Peters fourth in Toowoomba, KTM Juniors run riot

Peters fourth in Toowoomba, KTM Juniors run riot

 

KTM Australia press release:

KTM Motocross Racing Team rider Kyle Peters has taken his first big bag of points in the 2016 SX1 championship, finishing fourth in last night’s second round of the Australian Supercross championship in Toowoomba West of Brisbane.

 

Filling in for injured Australian Motocross Vice Champion Kirk Gibbs, 23-year-old American Kyle Peters twice led the main event on his KTM 450 SX-F, but didn’t quite have the pace to withstand the challenges of eventual winner, Justin Brayton, who led home Wil Hahn and Dean Ferris.

 

The highly technical track claimed many scalps over the course of the evening, among them Peter’s teammate, Sunshine Coast 19-year-old Jesse Dobson, who was jumped upon in his heat race.

 

Stuck with the last kick of the start date, Dobson got caught in first corner melee and went down, but showed excellent speed as he made his way back to the pack, until a heavy crash late in the race left him to circulate for points.

 

Kyle Blunden, KTM Motocross Racing Team Manager – “It was a good night for us. To have Kyle leading the main event twice demonstrated where we were really strong, and where we have some weaknesses. In that regard, it has given Kyle and the team some things to work towards. Overall, having Kyle finished in fourth and for Jesse, unfortunately his result didn’t show the speed and the potential that he’s got; you look at his lap times and he’s definitely capable of being a top five guy, he just needs to be able to put 20 laps together and stay off the ground.”

 

Kyle Peters (KTM 450 SX-F) – “I struggled all night on the track and wasn’t quite in my groove, but I came out of there safe and with a fourth-place finish – I’ll take it. I’m not happy with it, I definitely want to get on the podium, and get a win before the season is over. Just not a lot of time on the bike, but the whole team was awesome and the bike was fantastic, I was just personally struggling with a few things and it hurt me in the long run. The whoops and the Dragon Back were the two places I was struggling with, they were really slippery and I just wasn’t committing enough coming in. It wasn’t really working out for me but I know I’ve got to work on and going to have a really big two weeks and come out swinging for round three.”

 

Jesse Dobson (KTM 450 SX-F) – “We showed glimpses that we can be right up there but it was a bit of a domino effect with a few things. I qualified not too bad, but then in the heat I was trying to settle in second or third, when in the first rhythm I got landed on which put me down in the turn and bent my bike up. I was coughing up blood, so I went and got checked out in case I’d bruised my lungs, but they said it was just my tongue bleeding and I was fine to ride, so that was okay. I got the last gate pick and had a first turn crash. I felt like I was riding really well, I passed some good guys and got back into 10th. But through the long rhythm lane I spun up off one of the ‘offs’ and cased, which threw me down really hard. From there it was that bent up that I had to stand everywhere and roll around everywhere. It was tough to swallow.”

 

In SX2 racing, Raceline Development Team rider Dylan Wills top scored for the Orange men aboard his KTM 250 SX-F, overcoming a bad start to finish sixth in the race, which went to Jackson Richardson ahead of Hayden Mellross and Geran Stapleton. Davey Motorsports rider and 2015 number three Lewis Woods finished tenth on the night, with Jesse Madden 11th.

 

Dylan Wills (KTM 250 SX-F) – “It was a pretty good night. I got a little bit of luck in my heat race with Decotis going down, but you take what you can get. I got a pretty terrible start but I made some good, quick passes, which is what I have lacked this year, and got onto the back of Crawford and felt like I was riding a fair bit better than him, I just got stuck with a couple of lappers and made a couple of little mistakes but I feel like my riding was better this weekend so there are positives going into the next round for sure.”

 

In the Junior Lites, 16-year old Newcastle rider Jye Dickson did his championship position no harm at all, leaving a spectacular KTM trifecta as he shared the podium with Mason Rowe and Blake Cobbin.

 

The junior 85/150 championship also saw a KTM victory as Tyler Darby defeated Joshua Zorbas and Samuel Noonan.

 

Jye Dickson (KTM 250 SX-F) – “I kept it consistent and managed to get it around the hard track so that was pretty good compared to the last round at Jimboomba, but it was a lot more technical. I was struggling a bit in practice but by the first race I think I got it a bit more sorted out and got used to it. I was aiming for top three finishes so a 2, 1 and 3 was a good result. It’s pretty cool to be coming first in the championship especially since it’s my first season of Supercross.”

 

For more information on KTM Motorcycles, visit www.ktm.com.au or www.facebook.com/KTMAustralia