Sunday’s instalment of the Monster Energy AUS-X Open in Sydney saw Raceline Pirelli KTM’s Jay Wilson record an emotional podium in the SX2 division, marking his first since the final round of the 2015 MX Nationals.

The 2015 Australian MX2 champion has endured a troubling two years in the sport, making the transition to the premier class in 2016 before being left without a ride in 2017. He scored a deal in the UK Arenacross championship, which later saw an opportunity arise in the MX2 World Championship, however he was forced to return home after contesting the opening rounds.

He was later drafted into the Raceline squad for the remainder of the Motul MX Nationals, who essentially offered him a lifeline in racing domestically. Wilson was evidently fast all weekend inside Qudos Bank Arena, lodging a fourth place result during Saturday’s edition, to then lead a portion of Sunday’s main event to ultimately wind up in third.

“It was really cool, it’s been a long-time coming for me,” Wilson explained to MotoOnline.com.au. “The last couple of years have been quite tough results wise since 2015 – a lot of things have changed in my life, I’m a father as well now and I’m about to get married. A lot of things have changed for me, and there have a lot of highs and a lot of lows.

“I’ve had a lot lows on the racing side of things in the last couple of years – if you asked me at the end of motocross if I was going to keep racing, I would’ve told you no – I was done with it. I was exhausted, I wasn’t sure how I was going to get back to where I needed to be – I knew I still wanted to win and knew I was still capable of winning, but just mentally I was broke.

“I was lucky to have people believing in me when I wasn’t even believing in myself, to go ahead and race supercross. I did that, I thought that the way I was feeling, I was really confident to get on the box straight away. I nearly did that, but I had some results where they weren’t so flash. It’s good to finally show where I’m capable of being at the AUS-X Open, especially being at such a cool even.

“Everyone watches that one race, I think it’s now classed against the races such as Bercy and Geneva – everyone watches for that one race worldwide. To get on the box at that round was really cool in front of such a big crowd and my family – it was quite emotional. We’ll just keep pushing forward now.”

The Queenslander is now positioned third in the SX2 category of the Australian Supercross Championship, as just one round remains this weekend in Jimboomba, Queensland.