KSF ECSTAR Suzuki press release:

The KSF ECSTAR Suzuki SX pairing of Jesse Dobson and Jesse Madden have continued their early season form at the second round of the 2018 Australian Supercross Championship held at Coolum on Saturday the 6th of October.

With light rain falling early in the day, Dobson set the tone early for the team, laying down the 10th fastest lap in timed qualifying aboard his Suzuki RM-Z450, while Madden had to settle for the final gate pick in his heat after struggling to find his flow.

Madden turned his fortunes around in the opening SX1 heat race, with a superb ride that saw him cross the finish line in 4th position, just one spot ahead of Dobson, as both riders qualified directly for the night’s main event.

When the gates dropped on the afternoon’s main event, Dobson fired himself into the top ten and was running with the lead pack in the opening stages before a couple of mistakes relegated him back to 12th

Riding in front of his home crowd, the Sunshine Coast resident put his head down and went to work, making his way back through the field to finish out the day in 7th position.

“On paper it was another good result points wise, but I feel like I still have a lot more to give,” Dobson commented.

“The first round was all about finishing the main event, but I wanted to try and start pushing more this weekend, but I was not quite myself.”

“There were still a lot of positives to take away from the day, I pulled a holeshot in my heat race, which is something I have not done for a long time.

“Also in the main event after making a couple of mistakes and getting frustrated a little, I was able to calm it all back down and make up some lost ground to finish seventh.”

“Overall it was a good round, some positives to take away and I know what I need to work on heading into the next rounds.”

Dobson’s second straight top ten result has him sitting in 7th in the championship standings heading into round three of the five-round championship.

Madden was once again a picture of consistency in the main event.

Rounding out the opening lap in 11th, he took advantage of his team-mates crash to momentarily move into 10th position, before dropping two places into 12th spot by the midpoint of the race, the position he would hold until race end.

Madden continues to hold down a top ten position in the championship standings in 9th.

“My day started off really average with not being able to get comfy and qualified down in position 18.” Madden explained.

“I went out for the heat and managed to get a decent flow going to finish 4th which was great.

“In the main I hit a wall at about lap 11, when my arms pumped up so I just did what I could to finish the race. It was not a bad result and keeps us inside the top ten.

“We will move on to Geelong next week and look to improve.”

It was another rough day for the team’s SX2 rider Gradie Featherston who once again had to work his way through the Last Chance Qualifier after a crash during qualifying left him bruised and battered.

Lining up for the main event, Featherstone was able to put in a gutsy ride to complete the final in 20th position.

“That was another tough round,” Featherstone admitted. “We came into round two feeling good, but a big crash in qualifying made things tough on myself.”

“We will re-group after a couple of days rest and set our sights on a better result at round three.”

The KSF ECSTAR Suzuki Racing team will next be in action when round three of the series heads to Geelong, Victoria this Saturday the 13th of October.