KTM Australia press release:

KTM Factory Motocross Racing Team rider Kirk Gibbs has strengthened his second place in Australia’s premier motocross championship after he achieved his sixth straight overall podium in the sixth round of the 2017 MX Nationals Series at Nowra, south-west of Sydney.

Defending Champion Dean Ferris won the day from Brett Metcalfe and Gibbs.

After a last-start race win in his birth-state of South Australia, Gibbs was hopeful of repeating the dose, however, perfect starts eluded him and he was forced to contend with traffic and roost in both motos, making his way to 3-4 moto finishes.

Gibbs and his KTM 450 SX-F are in fine form, however, and the 2015 Champion is confident that a round win will be coming his way sooner rather than later.

The KTM factory team’s second KTM 450 SX-F and its pilot Luke Styke were temporarily at the head of the opening moto of the day, however his blinding start was quickly undone when he was felled by another rider at the first turn.

Styke laboured manfully to salvage an impressive sixth place in the opener, but could do no better than eighth in moto 2 for seventh on the day, however it was enough to see him climb from fifth to fourth in the championship standings.

For more information on KTM Motorcycles, visit www.ktm.com.au or www.facebook.com/KTMAustralia

Jay Marmont – KTM Motocross Racing Team Manager: “The track was great and the weather was unreal for racing. I guess we probably didn’t challenge for the win as much as we should have, but I probably put that down to starts. Stykesy had a boomer start in the first race, but got taken down in the first turn, so he had to come from dead last and work his way up to sixth, which was a decent ride. In the next race, the front guys got away and he was stuck in a freight-train. Kirk did enough to get on the podium for the day, and we walked away with a reasonable amount of points, but those are the only positive we can really take out. So we’ve still got a little bit of work to do before we can come out there and win in two weeks time at Shepparton, so we’ll put our head back down and go back to the drawing board to make that happen.”

Kirk Gibbs – KTM450SX-F: “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 – KTM450SX-F: “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.”