Image: Foremost Media.

Honda Racing’s Dean Ferris has continued his late-season charge for the MX1 title by winning the penultimate round of the ProMX Championship at Queensland Moto Park today.

The multi-time champion claimed two wins from the round’s three motos, as KTM Racing Team’s Kirk Gibbs controlled the second of the back-to-back sprint races to take a hard-earned victory late in the day.

Meanwhile, CDR Yamaha Monster Energy Team’s championship leader, Aaron Tanti, relied on consistency to minimise any damage to his points lead, with his 2-3-3 scorecard seeing him still maintain a healthy 24-point lead going into next weekend’s final round at Coolum.

Dean Ferris led from wire-to-wire in the opening, moto. He grabbed one of his trademark holeshots and was followed by Tanti and Honda Racing rookie Kyle Webster, who returned to QMP for his first race back from injury.

At the midway point of the race Todd Waters (Husqvarna Racing Team) found a way past Webster into third, but he’d lost touch with the two front-runners.

After staying on Ferris’ rear wheel for most of the race, Tanti got held up by lapped riders in the closing stages, allowing Ferris to stretch a comfortable six-second lead, which he managed to the finish.

Tanti crossed the line second, and Brett Metcalfe (GO24 Racing) finished out the podium after a late-race pass on Waters.

Wilson Todd (Honda Racing) lodged an impressive P5 in his MX1 debut, as Hamish Harwood (KTM), Kirk Gibbs (KTM Racing Team), Webster, Lochie Latimer (KTM) and Joel Evans (Honda) filled the top 10.

The second moto was split into two back-to-back races with Olympic style point-scoring used to determine the final results.

As several racers crashed off the start of the first back-to-back MX1 moto, Ferris again took the holeshot ahead of Gibbs, Harwood and Tanti.

Tanti piled the pressure on Harwood, moving into third at the midway point of the sprint moto.

Ferris controlled the race from the front to claim the sprint race win, as Gibbs held off a frantic last-lap charge from Tanti.

Harwood finished fourth and Metcalfe fifth, as Waters, Mellross, Todd, Webster and Evans completed the top 10.

Gibbs won the second part of moto two, but it was Wilson Todd who claimed the holeshot.

Todd’s lead was short-lived as Gibbs quickly leapt to the front, with Ferris lurking in third.

Starting in seventh, Tanti made quick work of several riders on the opening lap to move up to fourth.

Todd surrendered second to his team-mate Ferris and tried his best to stay between him and Tanti, but the CDR Yamaha Monster Energy Team rider found his way past with six minutes remaining.

The margins between the front-runners stretched and contracted multiple times as the rutted track forced every rider into mistakes, but in the end, Gibbs would hold on for a 1.5-second lead over Ferris, with Tanti, Todd, and Metcalfe wrapping up the top five spots.

Mellross, Waters, Harwood, Dylan Wood (KTM) and Evans rounded out the top 10.

In the championship standings, Tanti holds a 24-point lead over Ferris, with Metcalfe in third, a further 14 points back.

The final round of the 2022 Penrite ProMX Championship will be held at Coolum, Qld, next weekend.

Detailed results