Race 1 was led early on by Suzuki’s Kyle Peters who claimed the holeshot and began to put time between himself and Factory KTM’s Kirk Gibbs. However, disaster would strike the American rider for the second round in a row when the radiator hose popped off his Suzuki RM-Z450. Peters nursed the bike home for a seventh place finish.
Meanwhile, Gibbs assumed the lead and continued to put in strong laps until he eventually crossed the finish line with a 12-second lead over defending champion, CDR Yamaha’s Dean Ferris.
Husqvarna’s Brett Metcalfe would round out the podium.
Race 2 saw an isolated storm drench the already tough Appin circuit making things even harder for competitors. Race 1 winner, Gibbs, got tangled in a first turn incident, which also involved Peters. Ferris claimed the early lead and never looked back. He motored away from the field and left them in his wake as he set about stamping his authority on the day. But the end of the moto, he had cleared out to a 25 second lead to take the race win and with it the overall round victory.
“Another round win and a good day for myself and the team,” Ferris states. “We had two vastly different track conditions today, and they were much different from the opening round so it’s good to be able to perform on all surfaces and in all conditions.
“Moto two was tough in a lot of ways but I enjoyed the challenge of riding in ruts and the rain just added another aspect to it.
“We are off to a great start in the series but it’s just two of 10 rounds and we all have a long way to go. Thank you to the CDR Yamaha team for their continued support and belief and we can now prepare for the next round at Conondale which is one of my favourite tracks,” Ferris ends.
On the one-line Appin track passing was difficult and Gibbs struggled to make up ground on Ferris. In the end, Gibbs would finish sixth, good enough for second overall.
Honda’s Todd Waters placed sixth in Race 1 and second in Race 2, enough for third overall.
MX1 Overall Results
1 1 MX1 Dean Ferris 67
2 5 MX1 Kirk Gibbs 60
3 47 MX1 Todd Waters 57
4 24 MX1 Brett Metcalfe 56
5 8 MX1 Kade Mosig 54
6 26 MX1 Luke Styke 53
7 199 MX1 Nathan Crawford 51
8 159 MX1 Aleksandr Tonkov 45
9 14 MX1 Kyle Peters 45
10 4 MX1 Luke Clout 44
MX1 Championship Standings
1 1 Dean Ferris 143
2 5 Kirk Gibbs 120
3 8 Kade Mosig 118
4 47 Todd Waters 108
5 26 Luke Styke 107
6 199 Nathan Crawford 97
7 4 Luke Clout 95
8 14 Kyle Peters 93
9 159 Aleksandr Tonkov 85
10 24 Brett Metcalfe 83
