KTM Australia press release:

It was a day when not everything went right for the KTM Motocross Racing Team’s MX1 contenders, but in a measure of their professionalism and prowess, Kirk Gibbs and Luke Styke managed to minimise the damage and maintain their championship positions at round eight of the MX Nationals.

Offering limited passing, the Nowra track rewarded a good start and a clean run, but with his fractured shoulder of three weeks ago causing a drought of quality bike time in recent weeks, things didn’t go perfectly to plan for Kirk Gibbs.

Gibbs suffered two crashes in the first moto, and a crash and a stall in the second, but each time fought back with typical doggedness, and did exceptionally well to salvage 5-4 results for sixth on the day, and actually extend his lead in the championship by two points.

KTM teammate Luke Styke’s speed was again exceptional, with the Jervis Bay rider qualifying for Super Pole for the first time this year. However, Styke again fell foul of the traffic, hitting the deck after an altercation with another rider at the first turn and having to charge back through the pack. He made a heck of a fist of it, working his way back through to sixth, before taking a well-deserved podium finish in the second Moto to earn fourth on the day behind Daniel Reardon, Dylan Long and Kade Mosig.

Kyle Blunden, KTM Motocross Racing Team Technician – “Overall for the team it wasn’t a bad day, but it wasn’t our best day either. We started off the day on a bit of a high with both the boys getting into Super Pole for the first time. Gibbsy won it and Luke was fourth which was great. Today was definitely up and down for us in the races however, and Nowra was one of those tracks where everyone’s lap time is very similar, so any mistake that was made was very costly. Any time you can end up on the deck and then regroup and make more passes is a good effort though, and they both had to make some pretty crucial passes today. They both got it done so that was quite good.”

Kirk Gibbs – “Just a lack of bike time and silly mistakes cost me today. It was great to get fastest Super Pole lap, but in the first moto I was sitting fourth and after the rain and just struggling a little bit with water behind my tearoffs. I had a little crash, regrouped, then had another crash so two crashes really set me back. In the second I got a good start and was sitting third and felt like I could win, but made another little mistake and went down. I was coming back through again and then stalled it! I’m looking forward to getting some good bike time in over the next couple of weeks and getting back to where I know I can be.”

Luke Styke – “I went 6-3 for fourth on the day. I got taken out again at the start of the first moto and I was way back. It was a real hard track to pass on, real one-lined, and we struggled a bit in that first one. In the second we got a better start, and starts were a bit key today. I felt like I was the fastest on the track most of the time, putting in good times, but it’s hard to come from behind when the track is so one-lined. It really wasn’t prepped the best – it was pretty much a case of whoever got the holeshot one.”

In MX2 Racing: KTM Factory Support rider Caleb Ward’s winning streak came to an end at four after he struggled with starts at Nowra and finished 11th on the day. KTM Newcastle’s Dylan Wills had the conditions eating out of his hand however – recovering from a first moto crash to scramble from 19th back to 5th, then walking away with a moto two win for third place on the day behind Luke Clout, and Jay Wilson. In doing so, Wills leapfrogged from 10th into 8th place in the championship.

Dylan Wills – “A good day for me today, but I’m a little bit disappointed to go down in moto one while I was leading – I went back to 19th but made my way back up to fifth, which was good. I’m disappointed to miss out on that first moto win, but I’m happy to walk away with one, particularly ahead of the two guys are battling for the championship, for sure.

Caleb Ward– “Not a good day. The track wasn’t my kind of track at all, it was like a mini-bike track, but I struggled with bad starts in both races. The first one I was back l around 20th and I was just being too nice, it was the kind of track you really needed to pretty much make people move out of your way and just get it done, but I was probably being a bit nice and just didn’t ride it very well. I felt like I rode a lot better in the second moto but still the result wasn’t overly convincing.”

In MXD racing, KTM Factory Support racer Jayden Rykers made his second straight Under 19 round win just as convincing as the first, with another two-moto demolition of the class on his KTM 250 SX. Victory at Nowra sees Rykers takeover second place in the championship, just 18 points in arrears of Wilson Todd.

Jayden Rykers – “Two wins today. It was a good day, plus I won the $100 holeshot award, and I haven’t got that before! I came out with a holeshot in the first moto, and was able to pretty much ride my own race. Then in the second I got into second behind Wilson once we were a little way in, and I just kept putting pressure on him and reeled him in and he started making mistakes, then with probably five minutes to go I made a pass on him and made it stick.”

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