CDR Yamaha men win MX1 | Webster and Honda win MX2

2019 MX Nationals
Round Seven – Maitland

Images by Bella Maurer


Luke Clout completely dominated the opening back-to-back motos at Matiland but was bettered in the third and final moto by CDR Yamaha team-mate Kirk Gibbs.

MX Nationals Rnd Maitland MX CDR Yamaha Gibbs Clout ImageBellaMaurer
Luke Clout and CDR Yamaha team-mate Kirk Gibbs

Brett Metcalfe scored the holeshot in the third moto but was quickly passed by American teenager Justin Rodbell as Kirk Gibbs and Luke Clout gave chase. It did not take long for Gibbs to hit the lead and from thereon the #5 ran away with proceedings, despite determined efforts from Luke Clout and Hayden Mellross who complete the top three in that final moto.

MX Nationals Rnd Maitland MX Hayden Mellross ImageBellaMaurer
Hayden Mellross

Metcalfe looked on form for another top three result in that moto but a mistake late in the race cost him dearly and left him outside the top ten. The Penrite Honda man though still claimed fifth overall for the round and is currently sixth in the championship standings. 

MX Nationals Rnd Maitland MX Brett Metcalfe ImageBellaMaurer
Brett Metcalfe

Luke Clout took the overall for the round with a 67-point haul bettering Gibbs by two-points.

MX Nationals Rnd Maitland MX Luke Clout Board ImageBellaMaurer
Luke Clout

Hayden Mellross rounded out the overall podium ahead of Todd Waters who, while never really shining as brightly as we have come to expect, still brought home 53-points to better Metcalfe and Long.

MX Nationals Rnd Maitland MX Hayden Mellross ImageBellaMaurer
Hayden Mellross

Clout leads the Thor MX1 Championship chase by nine-points from Mellross, who moved into second place and is now three-points ahead of Waters. 

Todd Waters

“I’m pretty disappointed after that to be honest. Fourth overall is a good result for a bad weekend, but I’ve made no secret of the fact that I want to win races. I was second fastest on-track in qualifying (1m47.112s) and ended up with a slightly slower lap than that in superpole for fourth gate pick. In all three races, I managed to move forward on the FC450 after each race start, so there’s positives to take away, but I’ll head back home with some things to concentrate on before Moree.”

Dylan Long was sixth overall after carding 7-5 results in the opening sprint races and a sixth in the final race of the day.

Dylan Long

“It was a pretty good day for me. I didn’t qualify the best, but it was better than the last round. My starts were really good today – the first race I was running fourth before hitting neutral and crashing. I dropped back to 10th, but managed to finish seventh, so that wasn’t too bad. I was fifth in the second one and, in the last one, I came back from about 10th to finish sixth. I was only one point off of fifth overall, so it was a decent day for me.”

MX Nationals Rnd Maitland MX Dylan Long ImageBellaMaurer
Dylan Long

Jesse Dobson had a weekend to forget with a DNF in the second of the back-to-back motos, but a fifth place finish in the third moto helped the 21-year-old privateer to hold on to his eighth place ranking in the series.

Jesse Dobson

“It was an up-and-down day today. I felt really good in qualifying, setting the third fastest time, but a few small mistakes in my Superpole lap gave me the fifth gate pick. In moto one, I felt good, coming through the pack to fifth but came together with another rider and went down hard. I managed to finish the race, but as I lined up for the second moto in the back-to-back format, it was clear that we couldn’t get the bike straight enough to race in the few minutes we had. Aiden (Porth) fixed up the FC450 as I re-grouped and rested up for the final race of the day where I was able to put a consistent race together to finish fifth. I’m happy to finish on a better note but we will continue to work hard and be ready for the last rounds. I can’t thank everyone enough for making this possible and being behind me, in particular Aiden for being on the ground with me at every race, allowing me to focus on riding while he makes sure the bike is ready to go.”

MX Nationals Rnd Maitland MX Jay Wilson ImageBellaMaurer
Jay Wilson scored an overall podium at Maitland

Still battling health issues, Lawson Bopping posted 9-13 finishes in the pair of sprint races, crediting him a race one ranking of 10th. Ongoing fatigue problems hindered him even more harshly in the final bout of the day where an 18th place finish was clearly not representative of the outright speed Bopping exhibits when healthy.

Lawson Bopping

“Today started off good when I qualified in sixth. In the first two races I got an eighth and a 13th, but I was pretty tired in that last moto. I only got a couple of laps down and I was extremely exhausted – my body pretty much shut down. I ended up taking 18th, which is disappointing because I don’t know what’s going on with my body. I’m seeing a doctor in the next week and I’m really excited to see him because he’s an expert on diabetes and the immune system. Overall though, the weekend wasn’t too bad, all things considered.”

MX Nationals Rnd Maitland MX Luke Clout ImageBellaMaurer
Luke Clout was victorious at Maitland

MX1 Results

Source: MCNews.com.au

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *