Yamaha Motor Australia press release:

Jay Wilson overcame crashes and pain to finish fourth at the Adelaide round of the Australian Supercross Championship and keep is points lead intact with one round remaining in the SX2 category.

Wilson entered the fourth and penultimate round of the championship with an 11-point lead over Yamaha stable mate Wilson Todd, but despite a challenging weekend that saw him crash in two out of the three finals on the night, he left the Gillman Speedway with the same 11 point lead, this time over Hayden Mellross.

Wilson started his night with a ninth place in qualifying but with just one second separating the top 11 riders, there was no reason for concern. He then quickly turned that into a heat race victory and was ready to go for the three-final main event in the SX2 class.

The opening final saw Wilson moving forward after an average start and he found himself inside the top seven when a rider in front of him fell leaving him nowhere to go, but down. He scrambled to his feet and re-joined the race and made his way back to eighth place by the finish.

If race one made him angry, race two had him furious as he went down in the first turn and was stone last on the opening laps. Again, he mounted a charge back through the field and again made it to eighth place.

But with his ribs hurting, pants torn and blood seeping through, Wilson was in no mood for messing around in race three. He was laser like to the first turn, took control of the race and then was never headed as he took the win and salvaged some much-needed points to keep his championship lead intact. He finished with 8-8-1 results to claim fourth on the night and maintain his 11-point lead in the championship.

“There wasn’t anything pretty about racing tonight,” Wilson said moments after the final race. “Going down in the first two wasn’t good and I needed to stop the rot and get things back on track in that third one which I was able to do. I feel like I was challenged tonight and I was able to meet that challenge and salvage the best I could, given the circumstances I was in. It could have been ugly in the points, but that race win steadied the ship for me.

“Thanks to the team again tonight, those three final formats makes things pretty chaotic and when you throw in a couple of crashes, we were pretty busy between the races but the guys got it done and we leave here in pretty good shape.

“It’s far from over and with the final round being indoors makes it tough on everyone but I have done the work and have the best people behind me and I’m going to do my job the best that I can,” Wilson ends.

Richie Evans also endured plenty of issues on the weekend but managed to finish the night out on a positive note. Evans again easily qualified for the finals and was in good shape in the opening race. He made a couple of mistakes and dropped just outside the top five before he went down and ruined any chance of a good finish.

In the second final, Evans never made it past the second corner. As the 20 riders field barrelled into turn two, Evans was hit from the side and basically folded his front wheel in half. Despite getting to his feet and his foot in some pain, Evans wanted to continue in that race but the bike was damaged badly and needed to some serious attention before he could get back on the track.

Evans was desperate to compete in the final race and after changing several parts on his race machine, he lined up for the final gate drop of the night. He made it through the opening turns before settling down and gaining trust in his bike and foot.

He made some passes and finished the final race in eighth place to leave him 15th for the night and 12th in the championship.

“Both Jay and I were in the wars tonight and had the team working hard between the finals,” Evans recalls. “I will take responsibility for the crash in the first race, that was 100% on me as I was frustrated and not riding how I wanted to.

“The crash in race two was out of my control as riders jumped across in front of me and by the look of my front wheel, landed on it and that was race over. But I wanted to get back out there, so it was good to have a decent race and finish the night with a reasonable result.”

The team also housed Dan Reardon and finished fifth on the night in the SX1 class. Reardon finished with 3-7-4 results on his YZ450F and now sits fourth in the championship just two points from third place.

All three riders have plenty to ride for at the final round with Wilson hoping to secure the championship, Evans competing at his first indoor event and aiming for a top 10 in the championship, while Reardon is desperate for a podium finish in the SX1 category.