Yamaha Motor Australia press release:

Nathan Crawford continued his barnstorming finish to the MX Nationals, showing great speed and intensity in the final rounds of the championship at a rough and rugged Coolum circuit.

Crawford finished fourth at rounds nine and ten of the championship in a huge double header weekend and was highlighted by a sensational race win that saw him charge through the field and pass the top MX2 riders. It was arguably his best moto of the year as all the major players were up front and the championship was on the line.

Despite the slow start to the season, Crawford climbed to fourth place in the championship and has re-established himself as a major contender in racing again. But maybe the most pleasing thing for the 22year-old Queenslander was that he was able to complete the entire series without missing a race or round due to injury.

“My goals were to finisher higher than fourth at the beginning of the year but my injuries took longer than expected to heal so looking back at it now, fourth is a good result,” he explains.

“To be able to get back to a good level and get through the season injury free is good. Continuity in riding and training is important and to be able to keep building momentum in both will only be a benefit for me.

“The first half of the year was a grind but to be back and challenging for race and round wins feels good and its where I should be. I worked hard so to see the rewards in the back half of the season was important for me and the Serco Yamaha team who stuck by me.

“Now we can get to work on Supercross and keep the train rolling on,” Crawford ends.

Aaron Tanti ended the championship in fifth place on his Yamaha YZ250F. Tanti had been a model of consistency all year and was desperately unlucky to miss out on several podiums throughout the ten rounds.

And while he finished fifth again on both days at Coolum, his performance was a considerable improvement on years gone by as the soft, sandy surface hasn’t been kind to Tanti in the past.

“On paper fifth doesn’t look great but it’s a lot better than what I have done here in the past. I put a lot of work into my sand riding this season and I was a lot closer to the front and in the race with the lead guys every moto.

“If I had a weakness on the weekend it was my starts as I was never in the top three on the first lap. Track position is so important as the lead group is so evenly matched in speed.

“But, overall the series was ok for me. I think I can finish better than fifth and that’s is my motivation heading into supercross. I want to be on the podium and winning races again.”