LUKE CLOUT CLAIMS PODIUM AT AUCKLAND

KTM Racing Team’s Luke Clout has secured a podium finish at the opening round of the 2026 Australian Supercross Championship, finishing third overall at Auckland’s North Harbour Stadium.

The 31-year-old New South Welshman showed strong pace from the outset, qualifying third fastest with a 50.535-second lap on the technical circuit before finishing third in his heat race to advance to Superpole.

Clout then produced one of the fastest laps of the night in the one-lap Superpole shootout, holding the top position until reigning AMA 450SX Champion Ken Roczen took to the track.

Roczen eventually knocked Clout back to second, but the KTM rider carried that pace into the three SX1 Triple Crown finals.

Clout delivered a consistent 3-3-3 scorecard across the three races to secure third overall behind Roczen and Christian Craig, collecting 60 championship points in the process.

The result places Clout third in the Australian Supercross Championship standings after the opening round, six points behind Craig and 15 behind Roczen.

“It was a good night – Round 1, triple points – there is a lot of racing, and a lot of stuff can go wrong. Knowing that, I just tried to chip away at it, stay consistent, and get better every time we got on track,” Clout said.

“The more race time I have on the bike, the better I feel, so overall, the opener was solid for me. No mistakes, clean laps, and being a part of this KTM Racing Team on board the 450 SX-F is really refreshing.”

Clout will now look to build on his opening-round podium when the championship heads to Geelong this weekend.

WATSON RECOVERS FROM OPENING-RACE DNF

SX1 teammate Zac Watson endured a more difficult night despite showing competitive pace during qualifying and the heat races.

Watson qualified eighth fastest aboard his KTM 450 SX-F before finishing fourth in his heat race to secure a direct transfer into the finals.

However, his opening race ended prematurely after contact with another rider forced him out of contention.

Watson recovered to finish 10th in the second final before improving to eighth in the third, securing 13th overall for the round.

“I had a pretty solid start to the weekend! I ended up qualifying in P8, which gave me some confidence entering the night program, although my starts weren’t the greatest for all three mains,” Watson said.

“The first one I was cleaned out by another rider, so unfortunately I wasn’t able to continue in that one, and then in main two I brought it home in P10, and then improved to eighth in the third Final.”

Watson leaves Auckland 13th in the championship standings with 24 points and will be looking for a cleaner night when racing resumes in Geelong.

WALSH STRUGGLES IN SX2 DESPITE STRONG QUALIFYING PACE

KTM Racing Team’s Dylan Walsh also faced a challenging opening round in the SX2 category aboard his KTM 250 SX-F.

The New Zealander qualified seventh fastest with a 53.258-second lap before finishing fourth in his heat race to secure a direct transfer into the three finals.

Walsh struggled to convert that qualifying speed into race results, finishing 13th in each of the opening two finals.

He improved significantly in the third race, charging to sixth place, but the earlier results left him outside the top ten overall.

“It was really good to race in New Zealand again, but tonight just didn’t go my way. I felt the speed was there and we finished the night off strong, so we will take that to Geelong and look to keep up the fight at Round 2,” Walsh said.

Walsh is listed 11th overall in the official round results supplied by the team, leaving him 11th in the SX2 championship standings with 31 points.

Cole Davies claimed the SX2 victory ahead of Cameron McAdoo and Ryder Kingsford, while Roczen led Craig and Clout in SX1.

With Clout already on the podium and Watson and Walsh looking to improve their race results, KTM Racing Team now turns its attention to the AUSX Open at GMHBA Stadium in Geelong on 7 November.