Boost Mobile Honda’s Kyle Webster was back in the winners circle at Gillman’s round three of the 2024 Penrite ProMX Championship. Victorian-based Webster took maximum points with a 1-1 and now leads the MX1 championship. Making it three from three, Brodie Connolly continued his MX2 dominance with another stellar performance and his second 1-1 of the season. MotoOnline caught up with both riders after the races for this Debrief interview.

MX1

Image: Foremost Media.

Kyle, congratulations. What a day for you, what a weekend for you. Points leader now as well. Take me through the day for you.

Yeah, it’s nice to have the red plate back, obviously. And another good weekend, happy with that after Horsham. I think Horsham wasn’t terrible, but definitely good today. But yeah, the track was gnarly. But the track crew did a good job of flattening things and try and keep it a bit more racy, which was good. Obviously, our second race, Jed [Beaton], had a good push there in the middle and got around me, but made a bit of a mistake. So it was good to capitalise on that, I suppose, and get the win.

I think when you’re watching that as well, both motos, a lot of pressure from behind for you. Staying composed, what’s that like in the moment? Is it just you’re focusing that much on your laps and yourself, you don’t really notice they’re there, or is it something where you’ve got to attack and defend at the same time?

Yeah, it’s obviously, it’s hard when the track’s like that. It catches you out really easily. So my goal was just to stay composed and ride my speed that I knew I was comfortable at, and it’s very hard to pass out there. So I had a feeling it would take something pretty risky to get around someone. But yeah, I mean, the pressure’s always hard. You know someone’s right there, but it’s just gotta try and focus on you and what you can do really, and especially in the mix of the lap riders, that part was tough.

Looked like there was quite a few lappers out there as well. You guys, I think, lapped up to 10th or something in that first moto. That’s gotta be hard for you, right? You’re the first bike they hear coming behind, so usually it benefits the person behind you as they’re out of the way. Setting those up on a track that sort of tends to funnel into the one line, take me through that.

Yeah, I think that, in all honesty, they were all really good this weekend. No one really got in the way too much, and you’ve gotta be respectful of their racing as well, especially guys who were battling in the top 10, you know, it’s getting towards the end that everyone’s going at a pretty good speed, so it does make it hard, but everyone respected the blue flags really well this weekend. It wasn’t, I feel like Wonthaggi was a little bit harder, to be honest, but no, it ended up good.

That final moto as well, the importance of winning that, a big point swing, like you said, one point back in the championship lead. Do you think about that when you’re sitting there on the line? Do you think how important this is? ‘Okay, I gotta go out there and one-one because a two-one beats it.’ Which you’ve been on the other end of that a few times. The importance of that, take me through it.

Yeah, I mean, obviously we try not to, try not to think about those things. You just gotta tackle each race as it comes. But at the end of the day, yeah, it does. It does fall down to that. And a 1-1 today was the only way to get that back. Otherwise, Jed and I would have been tied again and going into the next one with five points still. So, I mean, it’s still early days, but it’s always good to, I guess, capitalise while you can. But yeah, as for thinking about it, I tried not to today until I crossed the line in the second moto.

I was only saying to Brodie Connolly, your teammate here a little earlier, you guys, Honda Racing Australia, won everything today. Won one in all three classes. That’s pretty impressive.
And to be a part of that, definitely keeps Yarrive [Konsky] happy, right?

Yeah, well, I mean, I don’t see too many other teams doing as much as what he’s doing for us this year. Whatever it is we ask, he will do it. Like we want to race the Queensland stuff. He says, no dramas, gets us up there, race down here a few weeks ago for the Adelaide State titles. No dramas, we’re all here. It’s a huge effort, as everyone can see here. It’s massive for what everyone’s been doing and everyone at the workshop as well. Like we’re all full noise during the week, riding, training, and then especially for them to jump in the van and drive somewhere else to go do a local race is huge. So it’s definitely paying off obviously. It’s just something that he does. You know, he invests heavily in it and he wants to win. So this is the best that we can give to him, I suppose.

A final question for me, last year for you, definitely showed a lot of interest in returning to the US, doing some motocross over there. It’s coming up, just saying, and Yarrive has a team there. Maybe a little earlier, put some plans in. Is it something you look towards, especially when you’re having a season the way you are?

Yeah, no, I definitely want to go. It’s been a lifelong dream of mine, especially to go race Southwick, you know, coming from Perth, somewhere that’s sandy. It’s something I’ve always wanted to do. So I hope we can make it happen this year. We have spoken about it.

Well, you said Southwick, so there’s definitely been a conversation somewhere along the line. They seem to line up pretty well, especially with our championship. You are pretty good in the sand too, [laughs].

Yeah, that would definitely be my favourite surface. But yeah, we have spoken about it. I think we’ll make a decision over the next few weeks, after Maitland, probably, and just see where everything’s at, you know. It’s something that I want to do. And if we don’t get to do it, I will be kicking myself later on in life. So I definitely want to try and go if I get a chance to.

Absolutely, mate. Once again, new series leader, red plate back on the 96. A win here for you overall. Congratulations, we’ll see you in Maitland.

Feels good, thank you.

MX2

Image: Foremost Media.

Alrighty, Brodie, here for round three of the Penrite ProMX Championship. What a day for you. Absolutely stamping authority on that track. It literally a flawless day from you. Take me through it.

Yeah, obviously, yeah, a perfect day. First in qualifying, which I was stoked with. My first one this year. Put a lot of focus on that this morning and yeah, tidied that up, executed that well. And then yeah, two good starts and two moto wins. So yeah, I’m pretty stoked. Not as good start in the second one. I was second, Kayden got the start of me, but made a quick pass and put a good charge in that one. Yeah, real happy with the second moto. It was a lot better than the first one, I feel.

Hey, 39 points for you. 39 points at round three for a championship lead. That’s pretty incredible. How does that feel? Like even hearing that for you. There’s not really a better way a championship can begin.

Yeah, I didn’t realise it was that much. Yeah, that’s obviously good. I’m just trying to focus on one race at a time. Cause yeah, I still want to be better, still need to be better. Say, if you know, if I want to be any good overseas. So yeah, just keep working hard and yeah, to put the points leaders, it sort of takes a little bit of pressure off. But yeah, just trying to be the best me every weekend.

Hey, one thing you said to me coming into the weekend and previous rounds as well was being better later in the Moto. Two moto wins for you there, winning by a substantial amount. That’s got to be a bit of confidence, working in that direction. What are other things that Brodie Connolly wants to focus on?

The total race time. When you compare myself to say the 450 boys, I’m still a long way off total race time. You do the same amount of laps and I’m still like a minute or more off Jed or Kyle or whoever wins at the end of the moto. So I’m closer to them at the training track. So yeah, just trying to be better in the race and close that gap to them a little bit. That’s sort of what I’m focusing on at the moment.

Hey, final question for me as well. A pretty interesting race track we’ve seen here today. Bike changes for you. Were there any setup changes coming into the second moto that you can sort of watch throughout the day or is it just every time we hop on this bike, it’s fine?

Yeah, I did make a little change actually before the second moto. It wasn’t much, just lifted my forks up through a couple of mil. Yeah, the track was tricky today. The bumps were real hard and skatey, so I think everyone struggled a little bit, but yeah, a little change in between the first two motos and I was a lot better in the second one, I feel. A lot more comfy, I should say.

Hey, we just watched the end of the 450 moto here as well. And I don’t know if you’re aware of it, but for what you guys at Honda Racing Australia did today, won everything. All three classes, you all went 1-1. That’s a pretty remarkable feat for what you guys are doing here, Brodie. So once again, congratulations, mate. We’ll see you in Maitland in a couple of weeks.

Thank you, I appreciate it.