Melbourne’s fourth round of the 2016 Australian Supercross Championship at Avalon Raceway saw CDR Yamaha’s Dean Ferris become the first person to break Justin Brayton’s (Honda Genuine Racing) dominating form by taking his maiden supercross victory. In the SX2 category, Penrite Honda’s Gavin Faith returned to the top step of the podium to claim his second win of the season, and is now positioned third in the championship standings, 17 points behind series leader Hayden Mellross (DPH Motorsport). MotoOnline.com.au caught up with the main event victors post-race to gather their thoughts on the night.

SX1

Image: Jeremy Hammer (Foremost Media).

Dean Ferris, your maiden supercross victory tonight, congratulations and you must be stoked to get the win.

Yeah, I’m really pumped. I came into this season with no expectations, and then they grew really fast because I went so well at the first two rounds. I had a good feeling on this track since press day – it was good in practice and good in the heat races. I just knew I had to get a good start and I knew I was strong enough for the 20 laps, which was really long here tonight as it was over a minute a lap. So yeah, I’m really happy.

You were sitting behind your teammate Dan Reardon there for a bit, did you know that you were faster than him and did you know when you were going to put the pass on him?

I didn’t know when, I just needed to make sure I was close enough in the sand section – I knew that was my point to get him. And then yeah, I made it happen around lap eight. I just knew that I had to be really consistent because Dan has a lot of finesse and he doesn’t make many mistakes. So if I was going to win the race, I had to be really smooth.

You mentioned the track length was relatively long tonight, and the conditions were also very slippery and dry – did that play into your favour?

Look, you would have to say it did because I won. I’m traditionally not very good on this hard stuff, it’s something I’ve worked on in the last years and managed to get good on this surface – it really paid off tonight.

AUS-X Open next weekend, it’s going to be in a tight arena, does that affect anything for yourself?

Nah, I mean I’m kind of new to supercross in terms of the guys I’m riding [against]. I’ve never done an indoor, and I’m not going to change my program. I’m just going to go in with an open mind, and I’m sure we can get around an indoor track alright as well. I’ll just have to make sure I go in with the same attitude, same game plan and yeah, the last two rounds are going to be fun.

SX2

Image: Jeremy Hammer (Foremost Media).

Gavin Faith, first place tonight and a return to the podium, you must be pleased with your result.

Yeah, it was awesome. It was a really good day, I felt really comfortable on the bike. The past couple of weekends I’ve been feeling a little bit hit and miss. We got my bike dialled in this week and worked on some suspension and engine [settings]. We got it to where I wanted it to be, and I felt really good on the bike all day. I struggled a little bit in my heat race, I just tried to be a little bit too cautious. I picked it up for the main event, I got into the lead and rode a solid race.

Once you got by Jackson Richardson there, you sort of just rode your own race and you were out there by yourself for a bit. Was it good to have that comfortable gap to end the night?

Yeah, definitely. I feel like it was worth it to try and spread away from him to have a little bit of a gap so nobody is breathing down your neck. You can focus on you and ride more consistent laps, rather than worrying about covering your insides and stuff like that. Yeah, it was nice to get a little bit of a gap and you know, focus on breathing and hitting my lines. It was a pretty cruisy 15 laps, it was good and I was stoked with it.

Do you feel the win tonight has kept your championship hopes alive as we head into the final two rounds next week?

Oh, it’s definitely a long shot. Mathematically I’m definitely not out of it, I’m just going to take it race by race and do the only thing that I can do, and that’s to go out and win races – where the cards fall, they fall. I’m just going to focus on me and going out winning the two rounds in Syndey and then see where we stand.

Obviously you’re an arenacross champion, next week’s AUS-X Open is going to be a really tight track, almost like an arencross track. Do you feel that’s going play into your favour?

Yeah definitely, I’m stoked to go to Sydney. Obviously I spend all year in America riding tight tracks indoors, so I’m going to feel like I’m back at home. I’m looking forward to the shorter track and more of a sprint type race. Hopefully we get a pretty decent set of whoops there and I can’t wait for next weekend.