On a weekend that marked a new structure for Yamaha’s motocross teams, welcoming new partners and a new look, Ky Woods provided the team with the perfect debut, winning both ProMX MX3 motos and now takes the leaders red plate to round two at Appin.
The weekend started a little rough for Woods when he was handed a penalty for stopping in the mechanics lane during qualifying. Despite having the fastest lap in qualifying, he was relegated a few positions but quickly put it behind him and moved onto the racing.
When the gates dropped in race one, Woods was inside the top five by quickly burst through the pack to shadow race leader, Kayd Kingsford. After a couple of laps sizing him up and studying his lines, Woods made his move, snatched the lead away and then rode off for a comfortable race victory.
Race two and this time it was Woods at the front with Kingsford close behind. The pair shadowed boxed for the 20 minutes before Woods was able to break clear and take a five second win leaving him with the perfect start to the championship and confident as he looks ahead in the championship.
“I was a bit nervous today with the new team, new bike and new surroundings, but everyone around me was great and the WBR Yamaha team were super supportive all weekend.
“I was able to get the race win in moto one, but I really wanted to make sure I was consistent in race two and not do anything silly, so I tried to stay calm and peel off the laps as best I could without thinking about the result.
“Thanks to everyone for an awesome start to the year and can’t wait to get to Appin and see if we can do it again,” Woods said.
It wasn’t as successful for Madi Simpson who struggled with arm pump all weekend on the technical Wonthaggi track. Simpson proved she had good pace and was right in the heat of the battle in terms of speed, but her arm pump induced crashes in the first moto made for a tough day.
Simpson rebounded in moto two and left with feeling there is more to give in the coming rounds and vows to be back up the front before long. She finished the round in 11th place with 15-7 results in a field that included riders from the US, New Zealand and South Africa.
She was also part of the winning Australia team in the FIM Oceania Challenge.
“It wasn’t a great weekend for me, and I didn’t race the way I know I can, but I think I have learned a lot from it and will be much better from now on. The team were great in trying to help me and in race two I was much better and was running inside the top three for the first half before I pumped up again. If I can just stay calm, then I think I can stay up there and get on the podium,” Simpson ends.
It’s likely the Monster Energy WBR Yamaha Team will be back to full strength at round two with Koby Hantis back in action. Hantis has been given clearance to ride, now it’s just a matter of time getting his shoulder back to full strength.
