Just one round after taking a thrilling win, KTM Motocross Racing Team’s Kirk Gibbs was forced to accept seventh overall at Sunday’s eighth round of the Motul MX Nationals, bringing his wave of momentum to an abrupt halt.

It was combination of poor starts, mistakes and unfortunate events that resulted in the former MX1 champion lodging his worst result of the season, which allowed Dean Ferris (CDR Yamaha) to stretch out his points lead to 75.

Despite the result, Gibbs is remaining optimistic, declaring he was happy with the form of his riding, and that it was a day where the pieces just didn’t fall into place.

“That’s just how it goes,” Gibbs reflected. “We knew looking at the track yesterday it was pretty tight, pretty ‘juniorish’ – it was going to be one of those tracks where you’d struggle if you didn’t get good starts.

“First start we got a little bit of wheel spin and I was trying to make places up but crashed trying to get around Kyle Peters and lost a lot of ground. I charged through to the back of [Luke] Clout and I couldn’t find anywhere to get around him.

“I was frustrated with that, but I got a good jump in the second. Then [Kade] Mosig crashed just to the side of me, but as he crashed, his bike sort of flicked out and I had nowhere to go but into it. I played catch-up from there. I rode really well, so I’m not disappointed with the way I’m riding.”

The South Australian-native revealed he’ll make appropriate changes in the coming weeks before the penultimate round of the Motul MX Nationals at Toowoomba, which holds a special value for the number five.

“We’re going to try a few different things between now and Toowoomba and hopefully that can help,” he continued. “I know I can go for those wins if I get the starts. I’m looking forward to the hills of Toowoomba, and I feel like I can do well there, once I iron out those starts. That’s where I got my first moto win in 2013.”