DPH Motorsport Yamaha’s Jed Beaton has continued to keep his Motul MX2 championship hopes alive, racing to an impressive Round 7 Motul MX Nationals overall victory at Conondale, Queensland.
When bikes lined up for moto one, the conditions were wet and difficult and at the gate drop it was Raceline Pirelli KTM’s Dylan Wills who launched out to take the first MXStore hole shot.
However, it took less than one lap for Husqvarna’s Crawford to make his move for the lead.
With ten minutes run in moto one, Crawford continued to maintain his lead on Wills, while Makeham and third fastest qualifier Harwood trailed the front two riders by a huge ten seconds. Serco Yamaha’s fastest qualifier Todd maintained fifth, followed by Davey Motorsport’s Jayden Rykers in sixth.
However, an unexpected DNF mid-race from Yamaha mounted Todd paved the way for Beaton to make up significant ground, and with ten minutes to go, Beaton had passed four riders to move in to a solid fifth position.
As moto one for the Motul MX2 class reached it’s closing stages, there had been little changes to the top five positions but just as riders looked as if they had settled in to their respective positions, Beaton began a late charge to the front, passing both Makeham and Harwood to move in to third position, where he also began to eye off the rear wheel of Wills.
And it was on the second last lap that DPH Motorsport’s Beaton managed to make his move on Wills, slotting up in to second position, ensuring he snatched up close to maximum points despite a tough start to the race.
In what was a disappointing result for Wills, the KTM rider made a crucial mistake which saw him go down, dropping back to ninth despite holding a podium position for the majority of the race.
But when the chequered flag flew, there was no denying Crawford’s outstanding performance – The Husqvarna rider taking an unchallenged first win for the day at Conondale, followed by Beaton, and KTM’s Ward, who put in an impressive late charge from outside the top five up to third position. Harwood, and Makeham wrapped up the opening moto in fourth and fifth places respectively.
When race two got underway for the Motul MX2 class, Wills once again launched out of the gates to take his second holeshot for the day, however it was Beaton who after one lap had taken control of the race, followed by Rykers and Wills.
With Beaton out in front and Rykers hot on his tail, Wills, Makeham, Todd, Crawford and Ward became locked in to five-way battle for third position, keeping spectators on the edge of their seats.
By the time race two had reached the half way mark, Beaton had stretched out his lead on Rykers to an impressive eight seconds. Beaton was simply unstoppable out in front – continuing to put ground between himself and Rykers, and placing himself in a healthy position to take the final race win and the round victory. Meanwhile behind Rykers, Wills had once again dropped off the pace, allowing both Todd and Crawford to make passes on the KTM rider and slot in to third and fourth respectively.
Jed Beaton – DPH Motorsports Yamaha – Round 7 Overall Winner
“Today was a good day. I really want this championship, and like I said, I’m going to do everything I can to get it. I’ve been working really hard with Ross (Beaton) over the past two weeks, and it’s paid off today,” Beaton shared.
“I was confident coming in to the weekend. Conondale is my favourite track so it didn’t really matter what the conditions were like, I’d hoped that I would go well, and even with having so much rain and the track forming up the way it did, I knew we could do it.
“I got a bad start in the first race, but I managed to fight back and take second, then to take the win in the last race was awesome. We came here with a goal, and it all came together so I couldn’t be happier.”
Motul MX2 round seven results
1) Jed Beaton – 67 points
2) Nathan Crawford – 63 points
3) Jayden Rykers – 57 points
4) Caleb Ward – 56 points
5) Kale Makeham – 49 points
6) Dylan Wills – 47 points
7) Dean Porter – 45 points
8) Richie Evans – 45 points
9) Hamish Harwood – 43 points
10) Joel Wightman – 41 points
Motul MX2 Championship Standings
1) Nathan Crawford – 447 points
2) Jed Beaton – 440 points
3) Caleb Ward – 431 points
4) Jayden Rykers – 393 points
5) Wilson Todd – 354 points
6) Dylan Wills – 334 points
7) Hamish Harwood – 309 points
8) Joel Wightman – 299 points
9) Kyle Webster – 296 points
10) Dean Porter – 291 points