The luckless run of Brett Metcalfe continued at Wonthaggi with a second mechanical fault in eight races so far all but ruling him out of MX1 championship contention.

Metcalfe was carded as a pre-season title threat heading into the 2018 Pirelli MX Nationals with Penrite Honda Racing, but bike issues at both Newry and Wonthaggi have proven costly.

The longtime international remains one of the most rated riders in the field, but currently sits ninth in the standings, over 100 points in arrears of runaway points leader Dean Ferris (CDR Yamaha Monster Energy), who is undefeated to date this season.

Metcalfe was third when his bike stopped in the closing turns of Saturday’s opening encounter, before he attempted to push his factory-backed CRF450R across the line – collapsing to the ground directly afterwards. He was initially credited 11th, then removed from the results, before being reinstated. It’s understood the process is currently under review by Motorcycling Australia (MA).

“I was looking forward to Wonthaggi because I thought it was really good last year and it didn’t disappoint,” Metcalfe reflected. “We were lucky with the weather, the rain held out pretty well, and the track was rough. I was kind of nervous for the double-header, just knowing how much a round beats you up, but we got through well.

“In the first two rounds I’ve been struggling to get through the moto and find a balance with the bike, so we changed a lot of stuff coming in. Unfortunately in the first moto on Saturday I was charging through, but with a couple of laps to go the bike started to have a malfunction.

“It was a super-simple issue in the water-pump cover – it popped off and we dumped coolant. With two corners to go it locked up, I ended up pushing the bike and pretty much blew my back and legs out – I’m still recovering from that actually [laughs]. That unfortunately set the tone for us, for the rest of the weekend.”

Metcalfe went 11-5 on Saturday for eighth overall, then 7-8 on Sunday for seventh overall. It was another promising weekend with little reward for the South Australian, however he remains determined to turn his fortunes around this weekend at Murray Bridge.

“Murray Bridge is real important for me,” he declared. “Obviously, being a home town race you want to do well, so that’s definitely going to work in my favour, but we’re still figuring it out. When you’re going up against some of these teams that are established, it’s a tough field right now.

“I’m new here, learning the bike and the team, so we’re kind of still playing catch-up, but in that last moto even though I had no goggles, I felt like we found a little bit of something and we will carry that into [this] week.

“The championship isn’t looking good for us, so now the goal is to just get up front with Dean and the front-runners. I know I have the speed, so we just have to get it all together and make it happen. I know we can get up front and race for the win, so that’s my goal.”