KTM Australia press release:

KTM’s MX Nationals series championship leader Kirk Gibbs was unlucky not to defend the Manjimup 15,000 title that he won in 2015, at this year’s running of the famous Aussie motocross classic, three hours south of Perth.

The KTM Motocross Racing Team rider looked well on track to successfully defend his title midway through the day, after winning the first two of four All-Star motos and the Eliminator event.
However his good friend and fierce rival Todd Waters struck back with victory in the third race, and with it all on the line in the fourth, Gibbs powered into an early lead, but relinquished first place with a soft fall, and soon after suffered a flat rear tyre, which forced him to limp to the finish and accept third in the race and second on the day.

Waters won the event from Gibbs and Kyle Webster, while KTM Motocross Racing Team rider Jesse Dobson continued to springboard on from last weekend’s fifth overall at Wanneroo, finishing equal on points with third-placed Webster but receiving fourth on a count back.

KTM teammate and MX2 championship contender Caleb Ward made quite a fist of his promotion to a KTM 350 SX-F for weekend, dicing with old sparring partner Dobson all day long before finishing fifth overall, just a single point further back.

Davey Motorsports KTM rider Jayden Rykers dominated the Lites classification of the All-Stars championship, putting together a devastating unbeaten run aboard his KTM 250 SX.

Manjimup 15,000 All-Stars Results: 1. Todd Waters, 2. Kirk Gibbs, 3. Kyle Webster, 4. Jesse Dobson, 5. Caleb Ward, 6. Jamie Law, 7. Robert Lovett, 8. Mitch Taylor, 9. Michael Mahon, 10. Julian Cutajar

All-Stars Lites Results: 1. Jayden Rykers, 2. Izaac Jones, 3. Tom West, 4. Ayden Bridgeford, 5. Grant Buchan, 6. John Darroch, 7. Carson Bascombe, 8. Tom Lilly, 9. Justin Hart, 10. Luke Davis

Kyle Blunden, KTM Motocross Team Manager – “The Manjimup 15,000 is such a huge event for us because of the massive following that KTM has in WA. We went through more posters yesterday than we have all year. The fans just kept coming. If the boys weren’t riding or debriefing, they were sitting there signing autographs! It was a fantastic day with all three guys at the pointy end of the field in all races. Unfortunately Kirk didn’t win, but the racing itself and the speed that all three of the boys carried in the event was very positive. Kirk holeshot seven out of eight starts today which was fantastic, and Jessie’s speed was extremely good and he was always making his way forwards. It was really cool to see Caleb on the 350, he was able to show that the 350 can hold its own against the 450s on an extremely fast circuit where we’ve had 450s clocked at over 120kmh. It was quite impressive.”

Kirk Gibbs (KTM 450 SX-F) – “It’s always awesome to go to Manji, I enjoy riding there. The early wins really helped but unfortunately the last two races didn’t go quite to plan and Todd rode really well. He beat me fair and square in the third one, and then in the last one I was out front and just had a little tip over. I tried to catch up but a lap later I had a flat tyre and had to nurse it home. It was disappointing but I had a pretty good crack at it. I knew was going to be pretty tricky after the fall with the way Todd was riding. Toddy and I are still really good mates and we race clean, and we both accept that the better man wins on the day and we’ve just got to cop it on the chin and take it like a man.”

Jessie Dobson (KTM 450 SX-F) – “I thought I had a podium today. I was standing there at presentation thinking I was about to get called up, I even had my goggles around my neck and everything, so I quickly took them off and gave them to a kid before anyone saw (laughs)! My starts made it tough on me today, just figuring out how to distribute my weight correctly to get the drive down the straight. Caleb and I are good mates off the track, but we have a lot of rivalry between us, and it all came down to the last race for position. I passed him when he crashed and I cruised home, then I saw Jess Foreman cheering and carrying on through the pit board area – I did a look back over the big single and saw the big W and I was like ‘oh no’. Caleb and I were really moving in that last lap, it was our quickest lap of the race by three seconds!I didn’t see Toddy or Gibbsy all day because of my starts so that was a shame, I would have liked to throw a chain over them, hang on for a bit and see if I could learn a thing or two, but…”

Caleb Ward (KTM 350 SX-F) – “It was pretty surprising how competitive the 350 was, I think even the boys were surprised, because Manjimup is a really fast track. I got pretty good starts all day, in the first race I came around right behind Gibbsy so that was pretty cool. I was a bit nervous and tight in the first one racing Kirk and Todd, and I didn’t really get to compare myself to them much throughout the day – they were right on it. I basically spent the whole day battling with Dobson so that was pretty cool, we haven’t raced each other since 2013 so it was pretty sweet. We both wanted to beat each other to get third overall on the day, but it worked out we were too busy focusing on each other and we stuffed it up and Webster ended up with third overall. But it was still a cool day.”

Jayden Rykers (KTM 250 SX) – “I was getting reasonably good starts on the KTM250SX, about fifth or sixth, and Dad and I were reasonably happy just to be winning the Lites class and keeping it smooth and consistent all day, rather than getting caught up with the 450 guys. In previous years I’ve focused more on racing with the bigger guys and ended up coming down. I gave everything in the Eliminator though, and I got as far as the final 10, but got eliminated trying to qualify for the final five. The 250 gave away a little bit on the long straights, but my corner speed was great.”

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