Carlton Dry Honda Racing rider Gavin Faith watched the 2013 Australian Supercross Lites Championship slip from his grasp in Tooowoomba, an early crash in the main event dashing his title chances.

After entering the final round with a five-point advantage, Faith went down on the opening lap. He worked his way back up to fifth, however a second crash late in the race demoted him to eighth.

With Serco Yamaha’s Luke Styke inching to the main event victory, Faith eventually fell seven points short of back-to-back titles.

“I am totally devastated,” Faith said. “I was feeling great, I had good pace in my heat race and was confident coming into this event.

“I made a mistake on the opening lap and no matter how hard I tried to recover I went from bad to worse.

“It has been awesome being back in Australia and part of the series, I just really wish I could have delivered the team another championship.”

Faith will ride the East Coast Supercross Lites series in the US for 2014, also planning to return to Australia in the latter stages of the season for supercross.