Ken Roczen tops a star-studded field including Webb, Tomac, and Deegan in front of a sold-out Cbus Super Stadium to maintain WSX title lead
Ken Roczen capped his final appearance for Pipes Motorsport Group with the overall win via a 1-4-3 across the two sprints and the 12-lap main. He opened the night with a win in Sprint 1, followed by a fourth in Sprint 2, and sealed the overall with third in the main.
Roczen said his consistency and race craft were key: “We really have been working super hard. I’ve always been getting pretty good off the gate, but then I kind of got closed off. With this dirt, how tight the start is, it decides basically within a thousandth of a second. Then once you roll the entire section afterwards, I just took my time. People are cross-jumping left and right, so it was hard to just attack, but I’m pretty pumped.” He added: “I am really happy with my riding. I crushed the whoops and I’m pumped to get away with the overall win.” Roczen beleives he’s riding as well as he ever has, saying: “Back when I was younger, I was really fast, and it’s a little bit hard to compare, but I do feel like I’m a more rounded racer at the moment, comfortable in my own skin and making smarter decisions.”
With promised thunderstorms never arriving, Quad Lock Honda set the early tone as Joey Savatgy topped SuperPole with a clean lap. “I feel good. We keep making small changes, and I’m feeling very confident on the bike,” said Savatgy, who went 5-3-5 in the finals for fifth overall and sits third in the championship.
Teammates Christian Craig and Shane McElrath were factors all night – Craig qualified sixth after leading both timed practices, McElrath was second in SuperPole, and Anthony Bourdon slotted 12th. “It’s me, the travel, everything. I’m not riding my best,” Bourdon admitted.
Craig delivered the night’s emotional high point with his first WSX main-event win and second overall—despite a five-point penalty for not respecting waved medical flags after Astin Politelli’s incident. His run went 3-9-1 after Sprint 2 chaos and a later collision, and he charged through a field packed with champions to win the final. “It means a lot for sure. I can sit here and give you a lot of stories of why I shouldn’t be racing dirt bikes right now, but we’re here. I just beat some legends, some champions, and proved that I can still do this. And, man, that was so much fun. We’re here in a good spot. I have a good team behind me and people that want me on their team. So, shout out to the people that counted me out. To the people that stood close to me, this one’s for you!” he said. From the team side, he added: “Wow. So many people stopped believing in me, but this team didn’t. They fought for me, and I’m so happy to be here. It feels so good to win again.”
Wildcard Cooper Webb made the most of his lone WSX appearance, winning Sprint 2 and dueling Eli Tomac to finish ahead of him in the on-track fight for third, before being classified fourth overall for the event. Eli Tomac figured in the front-running mix throughout the night as part of the headline cast.
Haiden Deegan’s first trip to Australia and step up to the 450 were major storylines. The Monster Energy Star Racing Yamaha rider took sixth overall after another gritty night and, like Craig, received a five-point penalty for a waved-flag infringement. His results read 5-0-22, and he relished the experience: “I’m just going to say this. I was battling Eli Tomac, and I was like a little kid. I was in shock the whole time. I was like, ‘I just passed Eli Tomac, I just passed Eli Tomac!’. I was tripping the whole time. (That was badass. (But anyways, good job to Christian, man. I know he’s been through a lot. So to see that happen, I felt like, I don’t know, a happy son! But yeah, that was good. We fought hard, and it was awesome.” In a neat full-circle note, his father Brian first raced in Australia in 1996 at the Motocross Promotions Queensland Supercross Championship alongside Mike Metzger and Larry Brooks—who now manages the HEP Suzuki outfit supporting Roczen.
Roczen’s overall victory leaves him command of the WSX championship with 122 points – 27 in front of Quad Lock Honda’s Christian Craig, with teammate Joey Savatgy not far behind on 83 points.
MAX ANSTIE DOMINATES SX2
SX2 was a masterclass from Britain’s Max Anstie, who continued his flawless form in mains with another 1-1-1 sweep for Team GSM Powered by Star Racing Yamaha—matching his Buenos Aires and Vancouver clean sheets and further stretching his championship lead. He missed a total-event clean sweep after a rare SuperPole mistake, but was otherwise untouchable on a hot, demanding Gold Coast night. “That was awesome. I’m feeling good, man. My bike’s been working well and it was a dig tonight. It’s hot. It feels like it’s getting hotter as the night’s gone on! I don’t know if that’s just me but it’s warm out there. Luckily I get to train on the East Coast of America and it’s pretty hot like this in the summer. I am so pumped with my riding, pumped with my bike – shout out to the Star Racing Yamaha crew and the collaboration with GSM. I’m happy to be here in the Gold Coast, it’s been a lot of fun. I love Australia. And looking forward to next week in Sweden. These are the kind of seasons you dream about from Winchester, England to the Gold Coast of Australia.”
Defending champion Shane McElrath steadied his campaign with 5-3-2 to finish second on the night and climb to third in the standings. “That was intense to say the least. It was a treacherous night, I honestly struggled in qualifying results-wise, but man, I felt really good and I knew I just needed to bring that to the main events. I earned this podium; it is a big monkey off my back, man. I’ll be honest, I thought I’d be up here three weeks ago at the season opener, and I just ran into some misfortunes. It was mainly on me, but I’m just so happy to be up here.”
Cullin Park completed the podium for MotoConcepts Racing with a stout 4-2-3. “We’ve had our work cut out for us; Max is hitting his marks, and we’re playing catch-up a little bit. That was kind of the best effort we’ve had. My starts have been a lot better, and I was like, ‘ok we’re in this one,’ and so we’re going to keep working. I’m having a blast here in Australia. We’ve got two more countries. It’s a pretty crazy travel schedule, but we’re going to keep working, and we’re just getting started!”
Round 4 will take place in Stockholm, Sweden on December 6th, where the Quad Lock Honda riders will attempt to arrest Roczen’s momentum in SX1, while the entire SX2 field will be do everything they can to stop Anstie taking yet another clean sweep.
