KTM Australia press release:

Davey Motorsport KTM rider Egan Mastin remained the in-form rider of the MX2 category as this year’s MX Nationals championship completed its penultimate phase at the iconic Echo Valley circuit in Toowoomba, dominating the class with a perfect scorecard.

Mastin took his KTM 250SX to the top of the timesheets in qualifying, then won the opening moto by over five seconds from Hayden Melross.

He then won the second by an almost identical margin over championship leader Wilson Todd, to take the day’s honours from Todd and Mitchell Evans.

The round win was Mastin’s third in four rounds – he missed the other by a point – and he now trails championship leader Wilson Todd by just three points entering the last round of the championship at Coolum this weekend.

His Davey Motorsport team mate Hamish Harwood was fifth overall after 7-4 finishes, while Raceline KTM’s Jay Wilson was right behind in sixth after a pair of fifth places.

Fellow Raceline Motorsports pilot Jayden Rykers was tenth overall from 10-9 finishes.

With the conclusion of his class at the previous round, 16-year-old – and now two-time MXD round winner – Callum Norton threw in an entry for a class more befitting his significant physical stature, and rode MX1 in Toowoomba.

As if he’d been busting out 30-minute motos on 450s all year, Norton finished a brilliant tenth on debut, powering his Moto Tech KTM 450 SX-F to 12-11 finishes.

He wasn’t the only MX1 ‘rookie’ lapping at Echo Valley, newly-crowned Australian Off-Road Champion Daniel Milner decided to slip in a bit of motocross practice (at the country’s highest level) and came away with 15th overall, courtesy of 15-17 finishes.

Likewise, brand new Aussie E3 AORC Champion Lyndon Snodgrass dropped into MX2, qualified 24th, but ripped out a pair of 17th place finishes on the track which will host the A4DE final motocross late next month.

In the final of the 250cc Rising Star Rookies Junior Cup, KTM Factory Junior Team rider Mason Semmens powered to two wins over team mate Regan Duffy and Husqvarna’s Bailey Malkiewicz.

Malkiewicz won the title over Duffy, with Semmens third.

There was more glory for the orange men in the day’s Australian Amateur Cup event as Toowoomba local Kerrod Morrissy won on his QB4-backed KTM 450 SX-F, ahead of Ryan Kenny on a KTM 250 SX and Travis Regeling in third.

Callum Norton – KTM250 SX-F: “I had nothing to lose since the MXD was done, so I rode in the 450s at Toowoomba. It was tough doing 30-minute motos at high intensity against those boys, but I learned a lot, and I ended up 10th overall, so I was really happy with that. Just lining up next to some of the best guys in Australia and the world was great to me. I was beside Ferris for the first start, and just being around those top guys felt awesome. I was nervous for the first one, but then I rode a bit better in the second. A few boys came over and said it was cool to see me racing up with the big boys and encouraged me. I think most of them knew I was up out of Under 19s. I’m pretty good friends with Longy who gave me a few tips going into the last moto, and I know Daniel Milner through doing Hattah and he was great too. I had a battle with Kayne Lamont in both motos, and in the last one I pulled away in the last bit, which was nice. I just tried to stay consistent and see where I could finish at the end. The 450 for 30 minutes was tough, those boys are 30 minutes flat stick, but I loved being on the 450, especially around Toowoomba on the big hills and all that, it just helps. With my weight and size it really helps to pull me off the corners and off the start. The 250 I’m always struggling to get starts on.
Not sure what I’ll be doing next year but it’s just good to get the experience racing against those guys and see what they do.”

Mason Semmens – KTM 250 SX-F: “I had a bit of a bad start on the first race which doesn’t help, but I went from tenth to third in the first lap and passed for second. I was following Jack for a while and then he had a big crash down the hill and gave me the lead. I had a better start in the second race which gave me 1-1 for the day which was good. It was my first time racing there at Echo Valley and it’s different there, there’s no other race track in Australia with the hills and steep ruts, it was awesome. Coming down that big hill and jumping on the brakes as hard as you can it’s hard on the body, and you’ve got to make no mistakes on that track because it’s easy to loser time but hard to make time there. It was a good race track and it provided some good racing which is always good.”