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Melbourne’s final round of the 2023 World Supercross Championship (WSX) will be decided in a title showdown between red plate-holder Joey Savatgy and defending champion Ken Roczen in Melbourne tomorrow night.

Savatgy claimed the WSX lead after winning in Abu Dhabi and the Mobil 1 Rick Ware Racing rider also stood on top of the podium in Melbourne last year, but believes he’s still the underdog to take the crown with a slim five-point advantage.

“I’ve learned my lesson – you don’t count the chickens before they hatch,” Savatgy said. “I mean, obviously that would be cool, but I think at the same time if people are placing bets and this is a betting thing, I am definitely the underdog… Really for me, there is no pressure.

“I’ll just show up and do what I can do. Like I said, I would love to win, it would be awesome, that is the goal. Five points isn’t enough, there’s a lot of points to be made and by no means am I in the driver’s seat. Ken is the favourite, rightfully so. I’m just going to show up and do the best that I can do, and where it ends up is where it ends up.”

Roczen underlined his title-defending aspirations with victory in Birmingham’s season-opener, but a poor gate pick inside Etihad Arena set the tone for a challenging second round, where he relinquished the red plate to Savatgy despite winning the final race.

“It can be anybody’s race, the races are really short and intense, so if you don’t get out of the gate great, it makes it a lot harder,” said the HEP Suzuki rider. “But yeah, just a few points. I do have to say though, obviously, I lost the points lead in Abu Dhabi and I was a little bit frustrated, but a couple of days later I texted my team manager and I was like, ‘you know what, the struggle of that weekend, also made it kind of fun’.

“I look back and I definetely saw some of the positives in things, and coming here, I am all positive. I’ve been feeling good, obviously a lot of travel, but at the same time, I’m ready to race, ready to give it my all and hopefully win back-to-back championships. I don’t think that I have ever won back-to-back championships, so that is for sure my goal.”