Yamaha Motor Australia press release:

GYTR Yamaha’s Wilson Todd returned to the winners circle at round six of the MX Nationals with two impressive rides at the Barleigh Ranch circuit, Raymond Terrace, over the weekend.

After a five week break in the series, Todd showed he had put in the hard yards and returned to good form with 1-2 results to take the round win and increase his lead in the MXD championship. Todd kicked off his day in fine style posting the fastest lap in qualifying and entered the first of two motos for the day with confidence.

He blasted down the front straight in race one and immediately hit the lead and claiming the Suzuki Holeshot award. From there he was never headed and slowly but surely stretched his lead out to 15 seconds on a tricky and challenging race track. He crossed the finish-line with a comfortable margin over his nearest rivals.

Race two and Todd was just outside the top five on the opening lap before making his move through the pack. He picked off riders in front of him and was in second place before the midway point. With two laps to go, he mounted a serious charge on the race leader and with just a few turns go made a lunge for the lead.

He was unable to make the pass stick and crossed the finish line in the shadows of the winner with a second place. His combined 1-2 scores were good enough for the round victory and he now leads the championship by 10 points.

“Today I started to feel and ride the way I know I should,” Todd explains. “During the break in the championship, I worked hard on my riding and then just last week I did plenty of testing with the team and we made some good improvements to the bike so it was nice to get a good result here and reassure that we are headed in the right direction.

“The next round is at Sheparton which is a track I have never raced at before, so I’m looking forward to racing somewhere new and hopefully continue to build on our last couple of weeks,” Todd ends. After an 11 week layoff from riding after back to back injuries, Mitch Evans finally made it through a round of the MX Nationals and immediately put his GYTR Yamaha up on the podium.

With a goal of just trying to get through the day safely and finish within the top five, Evans more than exceeded those goals, claiming two third place finishes in the motos to take home third for the day and kick start his year.

With a calm demeanor and a common sense attitude, Evans rode well on his return to racing and showed with some more seat time under race conditions that he will be a contender in the not too distant future.

“I just wanted to get through the day without going to hospital or RaceSafe so I was pretty happy to make that happen and even happier when I found out I made the podium. “Being off the bike so long, I was a bit surprised at the intensity of the first couple of laps in moto one but I was able to settle into a good pace and just keep ticking off my laps.

“Thank you to the GYTR Yamaha team for sticking by me during my injuries and I look forward to getting up on the podium a few more times before the championship is over,” Evans said.

The MX Nationals now moves to Shepparton in Victoria for round seven of the championship. It is the first time the championship has gone to Shepparton and the riders are excited to face a new track on the MX Nationals circuit.

For more information on the MX Nationals, www.mxnationals.com.au. To follow the GYTR Yamaha team on social media; www.facebook.com/GYTRYamaha or @gytr_yamaha_team.