A selection of riders detail round six of the 2017 Motul MX Nationals in New South Wales. Team and privateer competitors can submit comments to [email protected] by Monday afternoon after events for inclusion in the post-event Quotebook feature.

MX1

Image: MXN.

Kirk Gibbs (KTM Motocross Racing Team) – Third overall:
The first turn is tight here and it’s really hard to pass, so, it makes life pretty difficult unless you holeshot both races. I had a bit of a struggle today. I feel like I am riding really well, but I’m frustrated with how it’s going. I’ve been working on a lot of things and getting better and better, but the results were worse. 3-4 is not a bad result on paper, but I believe in myself and the team, and I believe that we should definitely be chasing wins every race. That second moto I took on a lot of roost battling with a few guys right at the end there, and ended up breaking a set of roll-offs with about 5 minutes to go – the string got stuck out. I believe that I’m there and I’m ready. It’s so close I can feel it. I know the one weekend I get a bit of luck on my side, that I can put the whole thing together.

Luke Styke (KTM Motocross Racing Team) – Seventh overall:
It wasn’t the best qualifying for me, I felt a bit stiff, but I got through that, kept my head high and pretty much got the holeshot but then someone just took me out. The bike was fairly damaged, but I still came from dead last to sixth in a solid ride. In the second moto I didn’t get the start, I got stuck behind a rider that I couldn’t pass and got onto his pace and it became a bit of a train – I couldn’t’ really do anything. It was a pretty start-dominant racetrack here, but I was riding okay. I felt like I was really good in the first moto; we dug deep and got a good result. In the second, my level wasn’t 100% and every time I pushed I felt a little bit sketchy. I felt like I was faster than the guys in front of me but I couldn’t pass them, it was a bit disappointing, but I’ve just got to keep my head high and keep positive and the results will come.

Brett Metcalfe (MEGA Bulk Fuels Monster Energy Kawasaki) – Second overall:
I think it’s something huge that we can really build on and gain momentum, that’s something I’ve been missing for pretty much the whole season. Literally, today is the fifth day on the bike, so to learn the bike as quick as possible, change a few things and come to the track and be competitive was really the goal for today. I kind of exceeded my expectations with the speed I was able to ride at and I’m happy. To ride away with 2-2 [finishes] and Nato also having a good finish – two in the top five for the MEGA Bulk Fuels Monster Energy Kawasaki – I think it’s awesome and a step in the right direction. For myself personally, I’m happy with my riding and the result. Obviously winning is the goal from here out, I’m just trying to find consistency now to bridge the gap and win.

Nathan Crawford (MEGA Bulk Fuels Monster Energy Kawasaki) – Fifth overall:
It wasn’t too bad, fifth overall for the day and I can’t really complain, I was a little disappointed about the second moto, but then I remember that throughout the six-week break – I didn’t race Murray Bridge – the only thing I was doing was in the gym and was not able to ride for much of it.For me to come here and almost back on form for myself and lead some laps, get a holeshot and come out inside the top five, I’m really happy. Hopefully I can take this momentum into the back half of the series and into round seven. I’m a rookie, so I’m just going to keep learning and bettering myself every weekend and work together as a team to better our results.

Dean Ferris (CDR Yamaha) – First overall:
My attitude coming in was that everyone uses the break to reset and refresh and hit the round with renewed energy. I see their goal as to stop my momentum and break my confidence, so I focused making sure that didn’t happen and while I have them on the ropes, I want to keep them there. A 15 and 12 second win look great on paper but on this track, that takes an enormous amount of work and you are never safe. Nowra is a track that is very easy to lose time and difficult to make it back so it requires a lot of focus on the track to keep punching out consistently fast laps. It was a great way to start the second half of the year and showed the team and I have continued to work hard over the break and kept moving forward. I can’t thank everyone at CDR Yamaha enough for providing me with everything I need to race at my best. We now move onto Shepparton in two weeks’ time and it’s a completely different style of track so I’m looking forward to riding in the long ruts and technical layout that we get down there.

Dylan Long (CDR Yamaha) – 12th overall:
I had to start somewhere and today was the start of me getting things back on track. Physically I was done, as you just can’t simulate the intensity of racing out on the practice track but it feels good to be back and now I can move forward and make progress in my speed and fitness.

Kade Mosig (DPH Motorsport Yamaha) – Sixth overall:
I walk away from Nowra pretty happy. The work I’ve put in and with the help of Craig Anderson, I really feel like I’m riding better than the first half of the season already. Getting caught up in the first corner pile up and then having another crash through the race really put me down the pack in race 1, but we bounced back and finished the day with a strong ride that helps solidify my third place in the championship.

Kyle Peters (Wilson Coolair Motul Factory Suzuki) – Eighth overall:
It was a difficult weekend for me, but there were some positives. Even though I went down in the first turn in moto one I fought back to seventh so that was somewhat of an achievement given the circumstances. We’re working hard anytime that we aren’t racing and although that the results aren’t showing on paper we have the speed so it’s just about putting all of the pieces of the puzzle together. I had my family over from the U.S at Nowra which was a big help, it’s nice to have that extra support at the track. Now we’ll just re-focus and shift our attention to Shepparton, there are still four rounds of the championship left and I’m determined to finish the year strong.

MX2

Image: MXN.

Jackson Richardson (Serco Yamaha) – Second overall:
I put in two good motos today and was finally able to break through for a race win. At nearly every round this year I have been in positions to win races but I haven’t been able to do it so it’s a relief to finally win one and know that I can do it. The championship is really tight between four of us and no one can afford to make a mistake with just eight races left. I feel like I’m hitting good form at the right time and will continue to work hard to ensure I give myself every opportunity to win this thing. Thank you to Serco Yamaha again for their support and it’s nice to reward everyone with a podium today.

Mitch Evans (Serco Yamaha) – Fourth overall:
It was a battle all day and not much separated the top 10 riders in terms of speed so you had to work really hard for your positions. The first moto crash happened when I hit a jump and got kicked pretty hard and went down. I hit me head pretty hard and smashed by peak on my helmet so I looked like a bit of a goon out there.But it was nice to bounce back in moto two with a strong ride. It helped a lot in the championship and even on a day where things didn’t go smoothly, I was able to stay close in the points and even gain one.

Wilson Todd (DPH Motorsport Yamaha) – Sixth overall:
I’m happy to retain the red plate, although today just didn’t go to plan. Really, I was lucky to not get hurt in my crash in the second race, I’ve given Ben some work to do to fix it during the week! Now I’ll be putting my head down and focusing on the next round.

Kyle Webster (Penrite CRF Honda Racing) – fifth overall:
My start was great, but then I got tangled up with another rider in the first turn, and that left me dead last by the time I got going again. All I could do from there was just put my head down and come through as hard as a I could, so to get up to eighth at the finish was a good result for moto one, all things considered. This time I just pushed it too wide and dropped a stack of places, that left me around 12th on the opening lap, so once again I had to fight my way forward, and this time I had some great battles along the way and eventually finished the race in fourth place, which was okay all things considered.

Jayden Rykers (Raceline Pirelli KTM) – Third overall:
The round was good, we made some positive changes and they worked. Qualifying was a bit rough as I missed that first lap with traffic, and that was when the fast laps were. Ninth in qualifying still gave me the gate that I wanted, and the day kicked off with a holeshot in moto one before dropping back to second where I settled in and didn’t feel out of place at all. By the mid point I started to make some ground up before we got to some traffic where I kept first in my sight, but was happy with a strong second. In moto two I got another good jump off the gate but it bottled up into turn one and I had another rider land on the back of my bike which took me down over the first jump but I fought back to fifth place. Towards the end of the moto though I came off, but we got away with it pretty good and only dropped back to sixth where we stayed for my first podium of the season.

Jay Wilson (Raceline Pirelli KTM) – Ninth overall:
We were able to take a few positives out of yesterday, the results on paper don’t look to good but we actually aren’t too far off the pace. In race one I pumped up worse than I ever have. In Europe and the U.K the tracks are a lot more wide open and fast and at Nowra a lot of the track you really need to be patient and I guess the transition to an Australian spec circuit wasn’t as smooth as I would have liked. We qualified in third and I was in third for the majority of moto two so we know the speed is there, it’s more just about finding my flow earlier in the race and keeping that intensity for the entire 30 or 20 minutes.

Egan Mastin (Davey Motorsports KTM) – First overall:
The last couple of races have been good for me and I got a 1-2 today. I got off in second place in the first moto and got into the lead. I had a little gap and just maintained it for the whole 30 so I was happy. Moto two I ended up getting the holeshot and I was out front for a little while and then Richardson got me. I was just running a little bit tight in the last one, but it was still not a bad race. I knew if I sat second I had the overall, and I was a little bit down on energy from being sick all week, so to come out with a second in that race – I was pretty happy with it.