KTM Motocross Racing Team riders Kirk Gibbs and Luke Styke excelled in the gnarliest of muddy conditions to score their first double-podium of the season at Horsham.
On a day that reduced the best-laid strategies to survival mode across all four classes, Gibbs and Styke underlined their status as operators of the highest calibre, powering their KTM 450 SX-F machines to second and third on the day, respectively, behind defending champion Dean Ferris.
Gibbs had earlier qualified fastest for the round and set the fourth-fastest Go-Pro Super Pole time, but couldn’t quite nail the moto starts he needed to bring his abundant speed to bear.
He got tangled with lappers and had a couple of small falls in the first race, but in both cases pushed on with trademark Gibbs grit on his way to 5-2 results.
His KTM team mate Luke Styke used gunfighter-quick starts to begin both his campaigns from top-two positions, and despite a fall in the second moto registered 3-4 finishes.
Davey Motorsports’ ironman Hamish Harwood gelled particularly well with the glutinous conditions, and slopped and slithered to easily his best finish of the MX1 championship – a seventh in class in amongst the factory bikes on his KTM 300 EXC.
MX1 – Jay Marmont – KTM Motocross Racing Team Manager: “It was great for the team to have both riders on the podium here. As a team we worked hard during the week finding little things to create a bit more confidence, but unfortunately the track didn’t allow us to feel all those gains – it was basically just survival mode. Kirk struggled with his starts today but in typical Kirk Gibbs style he fought through and showed some great speed. Luke was top-two both times at the first turn, and got a really good first moto result. He crashed in the second while in a good position, but then worked his way back to a podium. Hopefully this result gives Luke confidence to push for top three in the championship.”
Kirk Gibbs – KTM450SX-F: “Again I’m not happy, obviously the fitness is there and it feels like the speed is there, but I’m not getting away early and it’s too hard to make it up. The first moto was really tough with lappers, with the track being wet there was only one real line and I got caught with them and went down a few times. The second moto was a lot better, but when Clouty’s bike stopped right in front of me I had a bit of a wild ride trying to miss him.
The bike’s great and everything’s feeling really good at the moment, but without me getting off the line better, we aren’t getting the chance to race for wins, so we’ll go home and keep working on that and try to fight for some wins at Murray Bridge.”
Luke Styke – KTM450SX-F: “A great day! I changed my program up a little bit in the last few weeks and just set about trying to be more efficient on the bike and it helped a lot. My bike was awesome, and the changes we made going into the round improved our balance, too.
Practice and qualifying were good; I was on the verge of making it into Super Pole but got pipped on the last lap, but I stayed positive and really worked on my starts, and got two, top-two starts. First moto was solid – a slow start but a strong finish so that gave me some confidence. I was riding good in the second moto and holding second, but came unstuck and went down pretty hard. Then I just tried to regroup and battle all the way to the end from there. We went 3,4 for the weekend and I’m really happy.”
MX1 450 Pro Championship:
1 Dean Ferris, Yamaha 288,
2 Kirk Gibbs KTM 243,
3 Todd Waters, Honda 224,
4 Kade Mosig, Yamaha 223,
5 Luke Styke KTM 215,
6 Kyle Peters, Suzuki 182,
7 Aleksandr Tonkov, Kawasaki 173,
8 Luke Clout, Honda 173,
9 Nathan Crawford, Kawasaki 149,
10 Keiron Hall, Husqvarna 148
MX1 Round 4 Results
1st Dean Ferris – 70 (CDR Yamaha)
2nd Kirk Gibbs – 58
3rd Luke Styke – 58
4th Todd Waters – 55
5th Kade Mosig – 55
6th Kyle Peters – 48
7th Hamish Harwood – 48
8th Alexsandr Tonkov – 47
9th Lachlan Davis – 43
10th Keiron Hall – 40
MX2 Round 4 Results
1 Wilson Todd – 70 points
2 Hamish Harwood – 64 points
3 Kyle Webster – 58 points
4 Ricky Latimer – 56 points
5 Mitchell Evans – 50 points
6 Dylan Wills – 49 points
7 Jackson Richardson – 46 points
8 Egan Mastin – 44 points
9 Aaron Tanti – 42 points
10 Tomas Ravenhorst – 42 points
MX2 250 Pro Championship:
1 Wilson Todd, Yamaha 257,
2 Mitchell Evans, Yamaha 246,
3 Jackson Richardson, Yamaha 224,
4 Egan Mastin KTM 215,
5 Hamish Harwood KTM 213,
6 Kyle Webster, Honda 208,
7 Dylan Wills , Husqvarna 186,
8 Aaron Tanti , Yamaha 178,
9 Ricky Latimer, Yamaha 168,
10 Jayden Rykers KTM 168