Boost Mobile Honda Racing’s Jed Beaton made his MX1 championship aspirations clear at the third round of the 2023 Penrite ProMX Championship in Wodonga, taking the overall win via 1-2 moto scores to leave the round with the red plate, 14 points clear at the top of the MX1 championship standings. In MX2, New Zealander Brodie Connolly (Polyflor Honda Racing) delivered a breakthrough ride, winning the round overall for the first time in his career. MotoOnline caught up with both riders after the races for this Debrief interview.

MX1

Image: Foremost Media.

Jed, a great day for you all around. You leave Wodonga with the points lead, take us through today.

It was a wet day, we had 15 millimetres of rain last night. The track looked unreal yesterday, so it would’ve been better if we raced yesterday, but we can’t help the weather. All in all, it was a good weekend on a tough, technical track. The track seemed to get better as the day went on and more dry, so can’t complain too much. The first moto was a struggle for a lot of guys, it was really, really muddy and heavy, so that was a tough one, tough on the body too, cause the bike’s probably 150 kilograms instead of 100. But yeah, can’t complain with a 1-2 and the overall.

Do these conditions take you back to your time in Europe? Or was this track a completely different beast?

No, not really, we never really had wet races in Europe, because we raced in the summertime. I actually can’t remember the last time we had a mud race when I was racing there and those events are over two days as well, sometime we’d maybe get a muddy day one of the days, but it’ll be good for the second day. I just like conditions like this where it’s tough and technical, I think it suits my riding style a lot better and I enjoy riding it.

You looked a lot more comfortable on the bike today. Have there been some set-up changes since Appin?

The last few weeks since Appin I’ve made a fair few changes and it’s been for the better. We were kind of chasing our tail at the start of the year and I couldn’t get comfy for a long time, but we’re slowly heading in the right direction now which is good, but I think we can still make some more improvements. But like you said, I felt a lot better on the bike today, so we’ll go back and see what we can do with making the bike better again and see where we are at the next round.

MX2

Image: Foremost Media.

Brodie, congratulations on the win! It was a wet one today, but a great day for you. Run us through it.

It was great, obviously got the overall so I’m pumped on that. But yeah, super tough day, the track was gnarly all day and that second moto was tough, the ruts were getting deep. The boys were going fast in moto two so I decided to settle for a third to secure the overall, but all in all, a great day for me.

This track really looked like it suited you, do you like the mud?

I don’t know, to be honest, you just have those days when you feel good and today was one of them. I guess yeah, being from New Zealand, I have done a little bit of mud riding you could say. I love getting off the back and sending it, so it suits me a bit.

You look great on the Honda, has something just clicked for you since making the switch over to this bike?

Yeah, every day I ride the bike I’m getting better and more comfy. The team is doing an awesome job with making me happy and everything is starting to click.