Image: AUS-X Open.

American Chris Blose (Penrite Honda Racing) captured a deserving win in the SX2 final at the Monster Energy AUS-X Open on Sunday, doubling as the penultimate round of the 2017 Australian Supercross Championship.

After winning last night, DPH Motorsport Yamaha’s Wilson Todd continued his strong run of form by winning the opening eight-lap heat race of the afternoon, getting out front from the start and going on to win by a full three seconds.

Behind the series leader was Jay Wilson (Raceline Pirelli KTM), transferring directly through to the main after getting the better of Jesse Madden (KSF Racing Husqvarna).

It was a controlled performance from Blose to win heat two, 2.1s up on defending SX2 champion Jackson Richardson (Serco Yamaha) after the latter posted the quickest lap of the race and went straight to the final.

Ever-aggressive early leader Geran Stapleton (Honda) crossed the line third, as he and the rest head to the semi-finals. Despite breaking his hand on Saturday, Dyson Motorsport Husqvarna’s Dylan Wills lined up and brought it home a conservative fifth.

It was a wire-to-wire win for Jesse Madden (KSF Racing Husqvarna) in the first of the SX2 semi-finals by two and a half seconds, however it was behind him where much of the action took place. Unfortunately for Jye Roberts (Husqvarna) he went down in the first corner while running second, appearing to injure his left knee in the process, handing the transfer spots to Bailey Malkiewicz (Husqvarna) and Taylor Potter (Honda).

Crowd favourite Stapleton took another popular win in semi-final two of the 250s, 1.9s up on the initial leader Wills after edging his way to the front, as Sutherland completed the top three and made his way into tonight’s final. He was pressured all the way to the line by Yamalube Yamaha Racing rookie Cooper Pozniak for position.

It was a dramatic start to the SX2 last-chance qualifier, as a pile-up entering the tunnel on lap one saw Callum Norton (KTM) and a number of other riders bumped out of contention. At the front though Pozniak inched his way to the final, as did Morgan Fogarty (Raceline Pirelli KTM) in the runner-up position.

It was a glorious rebound for Blose in the 15-lap SX2 final tonight, winning in style by just over three seconds despite going down with previous championship leader Todd – who took the hole-shot – after the finish-line at the beginning of lap two.

Blose was the pace-setter once out front, stretching a lead by strategically using the Shannons Shortcut and never being challenged from there.

The incident between Blose and Todd eventually enabled a charging Richardson to go through to second in one of the most important results of the season, taking the championship lead by five points with a single round remaining.

It was a disastrous race for Todd as he went down not once, but four times while riding a moderately damaged YZ250F, but ultimately collecting 10 points for 11th.

It was an emotion-charged podium result in third for Wilson after leading early on, marking a significant result in his career since returning to Australia, while privateer duo Potter and Stapleton completed the top five.

The 2017 Australian Supercross Championship’s SX2 class will go down to the wire next Saturday night at Jimboomba X Stadium in Queensland, marking the sixth and final round of the championship.