It was an eventful weekend for the Yamalube Yamaha Racing Team at the opening weekend of the Australian Supercross Championship with all three riders experiencing the highs and lows of intense racing.
In front of over 16,000 fans and over two days of racing, the championship kicked off in fine style and the battle in the SX2 division will be one to watch as the championship moves forward.After two rounds of the championship, the leader board is tight with just eight points separating the top nine riders and no one coming away from the opening weekend asserting any dominance in the class.
Ryder Kingsford leads the Yamalube Yamaha Team sitting in fifth place with 3-9 round results. Kingsford showed he had the speed to match anyone posting fast laps in qualifying and the heat races. Night one saw him pushed around in the opening stages of race one and he finished a frustrating eighth place, but rebounded strongly in race two to take an impressive win and claim a podium on the night.
He won his heat race on night two and went on to finish fifth in the first final, but a first turn crashed slowed his momentum and could only claw his way back to 12th by race end to give him ninth on the night.
“I would like to have slightly better results, but I have a lot of the right things in place. My speed and fitness were good, I was able to qualify well and win races and take the win in final two on Saturday night. If it weren’t for a few lazy laps in race one and then that first turn crash in race two on Sunday, I would be much higher up the points.
“But I’m fit, healthy and determined to improve at every round as I think I can run with anyone in the class,” Kingsford ends.
Jayce Cosford also experienced a few firsts on his way to a productive weekend that saw him mix it with the established names in the class. Cosford finished fourth on night one with two fast and consistent rides and then immediately showed he means business on Sunday when he posted the fastest qualifying time, a first in his career.
He went on to finish with 5-10 results on night two, the 10 due to a first turn crash that also bought down his teammate. Cosford is beginning to feel at home at the front of the pack and well continue to grow as the series moves on.
“I experienced a bit of everything over the weekend, but I can take a lot from it. I have never qualifying in P1 before, so that was good to show that I have the outright speed to be at the front and I also out myself in a good position it heat before I had a small crash.
“But I’m keen for Wollongong now and want to keep ticking off personal goals. A race win is next on the list and a round win not long after so hopefully we can get all of them done before the season is out,” Cosford said.
Kaleb Barham also had a lot going on over the weekend, in fact, he had a lot going on in the week prior as he was not well and low on energy.
He then had issues in the first final on Saturday night when he tagged the back on another rider inside the top five and went down heavily damaging his bike. He was unable to finish the race and was even further battered in the crash but dusted himself off and kept punching for the rest of the weekend.
He went back into battle on Sunday to finish eighth for the round with 9-8 results and now sits 11th in the championship.
“It wasn’t the weekend I was hoping for, that’s for sure,” Barham muses. “I was feeling pretty flat and low on energy and then to have that crash in race one on Saturday night, really took the wind out of my sails.
“But I will bounce back and we still have a lot of races to go, so I’m confident I can turn it around,” Barham ends.
WIN Stadium at Wollongong is next in line for round three of the Australian Supercross Championship and all riders will face the Triple Challenge. That’s three times the action from Australian best riders.