second moto and got hit in the side coming down a ramp, went completely sideways and smashed my head into the next up ramp and got knocked out. I was dead last by the time I got going again so I spoke to dad at the end of that lap and we decided that it wasn’t worth continuing on a hilly, high-speed track like this. I wouldn’t even get one point and I probably just end up cart-wheeling. Wilson’s bike stopped in the second one anyway so I didn’t lose anything position-wise. It would have lined me up for another podium if I hadn’t been hit from the side. But it is what it is, and I’m not broken, so I will be back at Coolum.

Nathan Crawford (Husqvarna) – first overall:
It was almost the perfect day for us, qualified first, won the first moto and then got second in the last one. I’m fairly happy to be taking a little bit of a points gap of 11 into the last round. It’s not heaps, but it’s enough that I can try and control it. So I’m pretty happy. It’s not great, and it would be nice if it was like 25 points, but it’s reasonable. The track crew did a really good job in preparation here today so it was great. The first moto was tacky as and then the second was a little more slick, so a few tyre changes here and there. It was good to be racing back up here in Queensland in really good weather.