Defending Manjimup 15,000 winner, Kirk Gibbs stole the show early on, racing to victory in both Moto one and two, plus taking home the prized elimination shootout held in the middle of the day.
Gibbs’ plans to make it three wins in-a-row derailed in the third Moto with Waters chipping away lap after lap, eventually grabbing a hold of the lead to go on and win his first race of the day.
The final Moto of the event would be the ultimate decider, with both Waters and Gibbs leaving nothing on the table. KTM’s Gibbs snatched the early lead, however an uncharacteristic mistake forced him to relinquish the lead. This wasn’t the last of his woes, as the Australian champion suffered a suspected flat rear tyre, salvaging third to end the day in second overall.
“Today was difficult – Gibbsy had me all morning and the track was super slick – he is a hard guy to catch on a smooth and flat track.” Waters said.
“Towards the end of the day, it got really rough through the sand, and I was able to make up time through there. I made the pass there in the third Moto, and I just capitalised on his (Gibbs) mistake in the final.”
Western Australian favourite Kyle Webster concluded the podium in third, tying on points with Jesse Dobson – Webster was awarded the higher position on count back after an impressive second place finish in race four.
Caleb Ward narrowly missed out on the podium, finishing just one point shy of Dobson and Webster. Like Gibbs, he would also make a mistake in the final Moto, handing over a bunch of positions. He fought back to sixth, just behind teammate Dobson. Ward put together two solid results earlier in the day with a pair of thirds.
With the All-stars category predominately filled with open class machines, Jayden Rykers displayed an incredible performance to finish just within the top ten in nearly every Moto aboard his KTM 250 2-stroke – his efforts were rewarded with a clean sweep of the Lites riders, who were scored separately in the overall standings.
All-Stars Overall Results:
Todd Waters
Kirk Gibbs
Kyle Webster
Jesse Dobson
Caleb Ward
Jamie Law
Robert Lovett
Mitch Taylor
Michael Mahon
Julian Cutajar
All-Stars Lites Overall Results:
Jayden Rykers
Izaac Jones
Tom West
Ayden Bridgeford
Grant Buchan
John Darroch
Carson Bascombe
Tom Lilly
Justin Hart
Luke Davis
