Image: Foremost Media.

Saturday’s opening MX1 and MX2 motos at round four of the 2024 Penrite ProMX Championship in Maitland were won by Nathan Crawford and Ryder Kingsford respectively.

The first MX1 encounter was a chaotic affair, as KTM Racing Team’s Crawford secured the hole shot before Kirk Gibbs (GasGas Racing Team) hit the lead, although it wasn’t the last change at the top of the leaderboard on lap one, with red-plate holder Kyle Webster (Honda Racing) storming to the front.

Pole sitter Jed Beaton (CDR Yamaha Monster Energy) made his mark a few laps later, passing championship rival Webster for the lead. The field steadied as Crawford went on a resurgence, navigating his way to P1 at around the halfway mark, meanwhile an error from Webster saw him shuffled down the order.

The number 199 managed his lead to cross the line for victory, 5.179s ahead of Beaton while Empire Kawasaki’s Luke Clout promoted himself to third.

Fourth went to Gibbs followed by Webster, while the top 10 was rounded out by Brett Metcalfe (Penrite GO24), Todd Waters (Raceline Husqvarna Racing), Zach Watson (Husqvarna), Joel Evans (Yamaha), and Blake Fox (KTM).

Defending champion Dean Ferris (CDR Yamaha Monster Energy) was absent from moto one after a crash during qualifying saw him hospitalised, ruling him out of the weekend.

MX2 race one was just as chaotic as the premier class, with championship leader Brodie Connolly (Honda Racing) suffering his first blemish of the season – the red-plate holder forced to work his way through the field after being nearly last on lap one, meanwhile podium contender Byron Dennis (GasGas Racing Team) sought medical attention after an incident just moments into the race.

Yamalube Yamaha Racing’s Kingsford hit the lead from the early stages and never looked back, going on to score a rewarding 4.240s win over WBR Yamaha-supported Bailey Malkiewicz and Alex Larwood (Honda Racing).

The top five was completed by Jayce Cosford (Yamalube Yamaha Racing) and Haruki Yokoyama (Honda), followed by Kayden Minear (KTM Racing Team), Noah Ferguson (Honda Racing), Kaleb Barham (Yamalube Yamaha Racing), Cambell Williams (MotoGo Yamaha), and Rhys Budd (Raceline Husqvarna Racing). Connolly salvaged 19th and was very fortunate his closest rivals were unable to capitalise.

In the MX3 class, Jake Cannon (Honda Racing) emerged as the race one winner ahead of WBR Yamaha duo Kayd Kingsford and Koby Hantis, while the MX85 and MX65 Futures were taken out by Seth Thomas (GasGas) and Blake Bohannon (Yamaha).

Racing resumes tomorrow from 9:55am local time.

Detailed results