Ryder Kingsford battled through the final three rounds to secure a third-place finish in the ProMX MX2 championship.
The Yamalube Yamaha Team had plenty to race for on the weekend and finished up on the day with Ryder Kingsford, Jayce Cosford and Kaleb Barham taking fourth, fifth and sixth respectively to round out a solid performance in the eight round ProMX championship.
After a disappointing round last week at MX Farm, Kingsford dropped from second in the points to fourth and needed to rebound strongly at the final round to have any hope of a podium position for the year. He was seven points off the podium and with just two races remaining, it wasn’t an easy task.
Kingsford burst from the blocks in race one to take the lead as they headed into turn one. He managed to stay ahead of the pack and led the opening few laps before championship winner, Brodie Connelly was able to sneak by. But Kingsford didn’t roll over and stayed close to the leader and kept the pressure on until the end where he finished an impressive second place and put himself right back in contention for a series podium.
Race two and the start wasn’t as good but he hustled early and was able to move himself from outside the top ten on the opening lap to sixth place by the midway point. While he was desperate for more, sixth place was good enough to secure third in the championship and Kingsford round out the day with 2-6 results for fourth on the day and third in the championship.
“I didn’t ride great in that last race and didn’t have the pace to get to the front,” Kingsford explains, “but overall it was a much better weekend than last week and I was at least back in the fight and able to finish the year with third which is a good reward for the myself and the team.
“After a few years with injury and some racing missed with Covid, this became a good learning year for me and I gained a lot from it. I can already see the things I need to improve and where I can be a better rider and racer.”
Jayce Cosford has been one of the inform riders in the MX2 class in the back half of the season. Cosford has won the Sunshine State Series, the Queensland Motocross Championships and then started getting on the podium in the ProMX in recent times and he again showed good form at QMP.
Cosford experienced a couple of career bests on the weekend. He qualified in P2 – his best position yet and then finished second in moto two, his best moto finish in MX2. He finished the day with 12-2 results, after a crash in the first moto, to take fifth for the day and land in sixth for the championship.
“My goal was a podium today and felt I was capable of getting it done as my speed was good in practice and qualifying. Unfortunately, I didn’t get a great start in moto one and then was caught in a crash where I had no where to go.
“But happy to bounce back in the last one and finish the championship strongly. Thanks to the team for all their efforts and Joel who swings off the pit board every race,” Cosford ends.
It was a consistent weekend for Kaleb Barham who finished the final round in sixth pace with 8-5 results. Barham was always there about all weekend and with a good start in the final race, maintained second place for the first half of the race before letting a few positions slip at the end.
Despite missing a round due to injury, Barham still managed to finish eight for the series, highlighted with a moto win at Toowoomba.
“Good day for me overall, although I would love to have a better start in race one. I thought I jumped pretty good but got a pinched off and lost some spots.
“My championship was interrupted with a wrist injury which hurt me in the points but there were plenty of good moments to go along with it and as a team, we never stopped working,” Barham said.