Motocross

Fresh-Look KTM MX Nationals lineup is ready to race

Posted:

Friday, March 31st, 2017

9:54 PM

A brand new MX Nationals series awaits with new faces, hopes, struggles and triumphs, and KTM‰Ûªs line-up of rising young guns, established players and hard-core heroes have all got one thing in common. They can‰Ûªt wait to get behind the gates at Wonthaggi this Sunday.

2015 MX Nationals winner and last year‰Ûªs Vice Champion Kirk Gibbs will lead the factory team into action in his fifth straight year of MX1 with KTM, having recovered from broken femur sustained a week after last year‰Ûªs MX Nationals finale.

‰ÛÏI‰Ûªve put in as much as I can and I‰Ûªm as ready as I can be," Gibbs declared. "Come Sunday we‰Ûªll see where I‰Ûªm at. Everything‰Ûªs fallen into place for us in the last few weeks which has been good.

"The body is feeling good, the leg feels strong from the femur injury and it will be one of the few times I haven‰Ûªt taken an injury into the first round," Gibbs continued. "Five years with KTM in MX1 is a cool milestone, it‰Ûªs the longest I‰Ûªve been with a brand. You definitely feel smarter and better able to understand what it takes to be up front once you‰Ûªve been at it for a while, and hopefully that shows on Sunday. It was a little sad to lose Kyle who I‰Ûªd worked with all the way through, but Jay can pick up on really small things because of his recent experience so I feel like he‰Ûªs a huge benefit.‰Û

Fresh-Look KTM MX Nationals lineup is ready to race

I‰Ûªve put in as much as I can and I‰Ûªm as ready as I can be, declared Kirk Gibbs

Gibbs' team mate Luke Styke is ready to race after a constructive season of New Zealand Motocross Championship racing yielded fourth overall for the Queensland-based rider from Jervis Bay.

‰ÛÏWe‰Ûªre pretty close to my level, but I feel like I‰Ûªve got a bit more progress to make on the racing side of things," Styke said. "But that will come, and I‰Ûªm super excited to get the championship underway. My injury is at 100% now, there‰Ûªs no niggling tightness or anything in the back of my mind. I like Wonthaggi when they prep it on the deeper side. Hopefully they do a good job with it and really turn it on. I‰Ûªm excited to get there with the team again and try to get back to where I was and keep building as the season unfolds. My starts are really good, I‰Ûªm enjoying them, so I‰Ûªve got really good confidence behind the gates, so that could help me along.‰Û

Luke Styke is ready to race after a constructive season of New Zealand Motocross Championship

The KTM Motocross Racing Team's new Manager Jay Marmont might be new in the role, but the multiple Aussie Champ more than makes up for any experiential shortfall with pure industry currency.

‰ÛÏOur preparation level is good. New Zealand has been good for Luke after a year off, and Kirk‰Ûªs in a really good frame of mind coming in," Marmont said.

"Being an ex-champion he knows what he needs to do. So for me, I don‰Ûªt think it‰Ûªs a matter of getting our feet wet, I think it‰Ûªs a matter of putting results on the board nice and early and then building on that week in and week out. Our motto is Ready to Race and we‰Ûªre ready ‰ÛÒ we‰Ûªve done what we can and we're ready to go. It‰Ûªs better to be satisfied with a win than satisfied with a top-five, so let‰Ûªs just go out and do that!‰Û

"I‰Ûªve got this opportunity and I‰Ûªm going to put in a hard couple of years of work and make the most of it." Jayden Rykers

They‰Ûªll be joined in the premier class by freshly-crowned New Zealand MX2 champion Hamish Harwood, who, in an ironman effort, will ride both MX1 and MX2 championships aboard a pair of Davey Motorsport-backed KTM two-stroke machines.

In MX2, Harwood will be joined by Western Australian rising star Jayden Rykers, riding for the Raceline Development Team aboard a KTM 250 SX-F. Rykers last year finished fourth in his debut year in the category, and was by far the highest-placed two-stroke rider.

Also Raceline-backed, Wade Kirkland has gained promotion to the MX2 ranks on the back of an MXD season in which he gathered four podium finishes, including two rounds wins.

In the MXD category, junior championship, Callum Norton will be on the Moto Tech KTM

The fourth prong to KTM‰Ûªs factory supported MX2 attack is 2014 MXD Champion Egan Mastin, back in Australia after two years racing the American amateur circuit as a 16 and 17 year old. He‰Ûªll also race a KTM two-stroke with support from Davey Motorsport.

‰ÛÏI‰Ûªve been back in Australia since late August and having this deal with Davey Motorsports is great, I‰Ûªm pretty pumped about it," Mastin enthused. "It‰Ûªs great to be back on home soil doing this again. It‰Ûªs been a long time and there‰Ûªs no place like it. I haven‰Ûªt raced at Wonthaggi since back in U19s in 2014, but I like the track and I‰Ûªve always done pretty well there. I‰Ûªm going for race wins a championship, so finishing first is goal.‰Û