KTM Australia press release:

It was a hard day’s night for the members of the KTM Motocross Racing Team as this year’s Australian Supercross championship season kicked off at Jimboomba, south of Brisbane.

Standing in for injured Australian Motocross Vice Champion Kirk Gibbs, 23-year-old American Kyle Peters began the round spectacularly well, qualifying fastest, at the head of a highly competitive premier class field.

However, while recovering from a poor start and making his way back through the field, Peters made a small mistake and copped a big punishment, crashing out heavily just after the middle of the race, and sustaining a laceration to his wrist which required six stitches.

Two laps later, Sunshine Coast teenager Jesse Dobson was also out, after arm pump stored in case into the crest of a jump, aggravating the wrist he fractured in each warmer MX Nationals round a month ago. American Justin Brayton won the premier class main from Dean Ferris and Daniel Reardon.

Kyle Blunden, KTM Motocross Racing Team Manager – “The day started fantastically well for us what to do it, with Kyle Peters showing fantastic speed in the opening stages, but unfortunately the team suffered a couple of mishaps in the main event. Kyle made a slight mistake and unfortunately had quite a big crash, which led to him withdrawing from the race. I was bummed for him, he has shown so much potential in the short time that he has been on the bike, and is a very exciting prospect for us. Jesse struggled with arm pump, and fearing it would cause him to get hurt, he withdrew and decided to focus on round two.”

Kyle Peters (KTM 450 SX-F) – “The first race of the season was a tough one for sure. Practice went really well, I qualified first, and coming into the night show I was running second in the heat race, but I ended up crashing and finishing seventh. In the main event I got an okay start and was coming through the pack, but ended up crashing and it was a pretty big one so that knocked me out of the race. I ended up going over the bars and something cut my hand, and I ended up having to get six stitches on the end of my palm. Overall it was a tough night but I definitely came out with some positives, and I know what I need to work on.”

Jesse Dobson (KTM 450 SX-F) – “Last night was probably the worst night of my life. I felt okay in practice but in the heat had a crash through the whoops then in the main I got pushed off the track off the start and then I got arm pump. I ended up casing on the three that Kyle actually crashed on, and aggravated the wrist that I fractured in Toowoomba, and then after that I couldn’t hang on. It got too dangerous, so I pulled off. We’ll go away and work on it and try and get some answers.”

In SX2 racing, Davey Motorsports rider and 2015 number three Lewis Woods made the best of a pre-season preparation stunted by injury and appalling recent Victorian weather, the 27-year-old from Bacchus Marsh finishing eighth. Supercross first timer, Raceline Development Team rider Wade Kirkland qualified for the main and took his KTM 250 SX-F to 12th on debut, while another newcomer to the night-time sport, Jayden Rykers qualified well in eighth place, however withdrew from the main after crashing heavily on the second lap.
Gavin Faith won the SX2 main from Hayden Melross and Wade Hunter.

Lewis Woods (KTM 250 SX-F) – “I didn’t do the motocross so it’s awesome to be back, the guys at Davey Motorsports have got some real good guys helping me. My mechanic Paulie, my trainer and my girlfriend they all come away with me so we’ve got a tight little group and everyone at KTM has been good. I’m looking forward to the next five rounds, but my night here was really bad – we won here last year, but this time we just struggled with bike setup, I’d had a decent crash in the lead up and with the weather down in Melbourne it prevented us from getting the testing done that I’d have liked to. I got eighth which isn’t the result we are looking for, we want to be on the box because that’s how we finished off last year, but we’ve got four weeks now until round two and if we do these changes, we’ll qualifying better, start better, and we can be up front.”

Wade Kirkland (KTM 250 SX-F) – “That was a good start to me, I don’t think I could have asked for anything better than that from my first ever Supercross race. The first one is always tough and a bit nerve racking. There’s definitely a different atmosphere compared to motocross; racing in the dark, and with the crowd and all that, it was good fun. I really liked all the jumps and getting to race all the top riders. Qualifying was my favourite bit, I put down a real quick lap. I’ve just got a new Supercross track put down at my place in Tasmania that my old man did, so that should help me with Supercross a bit. First is out the way, now the second can only get better.”

Jayden Rykers (KTM 250 SX-F) – “I didn’t finish the main event, it was only a lap and a half in and I turned down early to make a move underneath someone, and I hit a slick spot and just washed my front out and went down hard. I pulled the pin – this is a year of learning supercross for me, so I didn’t want to be stupid and go back out and brain myself and end my season, or jeopardise the start of the next one. I’d rather stay in one piece and hit the next round. My main goal was to make the main event at my first one, and I qualified eighth. Off the start I got shut off pretty early round the first corner, so I didn’t get to do the first rhythm and that put me last. But I worked my way back to eighth, so, straight through to the main! It’s a pretty stacked class this year, there were a few guys in the LCQ who were pretty good Supercross riders. The lighting caught me off guard a little bit as well. It took a little bit to get used to, but we got the hang of that.”

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