Experienced Motorex KTM team manager Rob Twyerould believes the sheer pace displayed by 2013 recruit Kirk Gibbs at Darwin’s Terex Australian Supercross opener bodes well for a successful debut SX-Open season.

Gibbs finished eighth on Saturday during round one and then improved to fourth in round two. Despite crashing in both main events, the ingredient of raw speed will be pivotal in Gibbs’ title tilt.

“I think we had a reasonable start to the series,” Twyerould said. “The boys showed good pace and Kirk was a surprise packet with how fast he was – he’s shown genuine speed at Supercross and it was an awesome start.

“He probably didn’t need to defend that hard but it’s all experience in his first year and the guys race a little different.”

Teammate Daniel McCoy was sixth on the opening afternoon before scraping through to fifth on the second, also showing signs of promise in his return to KTM.

“DMC was solid all weekend,” Twyerould added. “[In round two] he held off a lot of challengers for that fifth position, but he ended up gapping them, then he caught Kirk after he fell and they freight trained around together.

“It’ll be good to do a little more testing, the two weeks turnaround after Coolum has been tough.”

Gibbs currently sits fifth in the standings after the Darwin double-header, with McCoy directly behind in sixth entering Mount Gambier’s third round on 12 October.