KTM Off-Road Racing Team rider Tye Simmonds rebounded from a heavy heat race crash to post his best finish of the InsureMyRide Australian Enduro-X Nationals when he placed second in the penultimate round at Sydney Dragway.

The tough, KTM 350 EXC-F rider from Burke shook off his second over-the-bars in as many rounds to place runner-up behind rampant Californian Husqvarna rider Mike Brown, and ahead of Josh Green.

The result sees the former motocross pro leap-frog four places in the Australian standings to fourth place overall, in just his third race for the KTM Off-Road Racing Team.

Toby Price’s marathon weekend of motorsport saw the Maitland ace finish fourth on the night, a little over 24 hours after a successful Super Truck racing debut at Adelaide’s Clipsal 500 yielded an impressive sixth place.

Price lamented that he was only able to get one of the ‘pointy-end’ starts that he so desired in Sydney, but his second placing in the final race of the evening was enough to ensure he maintained his third place in the national championship.

Daniel Sanders’ up-and-down evening gave him sixth place on the night, but his solid points score positions all three of the KTM team riders in the top five of the championship.

Flair Action Sports KTM rider Kristie McKinnon found the less technical course negated much of the advantage that she and her KTM Freeride 250R held in Brisbane and she slipped to second in the women’s championship with fifth place on the night, with teammate Rhianna Buchanan right behind in sixth.

Tye Simmonds – “I’m pretty stoked, that’s for sure. I had an even bigger crash than the one in Brisbane – I couldn’t believe it! I was riding over a big heap of loader tyres on the first lap of the heat race and I just came in pretty quick and dropped the front end and yeah, game over, out the front I went. Got a pretty sore neck but nothing too serious. I got good starts all night which obviously helped a lot, qualified ninth so I got into the shootout and laid down the third quickest time and went from ninth to third so that was pretty good. From that one good lap it all just sort of snowballed into a good night. And I took the $500 for the first holeshot of the night too so that will be enough to pay the fuel on the way home I reckon!”

Toby Price – “Tonight wasn’t the greatest of nights, but that’s part of racing, you can’t go good all the time. With enduro cross you suffer big time if you don’t get that start so we’re just having a hard time in that area. But riding-wise it’s not too bad, I got a good start in the last final and ended up second, but by then it’s too late. The enduro-cross is a hard type of racing, it’s really cutthroat and we need to make sure we get through it unscathed too. It’s the kind of racing where you can end up with an injury pretty quick, and you don’t want to be trying to carry that through the start of the season. It’s a bit of a fine line to walk – we don’t like losing, but we’ve got a long season ahead of us as well. A bit of an improvement with the starts will go a long way.”

Daniel ‘Chucky’ Sanders – “My night was strange. I had a good first race and then in the second I went down a couple of times and in the third I crashed again. Both times something clicked and I couldn’t get my flow back. I really don’t know. The track didn’t really suit my riding style but I tried to put that out of my mind and stay positive and get into its rhythm, but it just didn’t work for me. You look at Browny, you’ve got to be really consistent and putting it down every lap. But anyway, I’ll just look forward to Melbourne and hopefully stay in that top five at least.”

Ben Grabham – “The night was good for us, it was great to see Tye come away with second overall behind Browny. Browny was in a league of his own again tonight, but Tye did well. At the start of the night, things were a bit shaky and he went over the bars in one of his heats. So he definitely came back well. Toby had quite a similar night to Brisbane; he was a little bit off his starts in the first two finals, then nailed the holeshot in the last one and held on to second behind Browny. He can do it, it’s just a matter of piecing together a few things. Chucky (Sanders) was riding good, he was showing the most promise early in the night and lots of speed, but like the first round, a few silly mistakes here and there dropped him down the order a little bit. After Chucky wrapped up the holeshot awarded the first round, Tye wrapped it up here, so our bikes are fast. The boys are just up against a hard man in Browny who knows what to do in this form of racing.”

Kristie McKinnon – “I was disappointed with my run here in Sydney after coming out of Brisbane with such a strong start to the series, however I am keen to find some extra speed to bring to Melbourne – the Freeride definitely has the power there to do the job and keep a good pace so I’m looking forward to improving on that and finishing the last round strong.”

Rhianna Buchanan – “It was a pretty rough week leading up to this round with plenty on the Flair schedule, I had a couple of shockers (crashes) in the heat races however I managed to pull it together in the final and ride smooth. I’m hoping to be able to put some time in with Kristie and work on getting a little faster, then having a good time in Melbourne on the 250 Freeride.”

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