After the traditional mid-season break, Australia’s premier motocross championship, the MX Nationals, roared back into life with round six staged in at Nowra, NSW.
Featuring the now annual Military Appreciation theme for the round, numerous leading teams presented their bikes and riders in special military livery at the Nowra event, with the Penrite CRF Honda Racing squad getting right into the spirit with stunning black and white ‘artillery’ graphic treatment on their race bikes, created by team partner SK Designs.
Appropriately Penrite CRF Honda Racing MX2 rider Kyle Webster came out with all guns blazing at Nowra, turning up the heat early in the day to post the second fastest time in morning Qualifying behind Egan Mastin and ahead of former Australian MX2 champion Jay Wilson.
Keen to get into the business end of the national championship season, Webster fired his potent CRF250R thumper to a boomer start off the line in the day’s opening moto, only to see his his hopes of a front running result dashed in the first turn.
“My start was great, but then I got tangled up with another rider in the first turn, and that left me dead last by the time I got going again,” Webster explained.
“All I could do from there was just put my head down and come through as hard as a I could, so to get up to eighth at the finish was a good result for moto one, all things considered.”
In the crictical second MX2 moto, Webster got another great jump off the line, but yet again the first turn demons struck.
“This time I just pushed it too wide and dropped a stack of places,” Webster rued.
“That left me around 12th on the opening lap, so once again I had to fight my way forward, and this time I had some great battles along the way and eventually finished the race in fourth place, which was okay all things considered.”
An 8-5 scorecard for the day saw Webster place fifth overall for the round, which sees him now hold down seventh in the MX2 championship standings, just two points adrift of Dylan Wills with four rounds remaining.
Meanwhile young MXD rider Nick Luksich continued to fly the Penrite CRF Honda Racing team colours at Nowra, pushing his CRF250R to 22nd overall following 23-21 placings in the day’s two motos. Nick now holds down 23rd place in the MXD championship standings.
Missing from action at the Nowra event was the Penrite CRF Honda Racing squad’s MX1 rider Joel Wightman, who has unfortunately been sidelined by injury.
Wightman was injured in a hefty get-off at the recent fourth round of the NSW East Coast MX Series at Maitland, the crash leaving him with a broken rib, broken collarbone and collapsed lung. The incident comes after Wightman had recently returned to racing after suffering a broken collarbone while training earlier in the season.
Always bitterly disappointed to be sidelined, Wightman is intent on returning to racing as soon as possible, but only when he is at 100 per cent fitness and after gaining relevant medical clearances.
The MX Nationals continue with round seven at Shepparton in Victoria on Sunday, July 16, where once again the Penrite CRF Honda Racing team will be amongst the thick of the on-track action.