Image: MXN.

2015 Australian MX2 champion Jay Wilson raced to ninth overall at Nowra’s sixth stop of the 2017 Motul MX Nationals last weekend, marking his return to Australian motocross following a stint on the world championship calendar.

After qualifying an impressive third, Wilson piloted his Raceline Pirelli KTM SX-F 250 to 10-5 results, running third for much of race two before dropping down the order.

The 22-year-old admitted the transition to Australian-style circuits has been tougher than expected, although he was pleased with the pace he was able to carry throughout the weekend, which proved to be a fraction off the leaders.

“We were able to take a few positives out of yesterday,” Wilson explained. “The results on paper don’t look too 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.

The Queenslander will have another two weeks to get get acquainted with his new KTM machine before Shepparton’s seventh round, set for 16 July, in Victoria.