Dale was an improved sixth overall at Canberra last weekend. Image: Sport The Library.

The Serco Yamaha team of Kirk Gibbs and Ford Dale turned in a much improved performance at round two of the Super X Championship in Canberra over the weekend with both riders finishing deep inside the top 10 despite some tough luck.

After their first round was dogged with bad luck, the Yamaha’s official Pro Lites team was determined to get a much better result in Canberra and get themselves back in the championship hunt.

Dale rebounded from his trying day at Newcastle last week to take sixth overall in Canberra. Dale struggled to get off the start line but showed good speed as he charged through the field in each of the three races to take 14-5-3 and a well earned sixth place.

“Tonight was much better for me but still not what I’m looking for. I was in a first turn crash in the first race but came back strongly in the next two. It was a tough track to pass on and the short races mean you have to be aggressive out there,” Dale said.

Teammate Gibbs shadowed his team mate in the standings taking seventh overall but was left wondering what could have been. Gibbs took fourth in the opening leg, was unable to finish race two after damaging his bike in leg two and then came home with a fifth in the final race. The no points score in the second leg hurt his chances of a podium finish.

“I had two good races and one terrible one and that is what makes this format so hard,” he said. “Almost any result inside the top 10 in race two would have put me on the podium but you can live by ‘ifs’ or ‘could have beens’. I am happy with how I rode and now look forward to round three where I will try and put together a full nights racing and get on the podium.”

The Serco Yamaha team will strive for more improvement at the next round in Tasmania as the series heads for Launceston and round three at Aurora Stadium.