Image: Supplied.

A sixth-place result in his heat race at Birmingham left Aaron Tanti on the back foot in SX2, with a compromised gate pick that resulted in all three main events being impacted by carnage in the first turn at the 2023 World Supercross Championship (WSX) opener.

Tanti posted the sixth-fastest time in group one of 250 qualifying, but was left with work to do as an incident in the opening corner meant he had to charge forward from the back of the field in his heat to earn P6.

That meant he missed out on an ideal gate for the main event and he was again tangled up in the first turn during all three finals. Nonetheless, the current Australian national MX1 champion battled to seventh overall in the British Grand Prix, courtesy of a 7-8-9 scorecard.

“I’m excited to be back racing the WSX championship this year,” Tanti recalled. “My day started decent, but in my heat race I unfortunately got tangled up in the first turn and came from last to sixth place, which gave me a pretty average gate pick for the main.

“Starting wide meant I was involved in some sort of first-turn carnage in every single main, though in saying that, I’m happy with where we are in seventh to start the season, and we’ll go home and work harder for the next one.”

Round two of the 2023 World Supercross Championship is set for the Singapore Sports Hub, Singapore, on 30 September, with Tanti 34 points behind red plate-holder and defending champion Shane McElrath (Mobil 1 Rick Ware Racing) following Saturday night.