Raceline Pirelli KTM press release:

Raceline Pirelli KTM’s Jayden Rykers and Mitch Evans have concluded the first half of the Pirelli MX Nationals championship, both recording consistent results at the fifth round of the series at Murray Bridge over the weekend.

With the South Australian event marking the final stop on the calendar before the mid-season break commences, both Rykers and Evans collected important championship points and emerged from the weekend’s racing healthy, and ready to tackle the second half of the series.

Fresh off his third podium for the year at Wonthaggi, Evans hit the ground running in South Australia. Despite missing out on entry into Raceline Performance Superpole for the first time this year, Evans charged to sixth in moto one, and crossed the line in eighth in race two to conclude the weekend’s event in eighth overall. Evans now sits in third in the MX1 Championship standings with five rounds remaining.

“It wasn’t a bad weekend – we definitely could have been better but we made sure that we got some points and finished the first half of the season safe and healthy,” Evans explained.

“After the double podium at Wonthaggi, eighth overall is not where I want to be finishing, but we will keep working and stick to our program for the second half of the season.

“At the moment I’m sitting third in the championship which is a good spot to be at the half-way point in my rookie season. We are on track in terms of the goals we have set for this year so I’m looking forward to being even better once we get back to racing in July”

For the team’s MX2 rider Rykers, Murray Bridge served as another opportunity to show his potential and post consistent results ahead of the mid-season break.

After qualifying in ninth position on Sunday morning, Rykers raced his KTM 250 SX-F machine to eighth and 11th in the MX2 category’s 30 minute and 20 minute motos at Murray Bridge, completing the round just shy of the top ten in 11th overall.

“Murray Bridge went pretty well in the sense that I didn’t aggravate any of the injuries from the first few rounds,” Rykers said.

“Although my moto scores were poor, I can’t expect much more than that with the amount of training I’ve been able to get in with only racing the MX Nationals.

“I’m looking forward to the time away during this break, which will allow me to rebuild on what I had before round one.”

The mid-season break in the 2018 Pirelli MX Nationals will now take place, with racing resuming at round six on July 1 at Conondale in Queensland.

For more information on the Raceline Pirelli KTM, head to the teams’ official website, www.raceline.com.au

To follow Raceline Pirelli KTM’s progress this year, like ‘Raceline’ on Facebook or follow @raceline_motosport on Instagram.

For more information on the Pirelli MX Nationals head to www.mxnationals.com.au