CRF Honda Racing press release:

The 2016 Australian Supercross Championship roared into life last Saturday night (September 17) at Jimboomba X Stadium in the southern suburbs of Brisbane, with CRF Honda Racing riders Joel Wightman and Kyle Webster taking to the grid in the hotly-contested SX2 category aboard their potent HGO-lubricated Honda CRF250R thumpers.

With a strong and vocal crowd in attendance, the Australian Supercross title kick-off delivered an action-packed evening of high-flying two-wheeled entertainment, which ultimately saw Wightman finish in tenth place in the SX2 main event, while Webster crashed out mid-race while running in the top ten.

“With so many good riders lining up in the SX2 class this year, I always knew the start of the Supercross championship was going to be tough – and that’s exactly what it was,” explained Wightman after the event.

“I actually made a really good jump out of the gate in the final, but then started to wheelie as I went for third gear, so I had to shut it off a little, which put me back to mid-pack,” the NSW Hunter Valley rider continued.

“As expected, guys were crashing left, right and centre and going crazy in the early stages of the race, so I was happy to keep out of all that and just ride a clean race and get a solid finish in tenth to end the night healthy and knowing that I had a result to build on for the rest of the championship.

“We’ve got a couple of weeks now before round two in Toowoomba,” Wightman added, “so I’ll be working hard between now and then at the ProMoto test track to get everything totally dialled for the next event.”

Meanwhile Webster kicked off his Supercross championship campaign in great style, nailing down a strong third place podium finish in his heat race, before suffering a bruising turn of fortune in the final.

“My heat race was great!” Webster enthused, “but then in the main things didn’t quite go the same way …

“I got an average start in the main” Webster continued, “but was soon running in about sixth place when I tagged a triple in a rhythm section and went over the bars into a berm. Luckily I wasn’t hurt, just a little sore.

“It certainly wasn’t the result I was hoping for, but I definitely had some good speed on the night, so that’s a positive as we gear up for the next round in Toowoomba next month.”

Round two of the six-round 2016 Australian Supercross Championship will be staged at Toowoomba on Saturday October 14 and will see Wightman and Webster determined to push their Hondas further up the very stacked field of riders contesting the Australian title chase, which last Saturday night saw American invaders Justin Brayton (SX1) and Gavin Faith (SX2) capture the Jimboomba main event wins aboard their Honda Genuine Racing CRF machines.