Riders detail their day at the Jimboomba round of the 2015 Australian Supercross Championship. Team and privateer competitors can submit comments to [email protected] prior to the Wednesday after events for inclusion in the post-event Quotebook feature.

SX1

Image: Jeff Crow.

Kirk Gibbs (KTM Motocross Racing Team) – 5th overall:
It’s a little bit disappointing but there are a lot of positives to take away from this round compared to last weekend. Our worked on the bike showed in my confidence and my starts were perfect all day. I holeshot the final and I was sitting in second for a while, but made a couple of tiny mistakes and Adam got by me, then after the altercation with Matt on lap 11, I had to regroup from there. Unfortunately I left myself wide open in that corner – Matt was a little further behind coming in, but he came in a little bit hot. We both went over the berm and I had to pick the bike up and restart it to continue. I think it was a bit of a stupid move, but that’s racing, we’ll take it on the chin and move on to next round.

Luke Styke (KTM Motocross Racing Team) – 10th overall:
Tonight sucked for me. I haven’t had a race that bad in my life really. I just wasn’t comfortable. I got a pretty mediocre start and just battled with my arms all night and couldn’t hang on to the bike. I need to sit down and have a think about this and dust myself off and get back into it. I missed supercross last year and it’s my first series on the 450, so I know I’ve got some obstacles, but I’m not where I need to be to ride the bike as good as I want to. I’ve got to get some quality riding in in the next two weeks and just got to keep ticking the boxes. We’ll get there.

Daniel Reardon (CDR Yamaha) – 1st overall:
It was a pretty intense start to the race, but I was prepared to do that for the entire 20 laps if that’s what it took to get the win. My only concern with racing like that is that its slows the whole race down and you allow the other riders to stay a little closer, but that’s how it played out tonight and I’m happy to get the win. It was awesome to again race in front of a big crowd. The atmosphere of the event was good all day and there were plenty of people in and around the pits, so well done to Scott Bannan and his promotional team on a great event. I also want to thank my team and my mechanic Brad. We put a new tyre of for the main event to handle the hard-pack dirt and that’s about it, my bike was perfect.

Kade Mosig (CDR Yamaha) – 4th overall:
Another step in the right direction and I felt my riding was a little bit better again tonight. It took me a couple of laps to get into it, but then I felt good and my speed was consistent throughout the night. The track was really hard-pack dirt and finding traction wasn’t always easy, so you couldn’t be overly aggressive especially in the turns. But fourth is better and with four rounds to go, hopefully the improvement can continue at every round

Adam Monea (NPS Monster Energy Kawasaki) – 2nd overall:
I am feeling good. Coming off last week’s results, I just needed to get a good race out of the way and now I can really build off it. You know, these boys besides me are quick, but there is no doubt in my mind that I will be banging bars with them in the next round. The track was greasy, the cold night brought the moisture up and it was a tricky one to ride. You just need to be patient and let it come to you. The Pirelli tyres really came into their own tonight with these track conditions and my mechanic, Teasy, puts in a big effort so I want to reward him with a win!

Dylan Long (NPS Monster Energy Kawasaki) – 8th overall:
I think I did well to come back to a top 10 position in the main race. The team really have the KX450F dialled in and I’m looking forward to chasing a podium in the next round.

Matt Moss (Team Motul Suzuki) – 3rd overall:
The day started off well for us. I topped qualifying and continued my winning run through the heats and dash for cash, which is a big positive. It was a bit of a disappointing effort in the main event. I got out front early and battled with Reardon and had just made my way back into the lead when we came through the section with the Yellow flags waving. At the end of the section I went to the inside of the corner and dropped it. I knew I was not to far back, so I went on a charge and was coming through the field when I went step on step off in the same section and my hand slipped and I collected Gibbsy going into the corner. That was the biggest bummer of the night, I did not mean to take out Gibbs, he is one of the riders I respect the most out on the track and I apologised to him straight after the race. After everything that happened tonight, to walk away from tonight with a podium result after crashing twice is a good result, not the result we were after but still a good result on what could have been a bad night. We are still right there in the mix at the top of the points and will go back home, work hard and be ready for round three at Wayville. I have to give a big shout out to Scott Bannan and everyone who put the show on tonight, it is the best supercross event I have seen in Australia for a very long time, it was great to see so many spectators come out to watch us race and the atmosphere out there was amazing.

Lawson Bopping (Peter Stevens DPH Yamaha) – 6th overall:
Round two was hard for me, I really struggled most of the weekend. In the final I was honestly out of energy on lap six, so I just circulated around. The round wasn’t a disaster but I just need to sort out my health as I know I have more in me.

Gavin Faith (Penrite Honda) – 7th overall:
I am frustrated. I made many mistakes throughout the day, not just in the final. It was a very disappointing result as I was the fastest guy in the morning and just made amateur errors. To be honest I am lucky to still be sitting equal third in the points. We have a lot of work to do over the next two weeks before Adelaide.

Anthony Rodriguez (Penrite Honda):
I am bitterly disappointed. I should be doing a lot better and I am not.

SX2

Image: Jeff Crow.

Luke Clout (Serco Yamaha) – 4th overall:
I didn’t get a great start and just was a bit off on a few sections of track in the main event. I felt good in the heat where I won, but in the main event, I just wasn’t hitting the whoops as well as I needed to and maybe needed to pick up my corner speed a little. We have a two week break now before the next round, so I will work on those things before Adelaide and I will be ready to go and back up on the podium again.

Jed Beaton (Serco Yamaha) – 11th overall:
I still have some things I need to improve on, but I am progressing and feeling better each time I get on the bike. The whoops were tough for me tonight and a lot of guys struggled there but if you are to be good as supercross, then that’s what I need to work on. I pulled through without any injuries tonight so I will be able to get a full two weeks on the training track before Adelaide and continue to get better at each round.

Wade Hunter (Peter Stevens DPH Yamaha) – 3rd overall:
The whole team and the bike are awesome! I feel like Jimboomba was a good night for me and I’m glad to get the first podium off my back. I’m looking forward to the rest of the season.

Caleb Ward (KTM):
I wasn’t going too bad, I got a really good start, but I got pushed off the track in the first corner and then I worked my way back up to ninth. Dylan Wills was in front of me and I was catching him a bit so I was pushing a bit harder. I came through the whoops and I changed my line a little bit and just messed up at the end, swapped out and actually didn’t hit the ground until after the last whoop, but I sort of slapped down on my head and my shoulder and knocked myself out a little bit. I was lying there thinking I should get off the track but I just couldn’t get my eyes to open. I got up a bit wobbly so I went over to RACESAFE and they checked me out and stuff. It was a bit unfortunate, but it happens. I was a little bit tired today because I woke up this morning with the flu, so I was feeling it by the end and was just getting a little bit more loose through the whoops every lap as they chopped out and finally they bit me.

Luke Arbon (SD3 Husqvarna) – 6th overall:
My night was a bit average. I was third for the first couple of laps and then just struggled. In the heat race I was battling with Clout for the lead, and I missed a gear in the rhythm section and came up short and hit my chest on the bars and that knocked the wind out of me, so I was a little bit out of rhythm. In the final I rode okay at first and was in third, but then got a bit tight and couldn’t find the rhythm. The track was real technical, during the day when it had some grip it wasn’t that hard, but it got sun-baked and then when they watered it, it got really slick and suddenly very really technical. I’m disappointed that I didn’t loosen up a bit and kind of let the bike slide more. I’m sitting fourth now a couple of points off Clout which is okay. The bike was really good, in the first few laps when I was manning up and really hitting the whoops it was great but then I tightened up. It was just all me.

Nathan Crawford (Husqvarna):
I was riding sick, until I broke my leg. The day started really well, I went out in free practice and I was solid, felt really good and got everything dialled straight away. In timed qualifying I pretty much picked up where I left off and just tried to hit my marks. I ended up qualifying fourth so that gave me a good gate pick. In the race I was running probably fifth but I had a little moment in the whoops and went off the track and back to seventh. I fought my way back to third on the last lap, and then got really bad wheelspin before the triple and it kind of high sided me, in-swinging off the upramp. I didn’t quite make it and the impact broke my left tib and fibia pretty low. So that’s me done. I’ll take the positives… I had the speed and was catching Clouty who was out front, but now it will have to wait until next year.

Jimmy Decotis (Penrite Honda) – 1st overall:
I had some struggles in practice. It was a difficult track to get a good rhythm going. A good start in the final made all the difference and once I got into a rhythm I was able to just ride my own race and come home with the win. It feels awesome to get another win and to get so many cheers from all the Australian fans. I really appreciate all their support and I also have to thank everyone in the Penrite Honda team, who have been looking after me so well and have given me the best equipment.

Geran Stapleton (Wilson MX Penrite Honda) – 5th overall:
I really need to stop getting fifths [laughs]. I felt pretty good on the weekend and I had a good result in my heat but I just need to get out of that top five and into the top three. I’ve got tonsillitis now, which is just great, but I’m just going to work as hard as I can the next two weeks and see how things play out at round three.

Luke Wilson (Wilson MX Penrite Honda):
I was pumped on the weekend aside from my crash obviously. I felt like I found exactly what I have been looking for the last few years. I had come from outside the top 10 in the main and was going for a pass on eighth and I got taken out. Unfortunately that the way it goes sometimes. The main thing for me is that I found the mental side of things – it’s all I’ve been chasing the last few years, that mental strength and I feel like I found it on the weekend. I just had surgery, because I ripped my finger all the way down to my knuckle, so I’ll have the next round off and then be back strong for round four. In all honesty though, the Jimboomba event was one of the best I’ve ever been to, so a big congratulations to Scotty and his team for putting on such a great event.

Jackson Richardson (Wilson MX Penrite Honda) – 2nd overall:
It was an awesome round for me and it feels good to be back on the podium that’s for sure. Decotis is riding real well at the moment and he’s hard to catch, so I’m going to work on a few things in the next two weeks and see what we can do in South Australia. We made some more good progress at round two and we’ve got the bike handling the conditions very well. The track at Jimboomba was awesome on the weekend – there was a huge crowd too which gave the night an awesome vibe, so it was good to have so many people come out and watch us.

Jake Williams (Wilson MX Penrite Honda):
It was a pretty rough weekend for me. I had to work really hard to get the body sorted out after round one, so I was pretty lucky to be there. I ended up eating a mouthful of dirt at one stage, which actually got stuck in my wind pipe and I ended up in RACESAFE not being able to breathe at all. Next round I really need to step things up, I need to be riding a lot better in South Australia.

Jesse Madden (Raceline Pirelli Suzuki) – 10th overall:
It was actually a pretty good weekend for me. I rang my bell when I hit my head in practice and I didn’t know how I would go racing, but I was stoked with 10th. Jimboomba was a home round for me, and I had a lot of family and friends there to support me, so it was good to get a solid result for them. I actually had Danny Ham under the truck with me for most of the day, and he’s a bit of an old racing legend, so he gave me some tips and pointers and it was really valuable having his input. I rode every day in the lead up to round two, and it made a big difference, so I’ll be sticking to the program again for the next round.