Wonthaggi’s season-opening round of the 2017 Motul MX Nationals saw CDR Yamaha rider and defending MX1 champion Dean Ferris record a perfect 1-1 scorecard, while DPH Motorsport Yamaha newcomer Wilson Todd broke through for his first career MX2 victory.

MX1

Dean Ferris, the defending MX1 champion, with a perfect start to the year – you must be happy with that one.

Yeah, I’m stoked! I don’t think I’ve even gone 1-1 at the MX Nationals before, last year I was winning a lot of motos but I never went 1-1 on the day. I did win a couple at Wanneroo, but then I crashed out in the other one, so it’s awesome to get Super Pole and go 1-1. I got really good starts, and everything went pretty smoothly today.

Did you feel like the New Zealand pre-season – you did a lot of racing there – did it feel pretty natural coming into here today?

Yeah, I’ve been racing already for two months, every weekend – Sunny States, New Zealand and stadium-crosses. It helps me when I get to round one, when I haven’t raced, I get really tight, tense and nervous. Doing New Zealand and all those pre-season races is about getting in the groove, and that’s what is has done for me.

How would you compare your bike to last year, obviously a similar platform, but was there much development happening throughout the off-season?

There was actually, there were a few things after motocross last year that we changed – little things that made a big difference, and you know, a couple of big things in the off-season that also made a big difference. So, I’m really happy with that. You know, I came off the 350 in 2015, and then I got onto the Yamaha and the package they had I thought was great. Spending a year on the Yamaha, we all thought it was time to improve what we had, because I’ve done that year on the big bike, and its improved, so I’m really happy about that.

Talk through that first moto when you were on the back of Peters, the roll-offs held in really well and you ended up getting it done. But yeah, what was that one like? It was pretty interesting and good to watch.

It was strange, I had a scoop [tyre] on the back and was really strong in the sand section, I would get next to him, but I couldn’t get him. I was just playing follow the leader for the rest of the lap and always having a go in that section, so I just had to be really patient and hope that I was close enough if he made a mistake. It got to the later laps and then I really had to push myself. It was an interesting race, and a really good test for my roll-offs – they held up to it, so that’s a positive.

What about the second one, you obviously controlled the race a bit more out front.

Yeah, I got into the lead on the first lap and passed [Luke] Clout. I pulled out a 3-4 second lead and kind of just stayed there the whole time – Kade [Mosig] would get a little closer, I would pull out a bit more, a lapper would get in my way, a lapper would get in his way. He rode good today, but you know, I was in the driver’s seat and that’s where I like to be. The goal this year is to get a lot more holeshots – that’s the plan. I say a lot more because I didn’t really get any last year. When I did, it made my job a lot easier – I’m really happy with my good starts today.

Well done and it was awesome to watch.

Thank you.

MX2

Wilson Todd, opening round win here at Wonthaggi and you’ve got the red plate as well. You must be really happy with this result and a great way to start with the DPH team.

For sure, I got out to two awesome starts, and an awesome start to the series, you know. I’m super happy to have the red plate, I mean, it’s going to come with a target on my back and a lot of pressure, but I’m going to go back to work tomorrow, I’m going to improve myself and I’m going to come back at Appin and do even better again. I’m looking forward to it.

You obviously learned a lot last year and hopefully put that experience back together for this year.

Yeah for sure, in the second half of last year I really picked it up and was battling for podiums every race, and you know, I’ve come out straightaway in pretty good form, so I’m happy with that. Hopefully I can keep that form for the whole series.

In terms of the track today, how was it? There was obviously a bit of rain in the area to start with, but the track looked like it ended up pretty nice.

Yeah, the track was pretty good. It was very narrow because we only used about half of the track, but the line that was being used ended up really well, although if you pushed too hard and went over that main line you were stuck in the mud – there’s a lot of time to be lost there.

Well done and great result.

Awesome, thank you.