Ryder Kingsford lead an impressive performance taking the overall victory in Maitland for Round 4 of the 2024 Penrite ProMX.
But it will be a day the teenager from Goulburn, Ryder Kingsford, won’t forget has he showed speed, skill and maturity to take his first professional victory and in a manner that was well beyond his year in Maitland. With the three-race format in play and Kingsford out to make up some points in the championship to keep his hopes alive, Kingsford delivered in emphatic fashion.
He finished the weekend with 1-7-1 results to claim victory. Entering the final race, three riders were all locked up on points and it came down to a winner take all in the final moto to determine the winner and Kingsford stood firm.
He started inside the top five and moved forward relentlessly throughout the moto. He moved his way into second place and with just a handful of laps remaining, needed to make up an eight second margin to the race leader. He began to reel him in, and the gap closed. It was four second, then it was two second and then just as he was about to pounce, the leader slowed after experiencing a bike issue.
Kingsford then had two laps to fend over charges from behind, but he held his composure and cross the finish line with his fist on the air to take a well-earned round victory.
“I’m pretty happy to get that done and get a win for myself and the team. At every round so far, my second races of the day have been strong and I was confident that if I got a decent start, I would be able to get the job done.
“The team have been awesome this year and everyone there works so hard so it cool to see them so happy. I know they said it had been a while between round wins for them, so its nice that I was able to get it for them.
“It was also a good round to do it as we were able to make up a heap of points in the championship and get back in the fight. I think the top three of us are now within twenty points and there is still plenty of racing left,” Kingsford said.
Jayce Cosford also showed he is starting to develop some consistency in his riding again was in contention for a top five result on the weekend. Cosford finished with 4-10-6 results to claim fifth for the day but stewards are looking into some jumping on a red cross flag infringement in race three that could see him, and several other riders, issued with a 5 position penalty.
Cosford showed plenty of fight in each race as he moved through the pack late on race one to claim fourth, then was right up the front in race as he gets to experience the pace and learn from the lead group.
“I gave it my all in every race and had a few issues to deal with but overall, it was a pretty good weekend. I got some arm pump in the first race as the speed of the track was fast, but I think a few of the other guys did as well. Then I sucked the first few laps of race two before I got my head in the race, then in race three, I had a sore knee and was a bit stiff, but I just to go as fast as I could for as long as I could.
“My mechanic Joel and the entire team did a great job and I’m ready to go for the next round.”
Kaleb Barham was also fast but suffered from arm pump in each race which hurt him in the results. Barham was consistently in the top five with his starts and ran the pace with the leaders in the early stages of all three motos. But as the races wore on, so did the arm pump and Barham was often in survival mode in the latter stages of each race.
He finished with 8-13-7 results on the track but will gain some points due to number of riders in front of him in the final moto docked positions.
“I have never really suffered from arm pump before, but I was getting it about 10 minutes into each moto and I will just trying to get around after that. It was my right arm, and I tried a few things over the weekend to shake it, but it kept happening which was frustrating as I feel I ride this track well and was confident after being fifth fastest in qualifying.
“I will get to work on the next round and hopefully I can get back up the front at Murray Bridge,” Barham said.
Updated round and championship points will be online when available.
