Dean Ferris’ thrilling six-round winning streak came to a halt at last weekend’s seventh stop of the Motul MX Nationals series, with an uncharacteristic mistake reminding the CDR Yamaha rider to remain 100 percent focused in the closing stages of his title defence.

Ferris was challenging for the lead in race one before he crashed heavily, relegating the number one to 12th, although he was able negotiate his way back into the top 10 and salvage seventh.

“You can’t win them all, but I really wanted to,” Ferris commented. “I felt pretty good in moto one and was right where I needed to be when I fell heavily and lost a lot of time.

“It was my first major incident of the year so I can’t complain too much but it also shows how fast things can change and that myself and the CDR Yamaha team need to remain 100 percent focused to win this championship.”

The defending champion bounced back to his usual self in race two, controlling the race to take a commanding victory, crediting him second overall.

“Moto two was good and we got the race win,” he continued. “There wasn’t a lot to separate the top few riders this weekend but I was able to get a nice little gap and ride my own race.”

Ferris leads Shepparton’s victor Kirk Gibbs (KTM Motocross Racing Team) by 54 points in the championship standings with just three rounds remaining.