CDR Yamaha racer Dean Ferris will head into the Motul MX Nationals’ five-week mid-season break with a perfect overall scorecard after clinching his fifth consecutive round victory at Murray Bridge, South Australia today.
 
The 2016 MX1 champion Ferris put on another dominant, faultless display in the opening moto as he went virtually unchallenged to win by 24 seconds over South Australian Brett Metcalfe (KTM).
 
Metcalfe worked his way through the top five for a runner-up result – his best so far this season – ahead of fellow local Kirk Gibbs (KTM Motocross Racing Team).
 
A solid ride from Kade Mosig (DPH Motorsport Yamaha) saw him finish fourth, with a strong few final laps that saw him overcome Crankt Protein Honda Racing duo Todd Waters and Luke Clout.
 
Luke Styke (KTM Motocross Racing Team), Aleksandr Tonkov (MEGA Bulk Fuels Monster Energy Kawasaki Racing Team), a fast-starting Kyle Peters (Wilson Coolair Motul Suzuki) and Zak Small (Husqvarna) completed the top 10.
 
With the rain falling more heavily as the gates dropped on MX1 moto two, it was Gibbs who hit the lead early.
 
Behind him both Ferris and Metcalfe attacked hard, but the 2015 champion Gibbs controlled the race from the front for his second race win of the year.
 
Gibbs finished nearly six seconds ahead of Ferris, who passed Metcalfe for second – the latter majorly struggling with vision as the race wore on.
 
Fourth was another good haul of points for Mosig, who staked claim to that position throughout the race, with Peters in fifth.
 
It was another inspired ride for Clout in sixth, who was followed inside the top 10 by teammate Waters, Styke, Tonkov and Joel Green (KTM).
 
The overall podium saw Ferris maintain his perfect round record for the year, followed by Gibbs and Metcalfe.
 
At the halfway mark of he championship, Ferris holds a 48-point buffer from Gibbs, while Mosig has climbed back into third.

In the MX2 class, Kiwi hard-man Hamish Harwood (Davey Motorsports KTM) claimed a breakthrough round win at Murray Bridge, courtesy of first and third-place results from the two races.
 
Converting the pole position he claimed earlier this morning, Harwood edged out Dylan Wills (KSF Racing Husqvarna) for victory in the opening MX2 encounter.
 
Clear conditions at the start of the moto gave way to rain midway through, however Harwood was able to keep a gritty Wills at bay.
 
Egan Mastin made it two Davey Motorsports bikes in the top three, with early leader Jackson Richardson (Serco Yamaha) crossing the line for consistent points in fourth. Title-leader Wilson Todd (DPH Motorsport Yamaha) claimed fifth.
 
Positions six through 10 were filled by Kyle Webster (Penrite CRF Honda Racing), brothers Mitch Evans (Serco Yamaha) and Richie Evans (Yamaha), Jayden Rykers (Raceline Pirelli KTM) and Tomas Ravenhost (Yamaha), while Jacob Wright (Yamaha) returned to the nationals on a YZ250 for 11th.
 
Mastin had actually crossed the line first, but a five-second penalty (initially handed out as 10 seconds) from a start infringement bumped him down the order at race’s end.
 
Rain spatters again began falling as the gates dropped on moto two, but it held off enough to make for dry track conditions, and Evans emerged with the race win.
 
He finished with a five-second advantage over Mastin and opening race winner Harwood, who clinched his first-career overall as a result.
 
Harwood was able to edge Todd for the result, while Richardson rebounded from an early incident to climb from almost dead last to an impressive fifth-place finish.
 
Sixth came Richie Evans, over Wills, Ravenhorst, Aaron Tanti (WBR Bulk Nutrients Yamaha) and Joel Evans (Yamaha).
 
In a Davey Motorsports 1-2, Harwood topped the podium, with Mastin in second and Mitch Evans in third.
 
The championship still sees Todd on top, with a six-point lead over Evans and Harwood now moving into third.
 
In the MXD class, Jy Roberts (Husqvarna) took his second round win in as many weekends to take over the championship lead.
 
Roberts finished a close second to Kaleb Barham (Husqvarna) in the opening race, then tore to a solid victory in the second moto.
 
Barham’s third in the second race behind Yamalube Yamaha Racing’s Cody Dyce saw him take his first podium result of the season.
 
Third overall went to Morgan Fogarty (KTM) with a 3-5 result, with Cooper Pozniak (Yamalube Yamaha Racing) and Isaac Ferguson (KTM) rounding out the top five.

In the championship Roberts now leads Dyce by six points, with Fogarty sitting in third.
 
The 2017 Motul MX Nationals series will resume at Nowra, NSW, on Sunday, 2 July.