The battle for early-season psychological advantage will continue in earnest at Eastern Creek’s Sydney Dragway as the 2015 InsureMyRide Australian Enduro-X Nationals series continues tomorrow afternoon, and KTM Off-Road Racing Team riders Toby Price, Daniel Sanders and Tye Simmonds will all be looking for steady improvement.

While no one could hold a candle to the aggression and intent of American enduro-cross specialist Mike Brown at the opening round in Brisbane three weeks ago, all three KTM men showed impressive form at the kick-off to the year’s first domestic off-road championship, with Price making the podium on his KTM 350 EXC-F despite still feeling the lingering effects of a draining Dakar journey.

KTM 300 EX-C-mounted Sanders was unlucky not to join him with a fourth place on the night, while Simmonds’ eighth place was far from indicative of his position in the pecking order, coming courtesy of a violent over the bars in the first of the night’s three finals.

Though he hasn’t had it yet, Price’s ride in this weekend’s second round is already the talk of the sport, with the 27-year-old Maitland star juggling national championship racing commitments in two different states on the one weekend.

Price will today make his Super Truck racing debut in Adelaide at the V8 supercar season-opening Clipsal 500, then jet back to Sydney to race the motorcycle tomorrow, before returning to Adelaide to complete his second Super Truck race on Sunday.

Flair Action Sports KTM team mates Kristy McKinnon and Rhianna Buchanan made a big splash aboard their KTM Freeride 250R machines in Brisbane, with Multiple Australian Trials Champion Kristie McKinnon putting the model’s unique blend of usability and punch to good use to dominate the Women’s category.Both are keen for more action in Sydney.

You can meet the KTM Enduro Racing Team at the official Autograph session at 4.20 tomorrow afternoon.

Toby Price – “Coming out of Dakar for the first one we were still a little bit rusty and not 100%. Enduro cross is a hard sport, and we’re looking forward to going into Sydney with a bit more of a break and a little bit more rest up my sleeve. We’ve been doing some riding on the track at Chucky’s place, and a bit more testing there with Tye.You really need some good starts in those races so hopefully we can get that and go from there. I won the final race in Brisbane, so I know I can do it. But I was definitely a bit flat. But in the end we keep trying to do all of these things and keep it interesting and shock a few people along the way with some more weird and crazy stuff.The whole team is working well so it I’m looking forward to seeing what we can bring to the table in Sydney on Saturday night.”

Daniel ‘Chucky’ Sanders – “The goal is not too much different, I still want to challenge for the front of the pack again. I think I’ve shown that I’ve got the speed, as long as I can stay consistent and stay out of trouble through the races, I think I’ll be fine.The main goal is to finish and gather some good points and I want to be up on the podium this time. I just missed out last time but it was a pretty good weekend all the same.”

Tye Simmonds – “I wanted to be on the road a day earlier this week but I’ve just been that busy mustering cattle that I haven’t been able to get back in. Not ideal, but when you’ve got bills to pay – you’ve got to do a bit of work! My head was a bit sore after Archerfield, but it was mainly the fact that I didn’t know what had happened, it just happened so fast.
Top of the world one minute, on the ground the next! This one we’ve got a bit more bike time under the belt though.They did a good job of letting the crowd close last time. In motocross and Supercross you’re usually a fair way off the action, but there they could get in on the infield and watch. ”

Ben Grabham – “We’re looking good. Obviously it’s a bit of a home race for us; we’re only 15 minutes down the road from Eastern Creek. We had the chance to go down to Daniel’s place last week and spend a couple of days with the boys just fine tuning little things and it was good. Daniel is looking really strong; he’s got a good track to practice on and I think after that first round he realises he can win starts and run at the front and run a good pace. He’s getting faster and faster. Toby is slowly getting recharged, but as everyone knows he’s got a pretty hectic weekend with the super truck racing, but Toby’s Toby, and as we saw at the first round, if he can get some good starts he can be somewhere at the front. Tye’s recovered after he got knocked around in that crash in Brisbane, and I expect him to continue learning the ropes. Our goal is for all three to just be a tad bit more consistent, and then they’ll definitely be up there for sure.”

For more information on KTM motorcycles visit www.ktm.com.au or www.facebook.com/KTMAustralia.