Yamaha Motor Australia press release:

“We lacked pace all weekend, especially in the whoops,” explains CDR Yamaha team owner, Craig Dack. “Both Dean and Dylan were there or there abouts, but the speed of the international riders and how fast they were across the whoops was obvious and something we will need to work on.”

That was the weekend summary from Dack after his CDR Yamaha team took on rounds four and five of the Australian Supercross Championship at Qudos Bank Arena in Sydney.

Competing in the premier SX1 division on board the potent new YZ450F, both Dean Ferris and Dylan Long, battled through a challenging weekend of racing that left both riders frustrated and disappointed over a weekend of intense racing against a host of US based riders.

Ferris entered the weekend sitting in second place and looking to apply some pressure to series leader, Justin Brayton. Despite finishing fifth, Ferris was able to gain a few of points on Brayton, after the 20lap final on Saturday Night with Brayton coming home in eighth and the gap narrowed to single figures.

And moments into the Sunday final, things were looking even better with Ferris taking the all-important holeshot and leading the 12-rider field around on the opening lap while Brayton was mid-pack. Ferris and US import Jason Anderson fought over the lead until Ferris went down.

He picked up his bike and rejoined the race only losing a couple of positions, but a second fall in the whoop section a few laps later proved costly as it took him some time to gather himself and get racing again.

With two falls, 11th was all Ferris could manage and the 5-11 weekend has seen him slip to third in the championship with just one round remaining.

“I’m just really disappointed, especially after the Sunday final,” Dean said. “The first crash is just something that happens from time to time, but the second was pure frustration and because I fell awkwardly, it took me a while to get going and I lost a heap of time.

“But, I can’t change things now, I can only learn from them and I will continue to work on some aspects of supercross that I think need to improve. I’m in third now, Justin is 20 points away while Dan Reardon is just two points ahead.

“The focus for the final round will be to just win the final and see what happens behind me. I was able to win a round last year and I feel like I have been riding supercross better this year so it would be nice to finish the season of strongly with a win at the last race of the year,” Ferris ends.

It proved to be a consistent weekend for team mate Dylan Long who posted 7-7 results in a workman-like performance. Long comfortably made the 12 rider main events on both days but acknowledges there is still plenty of things to work on when up against the big name American imports.

Long now sits fourth in the championship, only eight points from second place in what will be an interesting tussle for the SX1 podium positions.

“It was just an average weekend and I have a lot to learn about racing these tight indoor events,” Long said. “I haven’t done the last two years here because of injury so it was new to me and I struggled with how tight the track actually is. That’s not an excuse and its something I must work on as high-profile events are important and doing well here on a double header can really set you up well for the championship.

“But I know I will be better next year here and I know what to prepare for. The CDR Yamaha team did a great job and it was awesome to race in front of such a huge crowd on both days,” Long finished.

The CDR Yamaha team now shift their focus to the final round of the championship in Jimboomba, just south of Brisbane, next weekend.

For a full list of results, www.computime.com.au

To follow the CDR Yamaha team on social media: www.facebook.com/cdryamaha