Supercross

KTM’s Egan Mastin makes top ten in maiden Supercross main event

Posted:

Monday, October 16th, 2017

9:03 PM

KTM Motocross Racing Team‰Ûªs Egan Mastin made an impressive charge from behind to finish seventh in his first ever Australian supercross championship main, at the second round of the championship at Bacchus Marsh in Victoria last Saturday night.

A fast and technical US-style hard packed track that was slippery at times brought many unstuck, but in just his second-ever supercross event, Mastin powered his KTM 250 SX-F to a top-ten finish as the round win went to Gavin Faith, ahead of Jackson Richardson and Wilson Todd.

Mastin‰Ûªs race began with a turn-one altercation that went perilously close to putting the 19-year-old from Vacy, NSW, on the deck, however he responded with a measured and smart performance as he set about recovering ground.

Despite his rookie status in the night-time sport, Mastin negotiated both the track and the opposition like an old hand, clawing back ten places within the first seven laps.

‰ÛÏI got tangled with a few riders at turn one and almost crashed, so we got off to a literally dead-last start, but I came through to seventh and I felt solid ‰ÛÒ so I was happy," Mastin said.

"It was my first time getting a supercross main under my belt, and it was a challenging track. There were some pretty big sections and the whoops were difficult and caught a few riders out, but we got around it. I‰Ûªm happy with the overall result.

"After the motocross championship I know there‰Ûªs a little bit of an expectation of me, but I just have to take my time and I know the results will come. I just have to do my own thing - you can‰Ûªt go in there and be crazy straight away. I know it will come so I don‰Ûªt let it get to me at all.

"I‰Ûªm enjoying supercross already and I can‰Ûªt wait to do more of it in the future. It‰Ûªs good to do something a bit different," Mastin concluded.

Egan Mastin dealing with a pretty nasty set of whoops. Credit: Garry Morrow

Jay Marmont - KTM Motocross Racing Team Manager, added, ‰ÛÏIt was a big technical track with large whoops, and they put a fair amount of water on before the night program which made it very tricky for the guys. It was very unpredictable and hard to read. It made for interesting racing though - there were a lot of crashes and it was quite tricky.

"Egan went well here and we definitely improved from two weeks ago. We struggled a little bit all day just to come to terms with the track because Egan‰Ûªs never really ridden anything like that ever. But when he started his racing, he improved and got fourth in his heat. He went into the final, but he was dead last around the first turn after bouncing off a couple of guys. He worked his way up to seventh, when there were a lot of riders who crashed out due to the toughness of the track. But he took a lot away from it and came away with a pretty decent result.

"Being the Factory KTM team we do expect a lot from our riders, but at this point we need to keep building with Egan and learning, and hopefully we keep improving the results as we go," Marmont concluded.

Mastin‰Ûªs ride bodes well for his progress in the sport and in the next leg of the championship, which unfolds in Virginia, South Australia, on the 28th of October.

Main Photo: Egan Mastin
Credit: Garry Morrow

Egan Mastin during practice. Credit: Garry Morrow

Race Results SX2 Australian Supercross Championship - RD2 Bacchus Marsh 2017:
1. Gavin Faith, Honda, 16:55.283 min (15 laps)
2. Jackson Richardson, Yamaha, +4.412 sec
3. Wilson Todd, Yamaha, +10.866 sec
4. Dylan Wills, Husqvarna, +21.786 sec
5. Jay Wilson, Raceline Pirelli KTM, + 24.761 sec
6. Connor Tierney, Yamaha, +26.681 sec
7. Egan Mastin, KTM Factory Racing Team, +33.896 sec
8. Cooper Pozniak, Yamaha, +36.884 sec
9. Jesse Madden, Husqvarna, +39.072 sec
10. Taylor Potter, Honda, +43.325 sec

Standings SX2 2017 after 2 of 6 Rounds: 1. Gavin Faith, 47 points
2. Jackson Richardson, 37 points
3. Wilson Todd, 36 points
4. Jay Wilson, 34 points
5. Dylan Wills, 32 points
6. Hayden Mellross, 25 points
7. Cooper Pozniak, 22 points
8. Connor Tierney, 21 points
9. Callum Norton, 21 points
10. Mitchell Evans, 20, points