Boost Mobile Honda Racing’s Kyle Webster secured his third-consecutive MX1 moto victory at Gillman, leading to the overall win at the third round of the Penrite ProMX Championship in South Australia. For the MX2 category, Monster Energy Yamalube Yamaha’s Ryder Kingsford charged to his second overall in as many rounds, maintaining his gap of four points from the series lead. MotoOnline caught up with both riders this week for this Debrief feature.

MX1

Image: Foremost Media.

Congratulations on the victory, Kyle. There’s still a points deficit there, but you’re certainly eating into it. Do you feel like you do your best work when your back is against the wall? Because you’ve been rolling since that Wonthaggi hiccup.

Yeah, I guess the way I’ve been looking at it is, I’m just taking things race by race at the moment, and realistically there’s only one thing that I can try and do at the moment – that’s win races to close that gap down. Obviously, last year the points were so tight all year, and it’s hard to make that up unless you’re just winning races, so that’s really been the goal. I’ve been trying not to think about too much other than just taking it race by race, focusing on executing the start and getting to the front early.

The dynamic has changed a little bit this season, although the race results have been the same with you and Jed [Beaton] winning races. Do you feel like the other guys are stepping up and maybe closing that gap to you guys?

Yeah, I think my starts haven’t been as good as they were in the early rounds last season. But I think like, obviously at Appin the racing was definitely a lot closer, then this weekend, those first few laps it was quite hard to pass straight away, which obviously keeps everyone together. But yeah, the racing has been really good and it’s been hard coming through in those first few laps, but in some ways, I think that also makes the race a little bit better because you do have to search for those lines early, and you find lines you probably wouldn’t if you were just riding defensive from lap one, you know? I think that’s sort of been key, get to the front as soon as you can, really, and try to get a little gap.

This championship battle is between you and Jed, we know that. But this season, you’ve won all but one moto so far, and it feels like you’ve had the measure of Jed. It would be easy to assume that the points deficit is the driving force behind this run that you’re on, but realistically, you’ve had this pace from the get-go. Is that points deficit helping to keep you on your toes, though, seeing as there is only one clear goal?

Obviously, the championship is not really tight in points, but the racing on track has been tight between us. At the end of the day, all I can do is try and win races, I can’t afford to tie on points at the end of a round, or go 2-2. Nothing has really changed in my riding, I don’t think. I’ve just been trying to, as I said, take it race by race, and just try to win.

The series is heading to Traralgon for the next round. From what we can see, it looks like a pretty similar surface to Gillman. Have you had a chance to ride that track yet?

We actually rode there for the first time a few weeks back. It definitely has similar elements to Gillman, where it has that hard slippery base, but also some pretty soft dirt on top. I don’t know how it’ll form up for a national, but I’m thinking it’s going to get pretty gnarly.

Good luck with the next one, and congratulations again on the win!

Cheers.

Image: Foremost Media.

MX2

I felt like we were not chatting too long ago about how you wanted to beat Brodie [Connolly] straight up, and I mean, you did that at this round, so it must feel pretty good.

Yeah, definitely. Obviously, after Appin, I technically got the overall win without winning a moto, but that’s not the way I wanted to do it, that’s for sure. So the plan in Gillman was to go out there and win, and do it the right way, beating [him] straight up, fair and square, so yeah, it felt good to get two good starts, and then swap moto wins with Brodie and come away with the overall.

You were right there for both motos, right? The first one was super close, and then to close out the second one is strong. From the opening round to now, do you feel like there’s been some solid improvements made on your end?

Oh, for sure. I mean, yeah, like I was saying a few weeks ago, this is definitely the best pre-season that I’ve ever had, and it’s honestly probably the best I’ve ever felt on the bike at the moment. We’re also lucky in a way – we have such a big gap between races that we can work on things we need to improve on and get better at. So I feel like every race we’ve done, I know my weaknesses, and we go straight back to work afterwards and work on them. I definitely feel like I’m in a good space at the moment, but like I said, there’s always more room for improvement, too.

A lot of people were talking about Appin for you being from that area, and that’s a very hard pack track. Gillman is a little bit more loamy, and it seems that on each surface, you’re pretty comfortable?

To be honest, we ride a lot of different surfaces. I didn’t grow up at Appin, but I wasn’t too far away and yeah, I did a lot of riding when I was younger there but at the same time at the level that we’re at now, to be at a high professional level, you’ve got to be able to train and be good at any surface we race on. So yeah, I mean as much as I love hard pack, I love sand or loam just as much, so for me, no matter what truck I go to, I feel pretty good on.

As we’ve mentioned, there was a lot of talk about Brodie in the lead-up, but three rounds in and you’re only four back in the championship. Do rides like these just continue to inspire confidence for you to take it all the way?

Definitely. You can’t deny Brodie, [he] had a really good season last year and obviously throughout the pre-season everyone has those same thoughts, but yeah, like I mean we’re three rounds in now and there are only four points between us, so yeah, I proved that I’m in it for the long run this year and I’m here to win. We’ll give Brodie and everyone else a good challenge this year – I’m not going to let anyone run away with it.

That’s awesome, mate. We’re off to Traralgon next, which is a similar surface to Gillman. Does the game plan change between now and then, or just business as usual?

Business as usual [for me]. Like I said, we can adapt to any surface pretty well and, you know, it’s just gonna be working on a few little things that I think I can be better at. I feel comfortable on that surface, so between now and then it’ll just be about cleaning up those one percenters that I feel I can be better at, and hopefully we can take further improvements into the next one.