Held in near perfect conditions at the challenging Wonthaggi circuit, Kingsford showed he has stepped up his game for the new season and is a serious contender for the MX2 crown.
The theme of the day for Kingsford was two. He qualified second, finished second in both races and was second overall for the day which now has him well placed for the rounds ahead.
Kingsford was determined to throw down the challenge to last year’s MX2 champ, Brodie Connelly and he gave him plenty to think about over the weekend. In race one, the duo raced away from the pack with Kingsford just a few seconds behind Connolly for the majority of the race. It was only the last lap that saw Kingsford shut it down and bring home a safe second place.
Moto two and it was on. Again, the pair engaged and had stretched their lead out to about 12 seconds by the halfway point. They were deep into the lapped riders and trying to find an advantage when Connelly lost traction and feel, landing down the blindside of a jump. Kingsford was unsighted until the last moment and took instant evasive action to miss up but ended up collecting Connolly and going down himself.
One and two were in the dirt and scrambling to pick up their bikes before Alex Larwood in third pounced on them both. They both remounted and re-entered the track just in front of Larwood and resumed their battle like nothing had happened.
Connelly was instantly back into race pace and Kingsford not far behind but as the laps wore down and vision become an issue, Kingsford settled into second and decided a 2-2 was a good place to start his championship from.
“Things got pretty hectic out there and I’m not even sure what happened,” Kingsford said. “I know we were in with the lappers, and I didn’t see Brodie crash until it was too late. I tried to avoid him, but I think that made me crash and I cleaned him out pretty good.
“I just thankful we are both alright as that could have got ugly.
“But pretty happy with the day. Felt I rode strong and consistent all day which was the goal as last year I have too many good race / bad race situations. It’s something I need to improve to be a contender this year.”
Jayce Cosford had an interrupted pre-season after an injury from supercross lingered long than anticipated. He has only been back on the bike a little over a month and new he was under done coming into the weekend, but Cosford will always put up a fight.
He qualified well in sixth place and despite an average start, as well as several crashes, he was able to finish sixth in the opening race in a solid effort in his first race since November last year.
The second race was just as dramatic. In the opening lap chaos, Cosford clipped the rider in front of him on a fast section of track and rocketed of the edges and ejected from his bike. He was flung well clear of the track and his bike and after a quick system scan, he remounted and got back into the race, only to find his front brake was locking on, so he came into the mechanics area on the next lap and had that addressed.
Then began the long haul back through the field. With 38 riders on course, Cosford after a huge wipe out and a mechanical stop, clawed his way back to 13th place in an excellent salvage of points. While he is a little battered, his 6-13 results gave him 9th for the round but weren’t a true reflection of his performance.
With another couple of weeks seat timing, Cosford expects to be better for round two at Appin on April 13.
