A selection of riders detail their day at Nowra’s sixth round of the 2016 Motul MX Nationals. Team and privateer competitors can submit comments to [email protected] prior to the Wednesday after events for inclusion in the post-event Quotebook feature.

MX1

Kade Mosig (National Pump Monster Energy Kawasaki Racing Team) – 4th overall:
The first half of the day was decent, but I’m really frustrated at myself for dropping the bike twice in the second race, as that hurt our podium chances. It’s frustrating as we worked hard during the mid-season break and I felt like me made some great gains. There’s nothing else to do but to keep working hard, take the positives from the round and find that extra piece of the puzzle.

Matt Moss (National Pump Monster Energy Kawasaki Racing Team) – 2nd overall:
Despite tying on points for the round win, it was a bit of a disappointing day really. I felt great, the bike was awesome and I’m so happy with this team, but a couple of errors cost us the overall win today. I rode really strong in that opening race and it was great to battle past Ferris in the second race before I hit a rock and went down, but it was good to pull some points back in the championship fight.

Kirk Gibbs (KTM Motocross Racing Team) – 3rd overall:
I still got on the podium but I’m not happy. In qualifying I had a slide and the handlebar came through in the back of the knee. There was a ‘pop’ and full agony for about a minute – I thought that was it, but after a few minutes it started to calm down. It was still weak all day so I had to keep going to RACESAFE to strap it and come up with the best options. Obviously the two moto scores were consistent, but I was still disappointed – I had a great start, but I pumped up pretty quickly because of the lack of riding in the morning. In the second I rode a lot better, but I just wasn’t good enough to battle with the guys today. I had the leg in the back of my mind all day, and just didn’t want to do any more damage, so I just tried to ride smart. I’ll go get it checked out now and make sure there’s no big damage, and we’ll build towards Conondale.

Todd Waters (Wilson’s Coolair Motul Factory Suzuki) – 5th overall:
It was a bit of a disappointing day for me. In the first race we were riding well and I’d moved from seventh in to third and was battling with Ferris when my chain came off – I actually managed to get it back on though and I salvaged fifth. In the second race I just wasn’t up there. I’ve been doing the work, but my starts weren’t great today, even though I had the speed to be on the podium. We have a weekend off next weekend, so we just need to go back as a team and get everything sorted so we can move forward at the next round.

Luke Wilson (Wilson’s Coolair Motul Factory Suzuki) – 20th overall:
Today was a day to forget for me. I had some bike problems in qualifying which meant I had last gate pick all day and starts are really important at Nowra. After my DNF in moto one, I put the foot down in race two and got to tenth position which I was pretty happy with, but I made a couple of mistakes towards the end which lost me a couple of positions. Even though it wasn’t a great day, I’m still happy that I was able to get in to that top ten, and we’ll take the positives from round six and move forward to Conondale.

Jay Wilson (Crankt Protein Honda Racing Team) – 18th overall:
Today had its highs and lows that’s for sure. I was actually quite surprised with my result in moto one – after having five weeks off the bike I was happy to get a sixth. Unfortunately in moto two I had to make the call to pull in. The track had gotten quite rough and I had no strength at all in my wrist. I have to look at the bigger picture, and pushing my wrist when it’s still healing isn’t smart. Even though I had a DNF, I actually moved up a position in the championship, and I now have two more weeks to get some more physio and some more time on the bike. We are happy with how we are progressing, and I’m looking forward to getting back to my home in Queensland for Conondale.

Dylan Long (Crankt Protein Honda Racing Team) – 6th overall:
My day started off well and I was really happy to get second in Superpole, but in the first race I crashed while I was sitting in third and I dislocated my thumb. I actually wasn’t sure if I was going to be able to ride in race two, but Racesafe did their best to get me out there – and lucky they did because it was my best result of the day. I got a pretty average start, but about halfway through I fought through the pain and I actually started to feel good, and brought it home for a 5th. It’s a shame about my crash because I know how I can ride, but in saying that I’m also happy with how I went considering my injury. Now I’ll just get some X-rays and hope to be ready for round six.

Jacob Wright (DPH Motorsport Yamaha) – 7th overall:
Overall good day with some solid riding. One bad start and a fall in moto two cost me a better overall but seventh overall is a step forward for me. I am looking forward to racing in Queensland next round.

Dean Ferris (CDR Yamaha) – 1st overall:
It was important that I bounce back strongly after what happened in WA and get my championship back on track. Matt was riding really well today so I tried to stick with him and keep the pressure on for the entire moto. It was a bit of a gift to get the moto win in race two after Matt fell, but that is a bit of a reward for putting myself in a good position in the race and not just settling for second. The points tightened up a bit on the weekend and the championship is starting to look exciting. Kirk, Todd, Matt and I have all had good races and with four rounds remaining, there is a lot of racing to be done and plenty of work to do.

MX2

Jake Moss (National Pump Monster Energy Kawasaki Racing Team) – 20th overall:
After starting the day so strong I thought my year was going to turn around for the better, but it wasn’t meant to be.

Jed Beaton (DPH Motorsport Yamaha) – 2nd overall:
Not a bad weekend. Starts were much better but I struggled with the track and arm pump. Just felt like I couldn’t find my groove. To end up with second overall is good. Looking forward to next round as its my favorite track of the series.

Dylan Wills (Raceline Pirelli KTM) – 8th overall:
Nowra was pretty good for me, I got a taste of running at the front with the boys and I led a few laps. I got two holeshots which was unbelievable, I haven’t done that in a long time so that’s a big credit to Woodsy and the whole team for putting an amazing bike underneath me. I’m pretty disappointed in myself for crashing out of third place in moto two, even though I didn’t quite have the pace of the front three guys for the whole length of a moto, I felt like I was set for a 4th or 5th again but it is what it is. I got up from my crash as quick as I could and I fought the rest of the moto on a twisted bike. I’m fighting hard and I’m sure all the pieces to the puzzle will come together soon!

Caleb Ward (KTM Motocross Racing Team) – 1st overall:
Last year here was a really bad round for me, but this year I turned it around. I got a little bit tangled up in the first turn pileup but I didn’t go down, luckily. I was 11th or 12th on the first lap, but just worked my way through the field pretty quickly, on a track that is renowned for being pretty hard to pass on, so I’m happy with how I went. I ended up with a 10-second lead and just holding that pretty much. In the second moto I started in second behind Willsy, and after three or four laps managed to make the pass. Then I sort of got set into the wrong pace and Wilson Todd passed me, and I thought ‘this is my shot to make up a few points in the championship, if he gets between me and the other guys’. I managed to pass him back and get the win, so I made up some pretty big points in the championship. All in all it was a day that couldn’t have gone much better.

Jayden Rykers (Davey Motorsports KTM) – 4th overall:
It was another good solid day points-wise, especially considering the way it started out. In the first moto I got stuck in a first turn pileup, and was dead last. I fought back all the way up to fourth in that one, and in the second one I nearly came down in the first corner as well and had to come from just inside the top 15. To come back to top-five in both motos I’m very happy with. Especially on one of the tighter, more one-lined tracks where it’s a bit more difficult to pass. The goals that I set out at the start of the year – which is consistent top five results – I’m achieving, so I’m pretty happy for my first year in the class, particularly since I’m on the only two-stroke in the top 10, and on the hard-packed tracks you give away a little bit of traction in the second moto when it gets slick. I’m knocking on the door of the top guys in the championship as well, which is great.

Nathan Crawford (Husqvarna) – 3rd overall:
To finish in third with how my day went is not too bad, I had two bad starts – I hit neutral off the start of the second so that put me back to last around the first corner. I somehow clawed back to fifth, so was lucky to still get on the podium today, but Caleb went 1-1 so that closed up in the championship points. But it’s all right, I’m still leading and I’d rather be in front than behind. I’ll just put that behind me now and get ready for the next round. I’m looking forward to Conondale, it’s not a track we get to ride or race on very often, but it’s a home round so I’ll have family and friends there, and I’ll be coming out swinging.