Follow the 2022 Penrite ProMX Championship with direct MX1 and MX2 updates from the penultimate round of the season at Queensland Moto Park through Racefeed.

Image: Foremost Media.

MX2 qualifying:
MX2 points leader Wilson Todd jumped to the top of the qualifying sheets with a storming last lap as the seventh round of the 2022 Penrite ProMX Championship got underway at Queensland Moto Park. The Terrafirma Equipment Sales Honda racer’s 2m 04.974s was almost a full second quicker than that of second-placed Rhys Budd’s (Yamalube Yamaha Racing) best lap of 2m 05.9072, as Serco Yamaha pairing Jesse Dobson and Bailey Malkiewicz completed the top four fastest times. Filling in for the injured Blake Fox, GasGas Racing Team’s new recruit, Noah Ferguson, rounded out the top five. P6-10 were filled by Nathan Crawford (KTM Racing Team), Levi Rogers (WBR Yamaha Racing), Hugh Mackay (WBR Yamaha Racing), Reid Taylor (KTM) and Kaleb Barham (Husqvarna).

MX1 qualifying:
Pulling double duty and racing both premier classes today, Honda Racing’s Wilson Todd stunned the MX1 field by posting the fastest qualifying time in his first appearance in the field. Todd’s lap of 1m 58.263s was over a second faster than second-placed Kirk Gibbs (KTM Racing Team), who registered a 1m 59.454s laptime. Championship leader Aaron Tanti (CDR Yamaha Monster Energy Team) finished the first qualifying session in third, ahead of Hamish Harwood (KTM) and Dean Ferris (Honda Racing). Todd Waters (Husqvarna Racing Team), Hayden Mellross (GasGas Racing Team), the returning Kyle Webster (Honda Racing), Brett Metcalfe (GO24 Racing) and Joel Evans (Honda) completed the positions that will take part in the Top 10 Shootout.

MX2 moto one:
Terra Equipment Sales Honda Racing’s Wilson Todd wrapped up the 2022 Pirelli MX2 championship after a calm fourth-place result in the opening MX2 moto, as Nathan Crawford (KTM Racing Team) took the race win. Yamalube Yamaha Racing’s Rhys Budd grabbed the holeshot of the opening MX2 moto, but it was Husqvarna privateer Kaleb Barham who led for the majority of the race. Late in the moto Crawford capitalised on errors from both Budd and Barham to charge is way into the lead and take the opening victory from Barham and Budd. However, all eyes were on Wilson Todd who finished the race in P4, but claimed the MX2 championship with three motos remaining in the series. Todd had started in seventh and calmly made his way forward several positions before settling in to take a well-deserved championship. Fifth was claimed by Jace Cosford (Yamaha), ahead of Serco Yamaha’s Bailey Malkiewicz. Isaac Ferguson (GasGas), Jesse Dobson (Serco Yamaha), Jai Constantinou (Empire Kawasaki) and Levi Rogers (WBR Yamaha Racing) filled out the top 10.

MX1 Top 10 Shootout:
Fresh off winning the MX2 title just minutes earlier, Wilson Todd continued to dominate the day’s racing by winning the Top 10 Shootout in his debut appearance in the MX1 class. Todd’s time of 1m 51.051s was three-quarters of a second faster than CDR Yamaha Monster Energy Team’s championship leader Aaron Tanti, with KTM Racing Team’s Kirk Gibbs a further half-second back. Honda Racing’s Kyle Webster finished the Shootout in fourth on his return to racing, ahead of Kiwi Hamish Harwood (KTM). Dean Ferris (Honda Racing), Brett Metcalfe (GO24 Racing), Todd Waters (Husqvarna Racing Team), Hayden Mellross (GasGas Racing Team) and Joel Evans (Honda), completed the top 10 Shootout places.

MX1 moto one:
Honda Racing’s Dean Ferris led from wire-to-wire in the opening MX1 moto. Ferris started by grabbing one of his trademark holeshots, followed by CDR Yamaha Monster Energy Team’s Aaron Tanti and Honda Racing rookie Kyle Webster, on 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 four-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.

MX2 moto two:
Crawford got the best jump off the gate in the second MX2 moto, as a multi-rider crash on the start straight affected a number of the championship front-runners. Rogers and Reid Taylor (KTM) found themselves in the top three through the opening laps as Malkiewicz, Budd and Dobson made quick, desperate passes to work their way P4-6 by the race’s halfway mark. Crawford slowly extended his lead, as Dobson continued to charge forwards, moving into the top three in the dying stages, then putting a last-lap pass on Rogers to take P2 behind Crawford. Malkiewicz and Budd completed the top five, as Mackay, Haruki Yokoyama (Empire Kawasaki), Ferguson, Cosford and Taylor rounded out the top 10.

MX1 moto two (part one):
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.

MX moto two (part two):
Kirk Gibbs won the second part of moto two, but it was Wilson Todd who claimed the holeshot as his team-mate, Kyle Webster, crashed in the first corner. 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 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.