Kirk Gibbs is hoping to work his way back to full health in the coming rounds, starting with this weekend’s Murray Bridge event in his home state of South Australia. Image: Simon Makker/Makkreative.com.

Motorex KTM has changed little in its approach to round two of the Monster Energy MX Nationals in South Australia this weekend, with riders putting in the effort on track and the team toiling behind the workshop’s closed doors.

Murray Bridge is a favourite track of MX1 class leader Todd Waters, an ominous prospect for his rivals who are still reeling at his 1-1 sweep at Raymond Terrace a fortnight ago.

The round also marks the ‘home’ event on the calendar of Waters’ South Australian teammate Kirk Gibbs.

Team manager Rob Twyerould said the team was focusing on the bigger picture and felt they had used the time between rounds to best effect.

“Our approach will be no different this weekend, winning the opener is well and good but there are still another nine rounds left and the boys have prepared very well at the Sunny State round last weekend,” explained Twyerould.

“Todd has made some more improvements to the bike in the last two weeks and will enter the race with a very positive outlook aiming for his absolute best on the day.

“Kirk has improved greatly with his shoulder recovery and managed to ride two classes and four good solid motos on a very rough track at the weekend. I’d look out for a much higher level this weekend than we saw at the opener.”

Twyerould also recognised the efforts of the team working together to complete a number of significant tasks.

“It hasn’t just been the riders working hard between rounds either,” he said. “The boys in the workshop, Kyle and Ryan have worked very hard and put in some really big hours to get the new truck setup finished, the race bikes prepared and practice bikes built for the boys who are staying in SA after the race.”

Waters has put in the hard yards between rounds and is pleased to be heading back to a track he knows and loves.

“I’ll do my best and if that gets me to the top step then so be it,” said Waters. “Last weekend no one knew what anyone’s level was, so I’m sure there’s been a lot of hard training and testing going on and I’m definitely hoping for some great competition this weekend.”

Gibbs is aiming to make inroads on his round one performance as his shoulder injury continues to improve.

“It’s hard to know exactly what to expect from the shoulder this weekend,” said Gibbs. “It’s feeling pretty good. Not 100 percent yet but pretty close to it.

“I raced a sunny state last weekend which was good just to see where I was at – I was a bit tight early on and I pumped up a little at one point, but it’s still like night and day compared to how it felt at Raymond Terrace so we’ll see.”

Waters takes a 15-point lead into round two, while Gibbs, placed 12th, will be eager to add to his current haul of 37 points.