Round 2 at Appin, our first good look at the MX1 class. Who’s back? Well, just about everyone! Dean Ferris is back from retirement, Reagan Duffy is back from horrific injuries, Jed Beaton is back from MXGP, Luke Clout is back from a broken leg, Kyle Webster’s back from a broken foot, and even Todd Waters is back from the bush, no more dodging trees in the AORC and now just focusing on moto.
These blokes are all back with different expectations and hopes for the season, but mainly focused on taking down the guy who wants to go “back-to-back” that’s of course 2022 MX1 champion CDR Yamaha’s Aaron Tanti. I don’t subscribe to the theory, but there are always those who will question a title when major opponents are out injured. “But if Clout was there”, “But if Webster wasn’t hurt”, Aaron went into Appin with the opportunity to silence that, and he did, winning the overall.
That said Dean Ferris’s had the pace all day and was super impressive, winning Superpole, hole-shotting everything, and winning moto 1, a crash while leading in moto 2 cost him the overall. You don’t need a crystal ball to see another Ferris, Tanti title fight shaping up.
Jed Beaton looked solid and rounded out the podium behind Tanti and Ferris, he looked to be the only other guy who could have run the pace if he had the starts and he’s bound to improve as he gets used to the new ride. Yarrive runs a pretty impressive outfit, it would be interesting to hear how it compares to the GP teams Jed was on.
With so much going on in MX1, who’d of thought the biggest story would be the MX2 class. Folk’s hold onto your hats for the Wilbur and Nato show, starring Honda racing Australia’s Wilson Todd and KTM Australia’s Nathan Crawford. You all know about the round 1 crash and Nato’s penalty for leaving the track during the red flag, so I won’t go into that. But it’s very clear these two aren’t cool with each other.
I guess I’d say I’m a neutral fan, I like both guys but neither are my favourite, so I just get to watch the show without bias, just pumped getting to see these two badasses duke this out. The air was so thick at that podium I was worried for Kate’s health!
Honda racing Australia’s Brodie Connelly finished 3rd overall and was very impressive, especially in Race 1 where he gave his #1 plate-wearing teammate a little curry. And a Hell Yeah to my favourite MX2 rider, Serco Yamaha’s Rhys Budd, getting on the podium after getting a great start, hole-shotting moto 2. And finishing 4th overall.
That said, my favourite race of the day was the 2 nd moto of MX3, the 4-way battle between Connor Towill, Liam Owens, Ky Woods, and Jet Alsop was magic, (finished in that order) those youngsters gave everything they had, as you could see by the total exhaustion they showed on the podium, looking well and truly spent during their interviews. Woods took the overall due to a pretty dominant win in race 1, a late race mistake making it look closer than it really was. Owens was 2nd overall and Byron Dennis 3rd.
Love to see the #59 stickers and the tribute to Brayden at the start of the broadcast.
Can’t wait for Wodonga, if you see a middle-aged dude in a Moto Limited shirt there be sure to say G’day.
Go Riding
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