Kawasaki Motors Australia press release:

Complete Parts Kawasaki Racing riders Rhys Carter and Aaron Tanti have pushed through a commanding double-header stop of the MX Nationals at Wonthaggi in Victoria, which hosted rounds three and four of the 2018 series this weekend.

New Zealand ace Carter posted an impressive fourth place result to kick-start the weekend in Saturday’s opening MX1 moto – his best moto finish this season – while in the second outing he remained solid with a top 10 result in seventh, crediting him fifth overall aboard the KX450F.

Sunday’s edition was always going be a tough stint with back-to-back rounds, but Carter was still in fine form during race one, comfortably inside the top four again before a fall pushed him back to eighth. Battling a few tweaks from the race one incident, he returned for 11th in the final outing to be awarded 10th overall.

“We’ve worked on a couple of things over the last couple of weeks, which has made a massive improvement to my riding and confidence as well,” said Carter, who now sits eighth in the standings. “Saturday was a solid day and my speed was good on both days, which was a real positive.

“My moto was really good in the first one today until a little mishap and in the final race I made it hard for myself with a bad start and a crash. There were more positives to take out of the weekend, so that’s always a good thing. The team was awesome and everything has been working really well.”

For Tanti, his weekend got off to difficult start before turning things around and ending on a positive note. The New South Welshman put on a charge in race one on Saturday, passing almost half the field for 12th after going down on lap one, while moto two saw him push his way into P8 for eighth overall.

Looking for redemption, Tanti returned to the circuit for Sunday’s fourth round with some serious pace behind him, claiming second in race one to charge back from an early fall in moto two, earning fifth position that ultimately granted him fourth overall while tied on points for third.

Now third in the standings, Tanti commented: “Yesterday at round three I had a tough day – in the first moto I came back from 30th through to 12th, while in the second moto I got stuck behind people after a tough start and I ended up eighth overall.

“I turned it around today and got second in the first moto, but in race two I was taken out on the first lap, so I had to fight my way back – I ended up getting into fifth, which put me equal third for the day but fourth on count-back. I got some solid points and I’m leaving on a positive.”

Complete Parts Kawasaki Racing team manager Jay Foreman acknowledged the difficulties his riders faced this weekend, however he’s optimistic in the positives that Tanti and Carter displayed throughout the gruelling two rounds of racing.

“Aaron showed good qualifying speed and race one was good today – he was second and just put in perfect laps. It was an unfortunate fall on the first lap in moto two, but he came through for fifth and tied on points for third. He never gives up, which is great.

“Rhys’ first race was awesome being in fourth until a fall, he was sitting in that position easily but the crash put him back to eighth. He showed good speed yesterday and that provided more confidence for today, but that didn’t transfer to the results on paper.

“It’s clear that both riders have the potential to factor at the front of the field, so we are really happy with that and now it’s a matter of putting it all together race in, race out. Next weekend we head to South Australia and that will be another good weekend to keep progressing in the right direction.”

The Complete Parts Kawasaki Racing team will be out on-track next at Murray Bridge’s fifth round of the MX Nationals in South Australia, scheduled for Sunday, 27 May. Head to www.mxnationals.com.au for further details on the series.

To keep up to date with Complete Parts Kawasaki Racing, ‘Like’ Complete Parts Kawasaki Racing on Facebook or ‘Follow’ @completeparts_kawasaki_racing on Instagram. Visit www.kawasaki.com.au for further information on Kawasaki Motors Australia.