Ryder Kingsford finished the day at Appin with 2-2 results on the track but were amended to 2-1 finishes after a review of a Stewards decision in race two.
Kingsford and last year’s MX2 champion, Brodie Connolly, have been at the front of the pack in all four motos contested this year. Race one saw Connolly move into the lead early and move out to a handy seven second lead as Kingsford was frantically trying to find a way forward.
Once he found his way into second, Kingsford had a lot of real estate between himself and Connolly which he needed to peg back if he was any chance of securing the race victory. He started clicking off some good laps and making inroads on Connelly. The gap would yo-yo as the pair battled their way through lapped riders and with just a couple of laps to run, the gap was down to three seconds.
But that was as close as it got, as Connolly secured the win, with Kingsford finishing second.
Moto two proved to be a lot more hectic, especially in the early stages. Jayce Cosford grabbed the holeshot with Kingsford in tow. Connolly was back around fifth place and trying to move forward as quickly as possible. He made some passes to get into second, but the officials deemed one of the passes was made illegally and issued an in-race penalty of two positions.
Kingsford no longer needed to win the race to win the round and was informed via the pit board that that was a penalty in place and finishing second on the track behind Connolly was in fact, a race win. Kingsford then slotted in behind Connelly and followed him to the finish line to take second on the track but win the race with the penalty implemented.
When the riders gathered for the podium, the steward’s decision was reversed and the on-track results stood giving Connolly victory over Kingsford. Upon further investigation, the stewards deemed the two-position, in-race penalty to stand, and Kingsford was awarded the race and round win when email confirmation went out this morning.
“I don’t have any idea on what happened on the track and why there was even a penalty for Brodie,” Kingsford begins. “I didn’t see what the issue was and only knew because my pit board said he had a penalty, but I do know that it’s not the way I want to win races.
“But it’s a good reward for the team as everyone has worked super hard this year to make things better and we are on the right track.
“I want to give my all in every race and at every round and so far, we are off to a good start. Plan now is to keep it rolling,” Kingsford said.
Despite finishing eighth for the round, there were lots of positives Jayce Cosford can take away from the Appin round. Cosford has been working hard on a few things during the week and behind the scenes and some of those things are beginning to show on the racetrack.
Traditionally, Cosford has been a terrible qualifier and left himself with a gate pick often outside the top ten. Cosford qualified third on the weekend in a career best and evidence his work during the week is paying off.
His other issue has been crashes early in races, especially moto one. On the weekend, there were no crashes in race one. Although he was a little conservative in the early going, it was still better than crashing on the opening laps and dropping multiple positions.
Cosford finished with 9-5 results on the weekend for eighth overall. It was highlighted by a holeshot and a handful of laps led at the start of moto two. Unfortunately, he came together with teammate Kingsford and went down but recovered well to finish fifth and left the Appin circuit with a couple boxes ticked.
“I’m not where I want or need to be, but things are headed in the right direction. My raw pace has picked up a little, I tried to stay out of the chaos in race one and then rode a pretty good race two.
“I’m still looking for the best balance of speed, fitness and race craft but I feel we have made some inroads so thanks to Beaton’s Pro Formula and the team for their guidance.
The MX2 battle resumes at Gillman in South Australia in just two weeks’ time.
