It was a first Penrite ProMX race win of the season for Kirk Gibbs at Queensland Moto Park (QMP), with the KTM Racing Team rider turning his day around in the back-to-back motos to land third overall.

After a heavy crash in the Top 10 Shootout, Gibbs suffered a challenging opening moto and finished seventh. Two great starts in the two-part second moto provided the platform for the 450 SX-F rider to showcase his speed and secure the win with 2-1 results.

“I had a really good feeling initially when I first rode out onto the track, so I felt comfy and really fast,” Gibbs said to MotoOnline. “I had a big crash in superpole trying to put the heat down on the last lap, but got out of it really well so was happy with that.

“First moto, just blew it. Got the worst start and got swallowed. On this track, you just couldn’t pass and everyone is going so fast nowadays which just made it super gnarly, and lappers were bad. Just struggled, and ended up coming together with [Kyle] Webster and coming down, so pretty horrendous and wasn’t happy with myself at all.

“Made a few little changes and went and ripped two really good starts in the back-to-backs, and went 2-1 which was my first race win this year, and went 7-1 for third overall. Can’t complain, happy that I turned the day around but obviously need to get that first moto a lot better.

After a foot injury left him sidelined throughout the pre-season, Gibbs expected to build form as the year progressed. He started with fifth overall at Wodonga and edged closer to the front with a podium in moto two at Mackay.

The number five qualified fastest at both Wodonga and Maitland rounds before hurting his thumb which required surgery following a heavy impact at round five. Despite this, Gibbs continued to build at Coffs Harbour and secured a season-best second overall before the moto two victory at QMP. He enters the eighth and final round of ProMX this weekend at Coolum fifth in the MX1 standings.