Across more than two decades as a professional, Kirk Gibbs, the softly spoken kid from Mount Gambier quietly became one of Australian motocross’s great constants: a national MX1 champion, multiple-time title contender, two-time Motocross of Nations representative and, just as importantly, a bloke fans and media knew they could always walk up to in the pits for a chat.
Now, as he draws the curtain on his ProMX career at the end of the 2025 season, Kirk Gibbs is the first to downplay it.
“I think I sort of knew this was the year that I was… well, I was coming to the end and I’ve enjoyed it. It takes a lot of, you know, effort and consistency and selfishness to, you know, be at a somewhat top level for that long a period of time. And I think it was just the stress on my body and my mind and everything like that, it had just come to a time where I was ready to step away.”
It’s classic Gibbsy: honest, self-aware and almost reluctant to make a fuss. But the numbers and memories do that for him. A national MX1 crown in 2015, multiple seasons where he was in the hunt until the final rounds, and a career so consistent that between 2010 and 2023 he finished inside the top three in the premier class in nine of 13 seasons. That’s Ryan-Dungey-level reliability in Australian conditions, year after year.
Even in 2025, as he announced his retirement, he wasn’t just making up the numbers. Heading into his final ProMX round at Queensland Moto Park, he sat sixth in the MX1 standings on his KTM 450 SX-F, still quick enough to top Super Pole and still capable of holeshots.
The year everything clicked
For all his longevity, one season stands alone. Gibbs’ 2015 MX Nationals MX1 campaign with the KTM Motocross Racing Team is still talked about as one of the most complete title runs of the modern era.
The signs were there early. He swept both motos at the opening round in Horsham and built a points lead that ballooned to 60 by mid-season. By the time the series rolled into Coolum, he only needed a steady result: third in the first moto was enough to clinch the crown with a race to spare.
Gibbs remembers those years not as a fluke, but the payoff from a long build.
“Yeah, obviously that was just a super cool year, I think. You know, in ’13 they’d just come out and I joined the team. They’d just gone back in-house in 2013 and they had the new KTM then. I learned a lot from Todd Waters in ’13, and then obviously leading from there. The bike didn’t change for three years and we just kept getting it better and better every year. And yeah, by the time I got around to 2015, I just felt like I was the only one that could beat myself basically.”
You saw it every weekend. Even on the rare days he hit the deck, he’d remount and charge back into the podium zones.
“Yeah, obviously I had a few crashes and stuff that year but even then I was still really able to come from pretty much the back to top three easy in the race… When you get that feeling, you can’t really beat it… it just made me feel like I was going to go there and win every weekend.”
That’s the sweet spot every racer chases and almost none truly find.
Pieces of the puzzle
Ask Gibbsy whether that title year was won through machinery or mindset and he gives no separation.
“Uh, I mean, I think it’s all the pieces of the puzzle, you know what I mean? I think it’s not one or the other.”
That puzzle was built across three seasons of continuity. Same frame. Same platform. Same team. Endless refinement.
“If we’d go to a sand track, we already had it dialled… so track to track was quite easy.”
Those stable years from 2013 to 2015 didn’t just produce a championship bike – they produced a championship brain, the calculated, methodical racer we would see for the next decade.
Three eras in orange
Few riders in Australia have seen the KTM factory structure from as many angles as Kirk Gibbs, who rode for the outfit across three separate stints.
He’s candid about just how different each era was.
“Basically every year it changed a little bit. So ’13 there was pretty much… we had no budget basically. And then every year little things would just start to change, you know, they’d cut a little bit here, a little bit there financially. And then from ’16 through to ’18, there were some big changes… and then obviously I left in 2018.”
When he returned in 2022, it felt like a different universe.
“Obviously there were some very, very big changes. Bike, team, how it all operates, how they financially were operating. And yeah, even back in ’13–’15, we were getting factory parts… all that stopped. Basically we were just sourcing all our own stuff… but the factory stuff was obviously that’s where it’s made, that’s where it’s developed, and it’s very, very good stuff when you get it.”
For a rider expected to contend every year, those shifting sands only make his record more impressive.
Flying the flag
Gibbs’ resume includes two appearances for Australia at the Motocross of Nations: Matterley Basin in 2017 and RedBud in 2018.
For him, the call-up wasn’t something he grew up expecting.
“I was a bit of a late bloomer, so I wouldn’t say that when I was 10–12 years old I was dreaming of going to MXoN or anything like that. I was kicking around with my mates.”
Matterley remains a favourite memory.
“Matterley Basin was super crazy. The first one’s always pretty wild and such a cool experience… it was a very easy transition, good food, everything like that.”
In 2017 he helped Australia to sixth overall. In 2018, battered and carrying injury, he slogged through the infamous RedBud mudder. Proof of the grit that defined much of his career.
Through both campaigns, Gibbsy was the same guy: calm in the paddock, measured with the media, and happy to sign a kid’s hat long after he’d peeled his gear off.
The late bloomer
The idea that Kirk Gibbs was not a dominant junior seems strange now, but he insists it’s true.
He began racing at five, but didn’t become serious until late in his junior years. He missed the podium in both 125 and 250F at one Junior Aussies, started training properly for the first time, then returned the next year to win both classes.
He credits his longevity to the way his parents handled it.
“I think my parents not pushing me at all, then once I got to that point where I realised it could be a job, I went all in. And they still supported me until I got my first ride when I was 18–19… my parents were all in for me.”
That patience may be one of the reasons he lasted 20 years in a sport where many juniors flame out before 16.
The day everything nearly ended
A turning point came in 2012 when a huge crash left Kirk Gibbs unconscious for around 15 minutes.
“Yeah, I had to have six months off the bike just for my head… the way I was laying, the helmet was cutting off my airway and I actually passed away on the track. So they brought me back.”
Most riders would quit. Gibbs rebuilt.
Later injuries in 2015–16 persuaded him to move away from Supercross to focus on motocross, not out of fear but logic – less risk, more progress, more longevity.
It worked.
To finish in the top three in nine out of 13 MX1 seasons is the kind of consistency that defines a career. Gibbs says it wasn’t raw speed that got him there: it was patience, discipline and learning where not to push
“You probably don’t need to find more speed in places you don’t think you need it… being super patient… making fewer mistakes overall just makes you a better rider.”
That mindset turned him into the guy you always had to beat for a championship.
“You might not always be the fastest guy, but you’re always there. And it’s not always the fastest guy that wins.”
It’s the sort of wisdom junior riders now seek him out for.
Stalwart. Mentor. Good bloke.
For all the stats, one of Gibbs’ greatest traits is the simplest: he never stopped being approachable.
Fans loved him because he never big-timed anyone. Journalists loved him because he always fronted up. Teammates respected him because he worked hard, didn’t panic and didn’t play games.
These days, based on the Sunshine Coast, he’s giving back more than ever.
“We have a business here… and I’ve been doing a bit of stuff with Ford Dale with his coaching stuff and helping a lot of the juniors…”
The kid who wasn’t a superstar at 12 is now helping the next wave find their way – whether they’re elite talents or late bloomers like he once was.
What motocross gave back
When Kirk Gibbs finally hangs up the boots after QMP 2025, the record books will list him as:
- 2015 Australian MX1 Champion
- Two-time MXoN representative
- One of the most consistent premier-class riders in modern Australian motocross
- A 20-year professional who did the work quietly and let the results speak
