Boost Mobile Honda Racing’s Kyle Webster secured his third-consecutive Penrite ProMX Championship MX1 overall victory at Traralgon, splitting the moto wins with title-rival Jed Beaton on what was a brutal circuit. For the MX2 category, Polyflor Honda Racing’s Brodie Connolly returned to the winners circle after a dominant 1-1 performance. MotoOnline caught up with both riders this week for this Debrief feature.

MX1

Image: Foremost Media.

MX1 overall winner, congratulations Kyle Webster on another Jed Beaton versus Kyle Webster classic. Championship points stay the same as you two tied, but you came out on top with a moto two win, so take us through the day.

I’m pretty happy with it, really! The track was so gnarly, the sun was in a bad spot, but it’s the same for everybody. That second moto, we were both into it – we were really solid.

I think it was one minute and 10 seconds back to third…

Yeah, that’s…that’s up there [laughs].

Take us through the lappers in moto two, it looked like a tough thing to navigate out there.

I feel like I caught them at a really bad time, in the middle of the track there towards the end. I understand that everyone is in their own race, but it’s frustrating sometimes when you see the blue flag being waved, and everyone’s still in the way. I get it, though, everyone’s still in their race, and it’s part of racing, knowing how to manage and deal with that, it’s just not an ideal thing to deal with in the heat of a battle like we were.

So, moto one, a bit different for you, not getting off to the start you would’ve liked. Take us through that one.

Actually, the film on my roll-offs snapped in the first turn, so that made it hard. I just couldn’t get too close to anyone, really, as I was going to get filled in. With Max [Purvis], I had to strike quickly and make the move otherwise I needed to stay away from him, so that made race one tough. I bridged the gap a little bit to Jed, but then once we got to the lappers, same thing with getting filled in. It’s okay, second is okay, it would’ve been nice to come away with those extra points, but a win overall today is good.

The track here today looked tough, especially to make passes on. What were your thoughts?

The track was hard to pass on for sure. Everyone’s racing the same track, and honestly, the rain [we had in the lead up] was probably a huge blessing. It opened the track up a bit more, especially in those back sections to allow for a few more lines, but it was hard to pass, especially in the middle section.

Concrete start too, we haven’t seen one of those for a while. Was that part of the first moto start?

Yeah, a bit of a bad start. I got a bit of spin off the gate. Concrete starts aren’t normally my forte, so I was happy to holeshot the second one, but it’s just another one of those things that everyone has to deal with.

You guys at Honda Racing go and race at a lot of these tracks before the national, and the same thing for Warwick. What do you gain from doing this? Is it setup or just overall familiarity?

It’s definitely for a bit of setup, you go to all those tracks to see what it’s all about. Obviously, it’s never the same as a national, but it’s more to just keep up the racing, and know the track when you show up there for the national. For me, I find value in just staying active with racing. We only have eight races over the whole national series, so it’s important to try and keep up that race intensity, which I did last year, and I think it worked for me.

MX2

Image: Foremost Media.

Brodie Connolly, a dominant day for you here in Traralgon. Fastest qualifier, two moto wins, take us through the day.

Yeah, it was an awesome day. I came into this round wanting to do exactly that, so to do it is a good feeling, and quite refreshing after the last couple of rounds where a couple of little things didn’t go my way, as well as a couple of mistakes on my behalf. Overall, very refreshing day, and stoked with it.

One thing I watch with you is early in those motos, how explosive you are. You wanted to get around Ryder [Kingsford] early in moto one, and you did exactly that. I think you’re comfortable with being uncomfortable, and that’s an interesting way to be.

I think you put it exactly right there, you’ve got to be comfy being uncomfy. I feel very switched on and concentrated when I am on that edge, and I think that’s why I’ve made a couple of mistakes recently, I’m just trying to ride too cruisy, and that’s where I’ve been tucking the front or doing something silly. Today was back to the old Brodie, and I’m way more concentrated when I’m sending it.

Is that something that you learn, or is that just part of you being comfortable?

I don’t know, I’m just so comfortable on my motorbike, and that definitely helps. All the little bits of play riding when I was younger, knowing what the bike is going to do, and stuff like that, just really helps.

Halfway through the season now, you do have a nice points lead entering the second half, so you’ve got to be happy with that.

I needed that 1-1 today to get a bit of a points buffer, so it was a good day for that for me. Ryder [Kingsford] is riding really well at the moment and keeping me on my toes, but we have four to go, and four more rounds like today would be nice.

The track today formed up totally different from how it would’ve been a few weeks ago when you raced here. What was it like, and how was it having Traralgon on the calendar?

Yeah, I thought it was cool! It’s different, the track was brutal – I think they needed the rain for it to be good, I think it could’ve been pretty dry otherwise. Anyway, I like the track when it’s like that and super technical, obviously it separates a few of us when you compare it to say, Appin, which is a bit more hard packed, so I really enjoyed today.

Lastly, looking ahead, where do you want to be next year? Is it Europe, or the United States, and Supercross as well as Pro Motocross? Where are you at?

Definitely America. I want to finish off my year here, and then, all going to plan in my head, I want to be there next year, and give that a good crack like I’ve given Australia a good crack. So, yeah, that will definitely be the plan, and we’ll see what happens.