MX2 red plate holder targeting further improvements.
Amid his dominant start to the 2024 Penrite ProMX Championship, MX2 points leader Brodie Connolly is using a unique comparison to the premier MX1 category to measure his personal performances each weekend.
The New Zealander has been unstoppable across the first three rounds this season, winning every moto bar one to hold a commanding 38-point lead in the championship standings over teammate Noah Ferguson (Boost Mobile Honda Racing) – the only rider to defeat him in the opening moto of the season at Wonthaggi.
Image: Foremost Media.
Polyflor Honda Racing rider Connolly has been vocal across the last two rounds at Horsham and Gillman in improving his pace in the later stages of motos, and he’s now comparing his total race time to that of the MX1 class to gauge his progression.
“When I compare myself to say the 450 boys, I’m still a long way off the total race time,” Connolly told MotoOnline. “You do the same amount of laps and I’m still like a minute or more off Jed [Beaton], Kyle [Webster], or whoever wins at the end of the moto. I’m closer to them at the training track… So yeah, just trying to be better in the race and close that gap to them a little bit. That’s sort of what I’m focusing on at the moment.”
Image: Foremost Media.
For comparison’s sake, the second MX2 moto – staged directly before the final premier class moto – saw Connolly post a quickest lap of 2m04.481s on lap three, while Beaton’s MX1 moto two benchmark came on lap four at 2m00.596s. Nine of 450-mounted Beaton’s best laps were superior to runaway 250 class leader Connolly’s ultimate pace.
For Connolly, after finishing third last season behind MX1 graduates Wilson Todd and Nathan Crawford, he entered the 2024 season as a legitimate title favourite and so far, so good. The end goal for him is to forge a path overseas, which he almost did for this year in the US with Yarrive Konsky’s Fire Power Honda Racing team.
Image: Foremost Media.
“I’m just trying to focus on one race at a time,” he continued. “Because yeah, I still want to be better, still need to be better, say if I want to be any good overseas. So yeah, just keep working hard and yeah, the points lead is good, it sort of takes a little bit of pressure off – just trying to be the best me every weekend.”
The Honda Racing rider will be back on track when the ProMX series heads to New South Wales for the first time this year, where Maitland will host round four on 25-26 May.
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