DPH Motorsport Husqvarna Factory Racing press release:

The 2019 Australian Motocross Championship, or MX Nationals as it’s known, is officially underway, and the DPH Husqvarna Factory Racing team have come out firing, with Todd Waters (MX1 – 450cc) taking the win, Wilson Todd (MX2 – 250cc) third, while MX2 newcomer, Bailey Malkiewicz had to settle for 27th in an unusual race weekend.

Torrential rain saw the event reduced to just one, six lap race for each of the three classes with conditions making each race a matter of survival over outright speed.

Dale Hocking, DPH Husqvarna team owner: “No one wants to start a season this way, all of us at DPH have worked incredibly hard and we came here to race. We have to commend WEM for making the tough decision to cut the meeting short, a lot of effort from a lot of people goes into a meeting of this size but the conditions really were terrible. All three guys rode well today, although it wasn’t ideal to show their true potential, it was a positive result from Todd (Waters) and Wilson (Todd), and an unlucky race for Bailey (Malkiewicz). We’ll head home, tear down the bikes and get things ready for round two.”

Todd Waters: “I’m pumped to start the year with a win, although conditions like this don’t really show the hard work that the team and I have been putting in. I’ve ridden in some deep mud throughout Europe over the years, but this is by far the worst I’ve had to race in. I was able to move forward and get past riders after getting caught up at the first corner, but it was a bit of a balancing act all race to find traction, keep the bike moving forward and not getting bogged down in each turn.”

Wilson Todd: “I obviously want to win, but third is a good start for the season for me. I’ve never raced a track in conditions like that before and it was tough to keep enough momentum to move forward without overdoing it in the corners. I focused on my own laps and riding through without battling or taking any extra risks, one mistake and you could be dead last in conditions like that. It’s great to be back in the DPH truck, and the FC250 is a great bike to race. I’m looking forward to getting to round two though and really start racing.”

Bailey Malkiewicz: “Not the way I wanted to start my first season in the MX2 class, the track was difficult to just get around, before you can even think about racing on it. I’m loving the the FC250 and it’s great to be a part of the DPH crew but today just doesn’t show what I’m capable of. I’m confident that my program is right and will look to show that at round two.”

The DPH Husqvarna team now has 12 days to regroup and clean up after a challenging weekend before re-packing the transporter and heading to Wonthaggi on March 31 for the second round of the MX Nationals.

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