EP#41 - 2026 ProMX Rd 1 Wrap-up with Danny Ham and Jeff Briggs

ADB Podcast host Mitch Lees catches up with ProMX commentator Danny Ham and our resident podcast co-host Jeff Briggs to talk all the things that happened   at Rd1 of the 2026 ProMX. It was an epic weekend of racing and lot to catch up on! 

Transcript

SPEAKER_03 0:00

Welcome to the ADB podcast, where we talk all things dirty with your host, Mitch Lee. Hi guys, welcome to another ADB podcast. This time we're doing an uh first 2026 Promox rap. And with me today I have Jeff Briggs who comes on uh all a lot of our podcasts. Briggsy, thanks for coming on.

SPEAKER_02 0:21

Happy to be again.

SPEAKER_03 0:23

Yeah, another one, which is uh and then we've kind of got the same dream team from Supercross. We've got Danny Ham, the Australian Promomex commentator. He's on the line as well. Hami, thanks for coming on.

SPEAKER_04 0:32

Good to be back, guys. It's been a big long wait to get to this point. So let's rip into it and talk about what went down at Wonthaggy.

SPEAKER_03 0:40

Yeah, it does feel like it's been a while. It always kind of does. Because we had the last round of Supercross was the first week of December, and then what are we now? Late March. So anyway, too long without a local racing series. But all right, let's rip in. Um now, Hammy. Obviously, you're there quali uh commentating, you were there um from Friday through to Sunday, I'm guessing, or Monday. Um what what was the vibe like at the track? Did they have pretty good attendance, all that kind of stuff? Was the Wonthaggy region kind of buzzing? Could you see it from the side of the road when you're driving around? What was it like being there?

SPEAKER_04 1:15

It's always good getting back down to Wonthaggy. The area, the town really loves having the motocross there. It's not a big explosion of people that get into the town, though. A lot of what you see as far as your spectators, yes, to get some drivers that come down from Melbourne and things like that from the local areas, but it's a lot of the locals get out and enjoy the race. So uh I think maybe maybe it's a little lighter on for attendance this year. Uh it's tough for me to really know because we get locked away so much in that uh commentary booth, we don't get a chance to get out and have a look. Uh, we only had like a 20-minute lunch break on the weekend as well. It's usually around an hour, so we have more time to walk around. But because of the length of uh presentations and things like that, we just didn't get much time. So hard to say. And you know, you look at the footage, the vision of crowd, it never looks like much, but it's spread over such a big area. It really doesn't do it justice. There's some great viewing areas up the top, which I didn't show at all. Okay, um, so there's always those things, those little pockets of of places where people can watch from. So, as far as the attendance, I don't know, maybe it's down a little bit, but still it's a popular race for everyone to get to. Everyone's pretty excited about round one getting underway.

SPEAKER_03 2:31

Yeah. Um, and what about the track, Hammy? The track kind of looked, we were just talking about it before we jumped uh on air, and the track looked choppy, but not deep, like one thaggy has been able to get in the past.

SPEAKER_04 2:43

Yeah, so it's weird. We, as you would have seen in the broadcast, myself, uh Hoags, and Brett McCaffrey, I don't know who the hell invited that guy along, uh, did the track preview and uh I couldn't keep up. It was it's a little embarrassing, actually. I held up the show and and uh yeah, it didn't work so great. But um the track itself was was weird. So on Saturday they ripped it walking around, it looked fantastic. There's a lot of moisture in the ground for a region that is pretty much in drought at the moment. Um, so it looked fantastic. And then when we got onto the track pretty early in the day, there'd been a couple of sessions before we got out, and there were so many ruts in all of the corners. It was it was ridiculous for a guy that doesn't do much riding. It was so difficult to do. Uh, as far as the way it developed, I think on Saturday actually developed pretty good. Yeah, overnight for race day Sunday, they said they ripped it even deeper, ripped it even harder, but I don't think it actually ended up any softer. It actually looks harder and less lines through all the corners.

SPEAKER_00 3:50

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 3:51

So look, I don't know, it's a it's one of those places where you really need to have a lot of water, and it's not just you it's understanding how much water you can put into a track. It really needs to be rain that goes into it for the track to really come alive. It's that sort of surface that it absolutely loves soaking up the water. It doesn't have enough, then yeah, we start to see it a little bit drier, a little bit more choppy rather than these rolling whoops that we're so used to seeing.

SPEAKER_03 4:20

Yeah, because it kind of did look like rough, but it just didn't get as deep and roly. And I think um and you're right, Hammy, there were lots of lines, but there really was a race line that was clearly faster. I know there was one left-hand corner kind of after that step over downhill, and I think it was Kyle was just taking that inside left um pass, and I I I don't know why and everyone wasn't in that line. He he made about five or six passes in that one inside left-hand corner, but yeah, it felt a bit like there were lots of lines, but they all stay stayed on the main race line because it was faster. Is that how it developed live?

SPEAKER_04 4:53

Yeah, it it's a difficult track at one faggy unless you fall into a line like that. Not many people see it. You get very blinded, very well tunnel visioned onto a certain line. And if you do try something, it's generally just outside the one you're already on. So if you're normally going pretty wide going into that turn, you're missing the four or five lines that are on the inside of it. You don't ever see it. So you really do have to go exploring around if you want to find it. That may slow you down for a couple of laps. You may lose the toe on someone. So you've got to be confident enough that you can close that uh that gap back down again. Yeah, and if you're not, if you're just struggling and hanging on there just to keep up, the last thing you want to do is try something different and maybe drop back a bit. Who knows? If you try it, it might not work. So yeah, it's tough. One one thaggy is one of those tracks, and I think that's why you see such a big difference in the guys up the front to the ones behind. There's such a big difference in lap times because they do explore or they do know the track a little bit better. But everyone that rode it, the guys that usually ride it, that train on it, said they've never really seen it work the way it did. It never really seen it turn out the way it did. So, look, it's a fresh track for everyone at elite level. Everyone should be able to ride it to some extent. Hell, Dean Ferris hasn't ridden it there for years, and that's one of his bad tracks, yet he still made it work.

SPEAKER_03 6:18

Yeah, yeah, that's true. I was actually catching up with the Kawasaki guys last week, and we were talking about Dino coming up for this weekend, and they're they're all very excited to see how he goes, but they just was were saying the same thing. They're like, Why did we have to start in Monthagi? It's not notoriously a good uh stomping ground for Dino in the past. So he I think he, I mean, we're gonna get into MX1 in a second, but he kicked ass to finish where he did.

SPEAKER_04 6:38

Absolutely, it was a good effort.

SPEAKER_03 6:40

Um okay, uh look, last little random one I have for you, Hammy, too, being part of the broadcast team. I was only able to tune in from around lunchtime and it kind of didn't kick off till one o'clock. This is on Stan, uh on Stan Sports. Did was there a morning program that I obviously stopped during lunch and then has came back in, or did the live broadcast only on Stan only start from 1 p.m.?

SPEAKER_04 7:02

Yeah, correct. So that's been the same for the years prior.

SPEAKER_00 7:06

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 7:06

We're we've got a certain time slot uh with Stan. We're not getting paid, to my knowledge, from SBS Stan. We're paying to be on there. There's only so much time we can get to be on there. So that's why they do that split morning session is a live stream which you can catch directly from the ospromx.com.au website or through Facebook to go and watch all of that racing at the start of the day. Um, but then yeah, we have that lunch break and we come back with uh the main program on Stan and that. I would love to see that shootout put into the main program, but we just simply don't have time.

SPEAKER_03 7:48

Yeah, yeah, that's what I was thinking as well. And I mean, look, just to have a I mean it's behind a paywall still, I guess, but to have one of the main you know channels, Stan or Nine, broadcasting it all is pretty good because we haven't always had that in the past. But yeah, it'd be lovely too. I mean, you're missing Moto One from MX2, MX3, and MX um W's, you know, first and second, obviously. So, and and the 85s, and like you said, Super Bowl. So it's one of those ones where it's like if you tune in from one o'clock, it's like, wait, hang on, there's someone in the 250 class that's already ahead. Isn't this the first race?

SPEAKER_04 8:19

But anyway, yeah, it is that is a tough side of it. We do work on a very limited budget compared to many, many other motorsports. Um, and yeah, this is just simply the way it has to be at the moment. We would love to do it all day long, but yeah, look, I don't know the answer, but yeah, if you do go searching for it, you can find the the racing from the time we start at 9.15 or 9.30, whatever it is for the live stream.

SPEAKER_03 8:46

Yeah, and you get to watch all of it through that. I think the um the general stuff in and around the races that you guys are doing, all the uh feature pieces, I think they're improving every year. I really like them this year, I think, just even terms of uh you know how professionally shot they are, uh the information that you guys get on the riders and some of the interviews that are done with them. Uh, I feel like has continually improved. So it's good in terms of someone watching it, uh watching the broadcast, it's at least it's captivating. It keeps you kind of hooked in.

SPEAKER_04 9:15

Yeah, it's what we need to do is just keep those stories coming so it does look like professional product. Yeah. I mean, if you can understand the amounts, I mean we're never going to be MXGP level or AMA level. But what and you know, I made a joke once that just the one day of lunch catering for the crews that do those probably is our entire budget for Pro MX. So it's yeah, it's a very good product for a very small amount and a very small team that get into it.

SPEAKER_03 9:46

Yeah, I totally agree. Um, okay, let's let's rip in because I should let everyone know too that we've got uh Jed Beaton, the MX1 winner. He's gonna jump on he may jump on the podcast. He said it depends where he is and where he's traveling, if he can um jump on. So if we can get him on, we will after we just chat about the MX1 class. Uh and so that's kind of where we're gonna start. We're gonna start with the MX1 and and we'll just work our way through the the results list because it was uh and a domination from Jed Beaton. I think probably what impressed me most about Jed was probably not that first race because Kyle went down obviously in the start. We'll get to that in a second, but he passed Kyle early in that second moto, then checked out. I know Kyle had uh a crash again in that second moto, kind of midway through the race, but you know, to win in the way that he did. I, you know, I was we would we were on a text chat earlier in the week about who we thought was going to go one, two, three in the MX1 class, and Jed being from or not being from round there, but uh, you know, basing himself kind of that part of the world and doing a lot of training there. I kind of picked Jed to do well, but I just didn't think he'd be we I knew Jed and Kyle would be ahead of the rest of the field, um, probably not by that much, and I didn't think Jed would have that much of an edge over Kyle. Did it feel that way, Hammy?

SPEAKER_04 11:00

Um it was going to be between them two, no matter what, going into it. Uh it was a little unknown with how Jed was going to be coming off an injury. It's one thing to come off just a small injury, but to do what he did last year and then missing an entirety of the remainder of the year in racing sense, to come back and be as strong, race pace strong, was very, very impressive.

SPEAKER_00 11:24

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 11:25

Um, watching him through qualifying, through practice, through the races, the composure that he had was what really stood out for me. He was so so in tune with his bike. The bike itself was so well set up. Uh, and I think that it was an absolute perfect package over the weekend. His mindset was there. I'm sure he, I think he even said it maybe after one of his interviews that he he had a slight amount of doubt, or not doubt, just questioning, you know, where he was going to slot back in. Obviously, he knew he was going to be up the front, but did he have enough kind of to get straight to the front and lead and win a race? Until you go into a it is an unknown coming off an injury. He he certainly proved that to himself and everyone that he is back at full steam and ready to go for this entire championship.

SPEAKER_03 12:16

Yeah. Breezy, you said you spoke to Kyle about um kind of what happened. Is he all good after, especially that crash in the second one? I mean, the crash in the first one probably looked harder. Um, what a call.

SPEAKER_02 12:27

He crashed in qualifying too. So that was the big one that I think that that one hit him in the chest pretty hard. I just texted him to see how he was, and he said, Yeah, he's all good for tomorrow. And he was pretty beat up about from it. But like Hammy said, I I actually think Kyle's bike setup didn't look anywhere near as well set up as as Jed's. Like he seemed to be fighting it a little bit, and it just was it looked like he needed I I don't know, to me it just he didn't look comfortable at all compared to how I've seen Kyle in the past, especially over them chattery sort of bumps. It looks like he they set it up for a really deep one thaggy that was going to get a lot slower, bigger, whoopier kind of bumps. And uh the setup just didn't he didn't look comfortable for me. Yeah, he didn't look comfortable. What did you think, Hammy?

SPEAKER_04 13:16

Yeah, I agree, and I was going to bring that up straight off the back. Your point there is exactly what you said. I think a lot of people went to one thaggy thinking it was going to be one way and it turned out to be another. And they've gone into the race with a setting and an idea in mind that it's going to be these big, deep whoops. And if you didn't pivot and change the suspension and get it settled down, I I I even brought that up in the broadcast. I thought that uh with the women's race with Lachlan Turner, it looked like her bike was bouncing around or chattering around uh quite a fair bit in that second race where she got beaten by Charlie Cannon. Um, but then in the third race, it was much more settled. I I wondered whether maybe they made some changes to do that. But getting back to the Kyle thing, that's kind of the way he rides as well. He does, he does, doesn't mind, I should say, having the bike moving around a bit like that, where Jed is a bit more planted, a little bit more stable when he rides. And I think he goes for that setting. Talking to Dakar, they didn't really change much on the bike from last year. Yes, there has been some minor changes. No, he wouldn't dive into it too much with me. Um, but they have made some changes and obviously some improvements to make that bike so it is really well balanced across any kind of terrain that they get to. It didn't matter on the weekend if it was the choppy stuff or the big roller stuff, it sat down beautifully and didn't deflect anywhere.

SPEAKER_02 14:39

Yeah, yeah, yeah. It it Jed's bike looked very balanced, very comfortable for him, especially in those conditions. But what I noticed with Kyle's bike is even when he made that mistake on in that second race on that jump, it was a chattery section, but it looked like it was coming back at him faster than he expected. It just sort of to the point where it was nearly bouncing him a little bit and making him uncomfortable. If that's if that's what you can sort of see. I uh that's just how I looked at it, and I was just like, man, he just doesn't like cornering and all that, he looked fine, but it just felt like he could never get the bike settled 100% where he wanted it.

SPEAKER_04 15:18

So I think I think Saturday was uh a bit more, a bit bigger, and he has let on. Uh, I think he was he's been in a lot of pain. Yeah, yeah, he was struggling when apparently when he had that second crash uh off that tabletop, he just simply couldn't hold on at all. He had no strength left here. He he thinks that if it was a normal day, everything was fine, he probably would have ridden out of that. But with the way his body is, with how hurt he was, and I don't know if anyone really saw it. I saw it on the podium. He was on the edge of tears, like he was in that much pain.

SPEAKER_02 15:58

Yeah, he was struggling to talk properly. You could it's like he was sort of semi-winded in a sense, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 16:04

Um Jed beaten fitness-wise, like we said, we're he's coming off the back of an injury. Uh, that's probably gonna be the biggest question is he hasn't raced since May last year. Um obviously, apart from the weekend before, I think he went up and did sunny, did he? Anyway, um, yeah, it was probably the question mark, but he didn't he his times and the gap to second didn't wane at the end, right? I didn't see him kind of slow down in that last five minutes.

SPEAKER_04 16:33

The average variety to own race, of course, is going to be a lot easier. His times, yes, consistent the whole way through, which proves he does have that fitness. The pressure of a battle can change that level of fitness. I don't think that he's going to have a problem if he doesn't counter it, especially now that we're through the first round. I think he's good to go. It may have been a question mark before uh Wanthagi. If he had the battle all the way through with Kyle, it may have been a different story. But I think he proved that he, yeah, as I said before, I think he proved that he is 100% ready to go. Uh and yeah, man, he is going to be tough this year, I think.

SPEAKER_02 17:11

Yeah, we know it with them two as well. They both train together, so they know each other really well where they're at. Uh, I think we always kind of knew it was going to be Jed and Kyle one, too. Um, but leading out of here, I think Kyle's as happy to not have a DNF like last year, honestly. And with a month off, I think he'll he'll be looking to make amends at round two for sure.

SPEAKER_03 17:33

Yeah, we go to a more hard-packed track, round two, Canberra. Um, I would have thought that'd suit Jed as well, kind of out of that field.

SPEAKER_04 17:42

Yeah, well, you've got to think of last year's result and the dominance he had down there. Jed will be strong at Canberra.

SPEAKER_02 17:48

Yeah. So then he raised state titles there this year, too.

SPEAKER_03 17:51

So yeah. Yeah, so it's better. It's I mean, look, we're going back to the same place that Jed did dominate and he's up already. Um, but that being said, Kyle was down a lot more than this after round one last year. So those two we know are going to trade wins, and you can never rule him out. Let's move on to Kyle because uh I said to Briggsie before we got online that he's starting to make a habit out of these uh round one crashes and then just charging through the field. He's one of the best passers I've ever seen. He does it so well without you know knocking people off the bike. But man, was that unlucky, Hammy, live when you watched him go down? It looked nasty too. I can't believe he's not hurt.

SPEAKER_04 18:27

Yeah, he has said he had a tough weekend. Uh lucky in first turn crash not to get hit. It was very close. I think Crawford or might have been Watson actually had the Crawford had to jam on the brakes. I think no, Crawford just touched his leg. Um, and the guys behind him just clipped him as well. So he got very lucky not to get injured a little bit more in that. And then obviously that last hit was pretty, pretty hard as well. So I didn't get to see his Saturday crash. I heard where he crashed. Apparently, he crashed the lap before the big one on exactly the same spot. Uh and when Hoag caught the tail end of it, he was already flying through the air over the top of the jump the bike going tumbling end for end. So I saw when he stopped and he went straight off the side of the track on his knees, basically. Just yeah, he was we could tell he was hurting.

SPEAKER_03 19:20

Yeah, geez. Um just shows how tough he is, but yeah, I was gonna say to come back come through the pack and finish where he did, you know, and and to get Ferris uh in um or to hang on to second in in Moto 2 when he has already crashed. You kind of think he's had the crash earlier. Um that was pretty impressive. Uh no one that's a that's a championship ride right there, isn't it?

SPEAKER_02 19:42

Really? Like that that could have been a DNF again, and you know, Jed's already 25 up minimum.

SPEAKER_03 19:49

So yeah. Anyone no you know no one's worried about um that's Kyle getting like you said, the bike didn't look 100% settled. I know it's only round one, you can't get your head herself, but Jed was probably gonna win regardless, maybe.

SPEAKER_04 20:05

Uh it would have been tough if Webster, I mean, Webster probably didn't have much chance to think about the weekend either. Uh he would have been just in survival mode pretty early on. So he's probably just gone out there and let's just get through this rather than really knuckling down and and trying to sort his bike out. I don't know. Jed looked pretty solid. It would have been very tough if Kyle was 100%, but you can't count out either of them two. Every time you start to think it's gonna go one way, it swings back the other. So I don't know. I don't I I don't think anyone was gonna beat Jed, but you can never say.

SPEAKER_02 20:42

Yeah, and you've got to wonder too. That first turn crashing motor one probably helped him not think about the pain. A little bit of panic might have set in, adrenaline, and I've got to go and just got on his bike and win.

SPEAKER_03 20:53

Yeah, it'd probably be worth getting Kyle on for one of these uh round wraps as well, uh, because he's also had a bub in the offseason. So, you know, he's become a dad. Life can be a bit fuller, as we all know, when that happens. And uh you could see how fit he was to come through the pack like he did in Moto One was just so impressive, and you can only do that if you're at peak elite fitness. But yeah, you know, if he's even 0.5% off and Jed's at 100, because those guys are so good, that could be you know something that it might take a round or two to catch up on. But anyway, we'll have to have a chat with him and ask him how far the life is going and if it's had an impact at all on his on his uh work life.

SPEAKER_02 21:27

Uh he'll bounce back. I mean, that team as well, we with your even that they've done this so many times, and he's got some good guys in his corner. He'll I don't think this will put a dent in his championship chances at all. I think that hit by round three he'll be back where he needs to be. Yeah. He's not still hurting a little bit at round two. And I think even round two, if he can get there and challenge Jed, then he'll be fine.

SPEAKER_03 21:51

So yeah, agreed. Um, all right, should we talk about the comeback kid? Dean Ferris. It was his starts, they were so good. I think that's probably why. What helped, you know, make sure he was a top three guy was he got such good starts. He kind of knew when he was leading in Moto One with Jed Beaton hot on his heels that this is probably going to be a quick pass. I mean, poor old Ferris coming back off retirement. When we uh interviewed him a week and a half ago, Briggsie and I um he he kind of you know indicated like he felt like he was ready. He's he felt just as fit as he could be. He was aware he didn't have the gate drops to, you know, for that experience in the last six to nine months, but he felt like he was as fit as he could be. Uh, did that surprise you guys to see him finish third overall? He was second in Moto 1. Um, did it surprise you guys that he was probably also filling a gap between Jed and Kyle and then the rest of that field? He was kind of on his own in that space. Yeah, I think it did.

SPEAKER_04 22:50

It probably surprised everyone a little bit. Uh, I'm sure, and and I would have thought too that there is a possibility that he may go to that position, but having so long away from racing is very hard to come back from. Even being as fit as he is and as ready as he was, it's hard to come back and do a race like that. So for him to get the result he did was very impressive. Um, I don't think anyone can deny that. He's smart though, he he's got a lot of knowledge, he's a very, very smart rider, so he knows exactly what he's got to do. And I think he couldn't have asked for a better start to this this whole comeback this year.

SPEAKER_03 23:29

Yeah, that's for sure. He's played he's four-time you know, motocross champ. He just knows what he's kind of doing in this situation.

SPEAKER_02 23:36

That's kind of why I'm not surprised that he's third in a sense. That that experience uh alone, and then when we did speak to him, he he didn't indicate that he was going to go out and win, but he indicated that yeah, like I'm ready, and I if I wasn't ready, I wouldn't be going there to battle. So I think, yeah, third to five was where I always kind of see him for for most races. I think Jed and Kyle, and even Dean admitted in an interview that they them boys are ahead of them by a fair margin at the moment. But if anyone I think can bridge that gap out of the field at the moment, it'll be Dean.

SPEAKER_00 24:09

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 24:09

Um, I like I don't know what's going on with Nathan, but I'd like to see him bridging that gap. But on that weekend results, he's got a long way to go too. So but yeah, really good ride from Dean. And yeah, like you said, Amy, I think he he'll be walking away with a big smile on his face after that.

SPEAKER_04 24:27

And the bike yeah, it did. It looked good. Sorry, I would have said top five. I would have been very much seeking top five. I didn't think he'd go back further than that, only for the time off the bike. So but you're right, the the bike did look pretty good. Yeah, absolutely. I think they've got that thing dialed in pretty quick, and again, he he's got a lot of knowledge, so it's gonna certainly help.

SPEAKER_03 24:47

Yeah, and the uh he he talked about the bike when we are when we were speaking to him the other week about how he loved the last cowie back in uh what was that, 1112? Uh when I was on that Cowie 2012, I think it was. He he loved the bike back then and he kind of felt straight at home as soon as he got on it. So I think maybe the cat the green bike suits Dean. Um, it'll be exciting to see what happens at Canberra too, because Canberra's hard pack. Dean Ferris is a hard pack. He'll be good at that. I think he'll be good. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 25:13

So that's that shows he'll work well there, too.

SPEAKER_03 25:15

Yeah, definitely will. So it'd be really interesting to see where what where Dino ends up if you can kind of close that gap. A three-way battle between those guys by the end of the season would be friggin' awesome. That'd be the best thing to see. Um, Toddy Waters, he surprised me too. We over everyone knows how fast Todd is, he's he's also a ch uh um Australian motocross champion. But um I just thought, you know, for someone who you kind of are waiting for him to announce his retirement, um, who's dabbled in racing the off-roads professionally for Haasman at the same time as racing, you know, for uh MX Nationals as it was back then, and then just comes out and comes fourth in round one of our elite series. Uh has he got any more? He's not he's not not 24. Brigie, did he did that surprise you from Toddy?

SPEAKER_02 26:03

Um yes and no. We like we know what Todd's capable of. Uh speed-wise, I think that's that's his zone all year. You'll never see him at Kyle and Jed speed, but you'll never see him at sort of that tens place speed. I think he's that three to six, seven guy, depending on the track and conditions. And and he can he'll he's just so consistent, right? He's getting older, he knows what he needs to do, he's got a lot of experience. He runs a very similar, like very it's a what would you call it, predictable bike set up for him. He knows exactly what it's gonna do, and he he's an amazing rider, Todd. Like, I think where you might see Todd do a bit better, he's uh like a sandier track, even if we get a sandier track. Um, that's where he kind of shines in the sandier stuff, and I could see him getting that fourth or third um again. But I like I wouldn't be surprised if maybe next round he's fifth or sixth, and maybe Tanny has a better round and someone like Crawford comes back and rides to their potential. Uh, but Todd being fourth, I'm not surprised at all. I think that's where he belongs, and he'll be in that you know, three to six, seven all year, in my opinion.

SPEAKER_03 27:13

Yeah. Did he look comfortable, Hammy? Did Todd he when he finished up both motors? Did he look gassed and exhausted or like he'd just kind of ridden within his limits obviously fast enough for a fourth, but yeah, didn't look out of place?

SPEAKER_04 27:27

I don't think he looked out of place. I think he just rode within his limits, like you said. And when he realized he wasn't going to be able to make that pass in the last one, I think he just uh you know backed it down and accepted where he was and he was happy to finish where he was. I think that was a smart ride by him. Generally, when you see the track get rough or technical, that's when he shines. So it doesn't always need to be a sand track, yeah. But when it is one that you have to think about as a rider, that's when he comes to light.

SPEAKER_03 27:59

Yeah. Yeah, that's interesting. Uses his experience. Um all right, so Tanty was next down. He was finished fifth. I kind of had Tanty to finish where Ferris did. I kind of felt like, oh, is he coming, you know, is he a top three guy? Looking at that list of riders, I thought he's probably the third or fourth guy. I mean, it's only one off fifth, fifth is pretty good, and he did have a few drummers. Um, but do you think Tanti can build some speed over the next three months and keep up with Jed or Kyle anywhere? Can anyone keep up with Jed or Kyle? That's probably the biggest question.

SPEAKER_04 28:35

That's a bigger question for that answer. Yeah, I think yes, he will improve. Um, they've also had limited time testing. Um, Dakar was telling me they are on a very similar bike to what he rode for the final round or whatever it was when he came back last year, so they haven't done too much to change the bike. Uh he gets some confidence under his belt. He can become a much stronger rider. So I don't think he'll be too disappointed with the weekend. He had showed some good speed here and there. There was a few mistakes that we saw on camera. He can iron them out, then he's gonna be that solid third place guy, and he will be the one that battles it out with your Ferrises and whoever else decides to step up up in those positions. Yeah, Briggsie.

SPEAKER_02 29:21

Yeah, 100%. Yeah, well, he qualified third and it was 13 super polls, so he shows he's probably the next in line with speed for out of Jed and Kyle. Um, but it's just anything can happen when the gate drops, right? And then you've got that experience from Ferris and Waters that really helps. Tan he's a little bit younger, but he's been doing it long enough now that he'll figure it out. He'll he'll be there next round, and I can see him being a third place consistent guy for sure.

SPEAKER_03 29:47

Yeah. Um Wilson Todd, he's kind of the last. Well, we're gonna get to the last factory rider, but he's he's the kind of last in that list there of the proper, kind of decent equipment top guy's been on that team now for a while, Wilson. What what are you thinking in terms of Wilson Todd? Should he be kind of pushing harder than six, or are the guys in front of him probably where he is?

SPEAKER_04 30:10

Uh that one's a tough one without knowing the backstory properly. I don't know. I expected much more out of him, but there may be an underlying thing here that I am not aware of as to why we didn't really see him up there a bit higher.

SPEAKER_00 30:25

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 30:26

I I I truly thought at one thaggy, especially, he's had some great results on the light bike there, the MX2 bike. I really thought he was going to be one of these guys that could potentially get up there and certainly run with Ferris up in third place. So I don't know what happened. I think he had some bad starts, obviously, on the weekend, which didn't help. But it was proven that you can come through if you are A, like if you were pushing forwards and had the pace. Just unsure as to what the go was with Wilson Todd.

SPEAKER_02 30:57

Yeah, yeah, it was a little bit off. Yeah, he'll be fine. I think it's still early, and you don't want to assume stuff with these riders because everyone's had a crash preseason or they've had something happen, and some some people are injured, and you don't know, but Wilson's potential does, like Amy said, put him up there with Dean and Todd and in that third position. Uh, we've seen it before, we've seen him go balls fast. So I think Wilson's one who can do it. Um, just yeah, got to figure out what's going on, and these guys need to tell us, so then we can report on it.

SPEAKER_03 31:35

Yeah, yeah, correct. Um, all right, next was Luke Zelinsky. Uh, he's kind of the first privateer in that group. Um, what uh I don't know Luke Zelinsky very well or much about him. Hammy, did you guys get to chat to him, meet to him, get a profile on him for the broadcast?

SPEAKER_04 31:54

Um I'm not surprised really with the result with Luke Zelinsky. I'm a little surprised that he was up there running as well as he was. Like it wasn't that he was just the next in line. He was literally up there running and battling with these guys. So I think he wrote exceptionally well. We saw a big performance out of him last year. There were many times throughout the year that Luke Zelensky's name was just thrown everywhere across our broadcast because he was getting the results. Yeah, so I think I'm not too surprised that he was the next in line, but there's a couple of these privateers that actually did step up quite good and put themselves in good positions and really work hard to get there. So I was very impressed with the performance by many of them. But yes, Luke Zelinski next in line. Uh, I think we'll see some more out of him like that. Is he young or old, Luke? Not 100% sure of his age. He's been around for a little bit though. Okay, okay.

SPEAKER_02 32:48

He yeah, I I first noticed him last year in Supercross. He had a couple of good results as well. So um he can obviously ride by, so yeah, and it was on that yammy.

SPEAKER_03 32:59

Does the Yami contingency money carry into Motocross as well, or is that just an off-road?

SPEAKER_02 33:03

Yeah, no, it does, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 33:05

Oh, spank some coin maybe. Where's he? Seventh. Is there paid out only past third? No.

SPEAKER_02 33:11

Unfortunately, he's a little far down.

SPEAKER_03 33:13

There needs to be a first privateer across the line uh purse, Yamaha. So if you're listening, get let's build a purse for the privateers. Um all right. Should we talk? Let me just check. I think he's uh we're almost got Jed. He might be on here. We'll see how we go. Um Zach Zach Watson was next. Yeah, Zach was next. First Cato across the line.

SPEAKER_02 33:35

But yeah, he was um beta last year, I believe. Yes. Was he beta? On an RX, yeah. I think he was, but that's pretty good result from Zach straight up.

SPEAKER_03 33:46

I feel yeah, to beat his teammate too, Nathan Crawford.

SPEAKER_04 33:50

Yeah. I think yeah, he had a bad moto number one. His result might have been better for the overall if moto one wasn't so bad. Um, because he certainly showed a bit of pace in that second one, which is good to see. Uh, still coming to grips, I guess, with that bike, but uh expect to see a little bit more out of him. I I think now that he's on the team, there's probably a little bit more expectation and there's the potential there for him to get a better result than where he is at the moment.

SPEAKER_02 34:18

Well, yeah, well, fit fifth moto too is very impressive.

SPEAKER_03 34:21

So yeah, yeah, it is, especially coming onto that team for the first time this year. Um Crawford, he's let's talk about his partner. I know we're skipping a couple of the guys there, but his partner, Crawford. Um, I texted Kyle Blunden, the motorsport manager for KDM this morning, and just said is everything all good with him. It kind of bit out of character for that second moto, especially. And uh yeah, he said um that no, everything's okay. He just had a bit of a uh tricky off season and uh they're still working on some stuff for the bike, but in terms of injury or whatever else it is, Kyle didn't indicate that there was anything else there, and he expects a far better result, obviously, in round two. So, I mean, you know, like you said before, Briggsy, I think sometimes there they they can tend to hide injuries or whatever it is that's going on behind the scenes. I don't know um if anything like that actually is happening and the team's trying to keep it quiet, but it just seemed like man, you are on top the top Cato seat and 18th in Moto 2, you know.

SPEAKER_02 35:18

Yeah, it's funny, but like I I somewhere I heard that Nathan did have a pretty decent crash pre-season, so I'm not sure if he is still injured, and they just yeah, you know, it is what it is, but yeah, uh look, Nathan's got the speed to he's probably one of the ones who I think has the raw speed to to run with Kyle and Jed on his day, yeah. Like, and if not challenge him at a certain track. I he did that at Taoomba last year, he had a really good motor and was right on their heels. And yes, there's something going on for sure. I I don't want to say it is very uncharacteristic of Nathan to be 18th. Like, I don't think we've ever seen that out of him. Yeah, so I expect um they'll take the month off now, they'll get some testing. Hopefully, he heals up if he is a bit injured or or not right and comes out at round two and gets it on the board, to be honest. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 36:13

Unfortunately, with the quietness of whatever's going on, the rumor mills just start flooding through about the situations, and yeah, and I've I heard some things over the weekend which I am not going to repeat because I have no no idea if anything's true. But you know, there's there is certainly something in the background that is going on because, like Briggsie said, the potential for Nathan Crawford is there, and that's probably the hardest thing for uh fans, teams of Nathan Crawford to to accept because we've seen it, we've seen that speed and that that unbelievable ability to go up there and race at the absolute top. So it's hard, I'm sure it's hard as hell and frustrating as hell for himself. Yeah. But we've seen it, so we know what he can do. So whatever it is, something's going on. Hopefully, he can sort that out and be back for the next one, ready to go.

SPEAKER_03 37:13

Would he what would have been going on inside his helmet and back at the team truck, Hammy, after that Moto 2 result and coming back in, ending the weekend like that? Do you think there would have been a bit of reflection, frustration? What would have been going through his head hadn't been in those positions before?

SPEAKER_04 37:28

Uh writer, commentator, confidentiality clause. I'm not saying anything. I don't know, I don't know what was said, but honestly, it would be tough.

SPEAKER_02 37:39

It's gonna be frustrating, yeah. Especially in his position, like he he knows more than anyone what what he's capable of, and he doesn't want to be there. I mean, he's not yeah, like uh what do you say? You just gotta put it behind you now and try and move forward.

SPEAKER_03 37:54

Yeah. Um, okay, we've skipped a couple of riders there. Is there anyone else on that list in the uh because conscious that we're gonna keep going through the so many cards?

SPEAKER_02 38:03

Riley Fitzpatrick really surprised me. Yeah, I've got to give him credit, he's just come back from New Zealand doing that race series over there. Yeah, Riley is blazing fast on his day, really fast. Um, I've seen him go faster than anyone around my track, but he does tend to make mistakes. So seeing him come away with a ninth overall, I'm impressed. Like stog for him, actually. Liam Jackson, same thing. I think Liam's done really well to get that top ten. And both them guys need a pat on the back. That's a really good result for both them guys.

SPEAKER_03 38:35

Yeah, yeah, it's impressive. Um, and you know what? They I felt like with the exception of Jed and their speed out front, you know, they they weren't lapping that deep into the field. I felt like a lot of those guys obviously come in fit and ready. Um, it wasn't the pass-a-thon we're seeing around the other parts of the world. Uh, so yeah, credit to them. They've done really good.

SPEAKER_02 38:55

Um, the other guy who I think has the potential but just same thing, has a lot going on, is is Regan. I think Regan should be in that top 10. Obviously, he's had a terrible few years with injuries and and whatnot. Uh, we know his speed. His speed is unbelievable. If he can figure out his body and get healthy 100%, I think that yeah, Regan will be a consistent top ten guy as well, for sure.

SPEAKER_03 39:21

Probably the other name there that stood out was Cody O'Lone on the beta. Uh, I know this is in inverted commas the first kind of full, I won't even say factory, but more official beta team, I believe, for Prime X uh this year. Um I know I I I had heard that Dan McCoy was actually going to run that beater uh racing team for 2026, but I don't know if he if he ended up taking that up or if it I know it's being done out of a beer beta dealer in Queensland. Hammy, do you know any more about Cody and and what's happening at Beta?

SPEAKER_04 39:52

No, I the same as what you guys know that it was happening that he was out to race. He did get some TV time on the weekend. Yeah. Uh I think he was in a pretty respectable position on the track when he was on TV. Um, but outside of that, yeah, I haven't got much knowledge on that one. Sorry.

SPEAKER_03 40:10

It's cool to see another manufacturer in there. We're still waiting, obviously, for Decaddy uh to you know have a have a um full-blown race factory race team in that class, which would be kind of cool. But uh, you know, with no more gas gas and uh in that in that class at all, and it without a Suzuki, it's good to see Beta coming and having a crack at it anyway.

SPEAKER_04 40:30

Yeah, absolutely. Every manufacturer in there that's gonna help out is uh a good thing. Yeah, definitely.

SPEAKER_03 40:36

You're on mute, Briggsy.

SPEAKER_02 40:37

Um we need triumph in there.

SPEAKER_03 40:41

Yeah, that's true too. Sorry, Triumph. I I should have thought of that. That's yeah, you know, they were there last year with with Jack Simpson, and I guess yeah, it'd be nice to see them in there with a factory team. Um okay, if you guys are going out of out of who's gonna win this season in uh after round one, it's the easiest prediction on the planet, right? Um who give me a percentage out of what do you got, one, two, and then the rest of the field, because we kind of know what one-two is gonna look like. Are you feeling for me? It kind of goes Jed beaton 42%, um, Kyle Webster 40%, and then Dean Ferris four, and then the rest of the field four would be my like split. Am I way too far off with the other guys and Jed and Kyle?

SPEAKER_04 41:28

No, I don't think so. My my thoughts going into it was Jed Beaton from the start. Yeah, but uh it's a little bit more solidified now that Jed Beaton's probably your guy that's gonna win this championship. We know things can happen, things can turn around very, very quick. If Kyle doesn't get a good run at it at Canberra, uh if he doesn't get a win, if he's not really battling, then Jed's just running away with this. Yeah, agreed.

SPEAKER_02 41:57

Yeah, I I I had Kyle by a nose, to be honest, for the round one. Um Jed, I thought Jed was number two, and I actually I thought they were gonna battle, but just Kyle with a great off-season motor cross the nations. Um he had that slight hand injury, but he seemed to get back on the bike earlier than Jed. So thought you know, he might have had a little bit more preseason than Jed. Uh but either them two. I personally I think it's too early to tell. I think, like Cammy said, anything can happen. We've seen last year Jed was leading and had that crashing practice. I don't want to see any of them have that again. I'd like to see it go down to the wire. I think, but Kyle, if anyone will will bounce back. Might not be at Canberra, but I do think he'll take wins away from Jed for sure. Uh so for me it's 50-50 out of them two. It's a little early to tell, but if Jed continues that form that he had on the weekend for sure, he's gonna be hard to beat. It's gonna be edge edge. Yeah, third. I don't know, it's too early to tell. It's I think Tanny can can hold that spot, but I think Ferris can as well. So yeah, tougher grips. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 43:07

Um, okay, let's talk MX2. We're gonna lose uh Hammy in a minute, so Hammy's gonna have to go soon, but we'll let's let's start with MX2 then because my word, Larwood was like on another planet, it felt like uh it even looked like he was kind of trail riding in the last sections of those motos just because he was so far ahead and he looked like he was doing it so comfortably. Uh and you kind of go down the list, and Briggs and I were saying this before too, with everything the Dennis family have going on right now. I thought that ride from Byron was awesome. He looked professional. Yeah, and he looked fast at times. And two, this is his you know, his first run um on that team. So um, but anyway, let's let's let's Lawood Hammy when you're there. Was it was he doing it easier than everyone else at that speed? Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 43:52

Yeah, absolutely. And I think it comes back to the bike setup that bike just sat so beautifully underneath him that did not move around at all. Yeah. It's bike setup and riding style. It's a combination of both and the strength in it. We go back to Jed as well. The strength in Jed with the way he rides it. Another rider wouldn't be able to ride the way Jed sets that bike up. So it comes back to both the rider and the bike. But yeah, certainly Alex did it very, very easy on the weekend. The way he put those laps down early and just absolutely ripped away from everyone. There was not going to be an answer. And I think he's been waiting for this for quite some time with the exit of Connolly. He knew he was the one stepping up. He's the guy that was going to be the next one in line. So I think now it's just a belief that has come into it from himself. And certainly after the weekend, that belief is pretty damn strong with Alex Larwood. I think, yeah, he he knew that he could be or should be that next guy to step up and he just took it with both hands.

SPEAKER_03 44:58

I'd I would have liked to have seen. I mean, I know they're uh there were four Hondas in the top eight. Um so they've obviously got those bikes dialed, but I would like to have seen Kingsford back on his Yamaha uh to just see if more familiar, you know, uh componentry, if he could get up there and run with Larwood and yeah, make it, I guess, another Honda Yamaha battle. But um anyway, yeah, that was the only kind of person I was looking at that list thinking, like, oh, I wonder if he was on his old bike if more familiar space, he'd be able to do that larwood speed.

SPEAKER_04 45:26

I will I will add this into it though, and because you guys are basing more off the broadcast, Honda had a terrible day on Sunday. Uh-huh. It was it was almost suicide watch. Honda, it was that bad. It really was qualifying, practice, everything was that bad. So they had to turn it around. It wasn't like they're just floating on a high all weekend long. They had to turn it around for Sunday, and boy, didn't they? Yeah, they really, really worked it out with the exception of Carl's bad luck continuing, or not bad luck, just bad run that he had continuing on through the day. Uh, the the 250 boys, the MX2 boys, they were not very good. Um, Larwood was the best of them, um, but he wasn't the fastest on track in qualifying.

SPEAKER_00 46:16

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 46:17

That was Dylan Walsh, which I'm sure we'll get to. Dylan Walsh was a light years. Yeah, Larwood was second, but Dylan Walsh was night and day quicker up until the very end of qualifying, then Larwood found the lines that he needed to. But and and we're gonna talk about him as well in a second, but uh, because we're on the subject, in that qualifying, we were watching the times go down. Byron Dennis put down two orange sectors, meaning he did those two sectors faster than anyone. Everyone had already set their fastest times. Dylan Walsh, Alex Larwood, everyone had done their times. It was right at the end of the session, and Byron Dennis did the two fastest first section uh sectors, and we're like, he is absolutely on with two turns to go, caught up to two riders, and then just slowed him down and stopped his momentum. So you're talking about the pace of Dennis as well. Like this, this is this class is pretty impressive at the moment. Yeah, it is.

SPEAKER_03 47:15

Yeah, yeah, that's interesting to hear on the Saturday that yeah, what it so it could have changed things entirely had he not got caught up by those riders, he could have finished on yeah.

SPEAKER_04 47:23

It could have been a completely different outcome if Honda didn't sort their stuff out overnight.

SPEAKER_03 47:27

The pep took the pep talk from Konsky's got something going in that in those Honda trucks.

SPEAKER_02 47:31

So I I wonder if like Alex just said, give me my setup, like if he was trying something new and qualifying or something, and then just went back to an old setup because man, his bike, like you said, Hammy, a little lower in the rear, just looked like it just was so settled, very, very predictable. Just how I like a bike, dead kind of in the rear end.

SPEAKER_03 47:56

Yeah, that's true. Your your dead setup rear ends, Briggsy. Oh, no headache for some of us. I like him. I like him. Um, okay, uh let's talk about Dennis. Um, he was flying. We ever it's been quite well publicised, obviously, what's happened with the Liza in the last uh couple of weeks. Uh, we per we uh did some marketing for Konski to get the word out there about uh the GoFundMe page for the family. Um so anyone who is looking to support Liza and that family in what they've got to go through after she had an accident, uh, make sure you go find her on her GoFundMe page. But her brother Byron to come through and do what he this is his first year in uh MX2 on that in that on that team. Um he did seemed to have ripped straight in. He didn't slow down at all. And and in in the second motor, he got faster, I feel, as the day went on.

SPEAKER_04 48:46

Yeah, he was very, very solid to be able to put that out of his mind and just get into it. Myself and Trent Maher were talking about it on the way down, and and he brought it up. Uh, what is it going to be? Is it gonna be something that sticks on the mind and hinders him, or is it the farmer that's gonna come out in him and you know just get back to work? These were Trent's words, and it suited it so perfectly with what he did. He just got to work, knew exactly what he had to do, and um yeah, it looked very impressed, extremely impressed with the performance, even outside of the the whole family uh situation that they got. His riding, the the approach that he had with the day, the way he ripped into it straight away. And he he could get some race wins here this year. He may be uh the guy that battles out this championship. It was a solid performance.

SPEAKER_03 49:39

Yeah, totally agree.

SPEAKER_02 49:40

Yeah, uh and even Moto 1, he had that little the Tipo which set his air vest off, and he had his roll-off flapping along behind him, which would have been annoying the crap out of him. So I think Moto won too. He he didn't get the result he probably deserved. Uh, he had them two little errors. He yeah, I gotta agree, Hammy. I think he's between him and Walsh, and I I hope Ferguson can step up. Them four are gonna be my title pits.

SPEAKER_00 50:08

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 50:09

Um, in what order, I don't know. It's too early, and they're all amazing. But at the moment, the Larwood's got the upper hand, and then yeah, Byron's coming in hot, so yeah, he's not that far off.

SPEAKER_03 50:19

But going back to those Hondas, you made me realise it before you entered the bike, Hammy. They um need to get some super glue on those graphics kits because I swear it was Carl's bike and Alex's bike, where right where you grip it with your calves, it was both of them all in the same spot, and it's that bad. Come on, we want them to look pretty all race. Um anyway, so yeah, then Walsh. Let's talk about Dylan Walsh because a little bit of an unknown coming in, only because obviously he's never raced our outdoor series here. But he came off Supercross where we're like, oh, he looked pretty good in Supercross, but all the three of us agreed he's more of a motocross guy. We know what he's done overseas, and like you said before, Hammy, he was going fast on Saturday. He was going real fast. Uh, what was your take on his two moto results on Sunday?

SPEAKER_04 51:07

Uh, I think if he if he gets an A result, if he gets a top three win in one of these, then we're gonna see a slightly, it's not a different rider, but a rider that believes that he's meant to be at the front. I think he was just feeling his way into that field at the moment to where he's meant to sit. That first race, he was way back, like terrible 20th place off the start, and had to pass a lot of riders to come up to where he did. The results definitely don't show how fast he was riding. Um, in saying that though, with how fast he was riding on Saturday, he wasn't screaming through the field as fast as I thought he would have, as well. So I think there's a lot more in him with his riding in the race and the results. I think we will see him, like Briggs said, this is one of your title contenders as well. But he needs to get this result at the next round so that he can believe he's good for the entire series. If he if it comes too late in this series, then it's not going to be enough. He'll just be that third, fourth, fifth guy. But if he can get this next round, a good result, a win even, then yeah, he is a main contender.

SPEAKER_03 52:15

And he's definitely fast enough. He's fast enough to keep up.

SPEAKER_02 52:18

Yeah, yeah, yeah. No doubt. Someone who was training at Beaton's, and that's where Dylan trains, told me that he was probably the most impressive down at Ross's. Yep. In front of Jed and Kyle, even on a practice day. They said that he was he was his speed is yeah, next level.

SPEAKER_03 52:38

Yeah, okay. Um, first of the Kingfords was Cade. Uh, the broth brotherly rivalry is kind of kicked off, or I don't think there really is a rivalry, they get along pretty well. Um what he in that second moto for Cade at one point in the uh uh the I thought he was gonna catch third, I thought he was gonna catch Dylan Walsh, and then uh on the broadcast he was facing the wrong way on the track, picking his bike up. Um, did he did he just lose the front end? Uh do you know, Hammy, or what kind of happened? Because he was making a pretty good charge there in that second moto.

SPEAKER_04 53:08

He was absolutely he was making that really big charge. Uh, I don't know exactly what had happened to him. It looked like it was a pretty basic crash. He got himself up rather quick. Where he was laying, I think it was pretty easy to miss a rut or overbalance or run to balance going into one of those runs. So I don't think it was anything major, just a small mistake that cost him quite a lot. But yeah, it's uh it'll be interesting to see how he goes through the rest. I think a lot of people, I was a little surprised that he had such a solid performance coming straight into it on his debut into MX2. Yeah, I think it was pretty damn good. It it surprised me a little bit. I thought maybe a little bit further back and would ease his way into it a bit more, but no, that was a solid performance.

SPEAKER_03 53:53

Is that does he ride different to rider? Is he he seems to me like he's just got that? I can't, I've got to make this pass, I've got to make this pass right this second, and he's just gonna ride as fast as he humanly can for as long as he possibly can, rather than maybe manage a bit better, maybe like rider can. He's has he got that in him?

SPEAKER_04 54:11

Uh I I I don't know. Um, we've seen that over the last couple of years. That comes with experience and and moving into this new class. Yeah, look, he's got a still probably got a little bit to learn as far as um that side of the racecraft. There's no doubt a lot of his racecraft is pretty much on point. Um, but yeah, look, he's got a lot to learn, but that that's only just dangerous. Like he's getting these results as it is and still got a lot to learn. Once he figures that out, he could be the guy that's unstoppable from here on out.

SPEAKER_02 54:45

Yeah, yeah, he's he's talented. Uh the thing that sort of showed me was when he was racing SX3 last year in Supercross in Melbourne, and he was the first to hit that quad out of the whole out of anyone. I'm like, this kid has it. Like, you know, he's he was walking away the SX3 easy. It was his time to step up. So I yeah, I'm a bit surprised like you, Hammy, but sort sort of not as well, I guess. He's gonna be someone in the next few years to watch, definitely. Uh, it'll be interesting to see how he does next round, but well done this round. Fourth overall's pretty impressive.

SPEAKER_03 55:20

So yeah. Um, Noah Ferguson was the first Monster Yami home, which is kind of cool. Um that being said, it will, you know, Yamaha have always kind of kind of been on par with Honda the last few years anyway. It's kind of been a two-horse race there. Does Noah have I I believe Noah was on a this is going back a fair way? He was on one of yeah, and then before that Hogs, one of Hogs BCP rides, maybe I think off the top of my head.

SPEAKER_04 55:48

Um I can't remember that far back with him, but yeah, first first of the Yamahas, yes, he has the ability to do this and be fast. Uh another one of these riders that just needs to prove it to himself because he was certainly fast enough during qualifying and practice um to be up there running with them. He showed how quick he was coming through the pack in the first race as well. Yeah, just needs a start. It's been a Achilles heel of him problem with him for quite a long time. He he really doesn't have that consistency on starts. Every now and then he'll get a good one and he's almost impossible to beat. But those starts certainly need to come before he'll get some consistent results. But he is more than capable.

SPEAKER_03 56:32

Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 56:33

Um before we Yeah, I'd I'd put him above K for title. I think he'll be a title contender now or if he can get this card like Hammy said, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 56:42

Okay, you uh you'll put him above cade, yeah. Yeah, especially on that bike that those Yamaha 250s have, you know, got a bit of a few.

SPEAKER_02 56:48

And he's he's been in the class as well for a year or two, so he knows what's what he's got to do.

SPEAKER_03 56:54

Yeah. Um, all right, we're gonna let Hammy go in a second, but I want to hear uh Hami what you're did you did you get a chance to speak to the two Japanese imports, Yokoyama and Nakajima, about coming over and writing. Were they always coming over? I kind of didn't get any word that they were gonna be here to do the first round.

SPEAKER_04 57:11

No, I didn't, I I didn't meet Soya. I've I've spoken with Haruki many, many times. Uh he is he's an absolute legend to talk to. He's a legend of the scene here in Australia, he's been around for so many years now. Uh it's great to see him back here. But uh Sawyer Nakajima, yeah, I didn't get a chance to say hello to him. I certainly will at the next round if he is there. I don't know how many they've got him down to do, but it would be great to see him get out there and do quite a few of these. It's always good to have that international flavor added to our list of riders. Uh, it just shows how good this series is. So many different riders coming over here to battle it out. I think it's fantastic.

SPEAKER_03 57:50

Yeah, and and when you consider those guys are here, more of a develop in a development kind of role for the bike and for the manufacturer, for them to see our series as a good place to develop a bike, I think is a big tip of the hat to the tracks that we run, but also the competition that they're gonna put a uh you know, a tester and a developer into someone who's gonna develop the bike into to say that these guys are all fast, these tracks are tough, and it's a good setup. So we're gonna go over here and do some development. Um, I think it says a lot about the series and the riders in that class, which is pretty cool. Um, okay, hammy, mate, we've got to let you go. You gotta run. Thanks for coming on, mate. We'll catch you at round two. Absolutely, we'd look forward to it. Thanks, Hammy. See you, mate. See you guys. So Briggsy, uh, we'll come back up the up the order, uh, and you his hand is trained at your joint.

SPEAKER_02 58:41

Uh he's he's ridden here a couple of times, but before we get to Cody, I think we need to touch on Ryder. Yeah, um I Ryder doesn't look comfortable yet, to be honest. I think that new bike is settling in, he's still figuring it out a bit. Um, Cade was on the Honda last year, so he's got that little bit more experience on that bike. Uh, I'm not saying that he won't be there next round. I think it's just comfortability, getting them laps under it, knowing what the bike's gonna do, where it works well. I think Cade um and Ryder bouncing off each other, similar to the two other brothers we know, but I think definitely Ryder will push to be a title contender. He's got to really show up in the next round or two, but a bit more, like a podium. If he can podium, he's definitely in in for that chance for in my eyes.

SPEAKER_03 59:34

Yeah. Um, Kobe Hantis, he like I said, he's he's ridden with you, he's ridden at your track. Um, he is on that factory Yamaha team, Inverted Commas Factory.

SPEAKER_02 59:43

Um is he factory or is he sort of WBR off to the side?

SPEAKER_03 59:48

Well, yeah, it's off to the side. So I mean, yeah, like you probably wouldn't call him factory, I guess. Um but he showed some speed on the weekend, like he's fast.

SPEAKER_02 59:58

He is, and Kobe's had a rough few years. He um he actually did a had a shoulder injury, and Dr. Stevens is it Andrew Stevens um from Queensland, he said it was probably the worst shoulder injury he's ever seen. Oh wow, yeah, and so they like Kobe was not going to ride again from all accounts, and he's coming out here and he's obviously rehabbed it really well and looking after his body, and to get away with the seventh overall is pretty good day for him considering he's had a um a real bad trot. So no, he's a good kid. I like to see him keep keep going at this sort of level and keep getting them top tens. He's definitely capable. Yeah, um, that was the thing. I thought he was he was probably a title contender for the SX3, apart from his injuries. So yeah, I think once he gets even healthier again and a bit more time under his belt, I I'm hoping he can challenge for them top fives and be in this fight.

SPEAKER_03 1:00:58

So yeah. Uh Reese Bud was we know his story's been pretty cool. He's been trying to you know push the privateer side of it hard this year, and he's um yeah, looking for support, that kind of thing. He's been pretty vocal about that. Uh that's a pretty good result, yeah. Pretty good result.

SPEAKER_02 1:01:13

He's yeah, he's picked up a ride with that motor elite coaching with Lee Gainsford's new team. So he's on the Honda, he's enjoying it, he's happy with his bike. He state titles, he looked really, really good at Canberra. Um, he was the he was the one to beat, to be honest, and did it pretty convincingly. But when you go to Wamphaggy, different track, different setup, it is going to be a tall order. I think Reese will be one to watch at Canberra after watching state titles. He's he's gonna go in there with a lot of confidence. So Reese is one of them guys, he's had a rough few years himself, too, you know. Like two, three years ago when he was on the CDR or Circo, I'm not sure what flag it was under then, but on the Yamaha, he was he was battling for wins.

SPEAKER_00 1:01:59

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:01:59

Um, so he's he's got the speed and the talent. I think I look to see him improve this season and next next race, I think Reese will be one to watch for sure.

SPEAKER_03 1:02:10

Yeah, it's yeah, I think he can actually battle up in that top five um and start to push some of the you know the larwood, Dennis, Walsh, the Kick Kingsford around a bit as well. So yeah, 100%. Um Birchill, we we talked about Birch a little bit in Supergross 2 coming into that uh Supergross series. He was pretty good. I think you know he's in the top ten here. Like we said, this the the top six are all you know inadverted commas factory riders. Uh so between you know him, Henderson, Bud, they're the first that are coming through that aren't on those official factory teams. Um that's a pretty good effort from Birchill. I reckon he's young too in that class.

SPEAKER_02 1:02:45

Yeah, um, this is I think Seth's second year in MX2. Um, yeah, he's good kid, really quiet, quiet achiever, uh, very fast on his day. Uh places like Appen and stuff, Seth can yeah, he's can challenge anyone. So he'll look to improve as well. Obviously, his first motor was better than his second. So I think it's just it's such a hard thing, too. Two starts, two, you know, everything perfect on the day. Uh Seth is capable of being up around that six as well, in my opinion. Yeah, um so this is the most stacked field, I think, compared to the other fields. I think that the level drops off a little quicker in some of the other fields, where here I mean you look at 16th and 17th, 18th, you've got Reed Taylor, Jace Cosford, and D Deacon Pace. Like those guys, those three there can be in the top 10. You've also got Jed Orsopping, 13th. So, I mean, there's four or five guys there that can challenge from fifth to tenth every day of the week. Um, yep. So, yeah, it's a it's a stack field this one. It's gonna be a good series.

SPEAKER_03 1:03:54

Uh, but yeah, Seth's he's got more in the tank for sure. Even 11th Ryan Alex Anderson on the Kawasaki in Moto 2 was was racing up the front. Um, I think off the top of he was leading early in those in that first lap. It was in the down. Yeah, he was, yeah. Yeah, so you know, these guys can all pull a hole shut and they can actually hold their own for a second. It's not just a you know, one corner glory kind of thing. They he was doing okay out the front there.

SPEAKER_02 1:04:16

So yeah, and you've got to look at two motor results. Like he he must have been uh 12th to 14th in first motor because he's only got four points. So I think if he had had a a decent first motor, he'd probably be up around that seventh, sixth spot as well.

SPEAKER_03 1:04:33

So yeah, you know. Um okay, should we talk MX3? Um Devson was deadly. That was he was going fast, and he sent when he worked through the pack, he seemed to do it very easily.

SPEAKER_02 1:04:49

Um, yeah, look, Jack's consistent, he's riding really well at the moment. I do think Draper is the one to beat butt after that first moto result. I think Jack's gonna be there every round. Yeah, Jack Jack won state titles in this class uh only a month ago at Canberra, too, so he'll be looking to do the same thing. Yeah, um, but yeah, Jack's great rider, looks very comfortable in that Yamaha. Between him and Hayden Draper, even the next two, Jackson and Riley. We're gonna have some good battles this year, I think.

SPEAKER_03 1:05:25

Yeah, definitely. He's he's pushed through the class um through the field in when he went down early was impressive. Uh he got past Fuller kind of right at the end there in uh one. So that's pretty good. Obviously fit. He's obviously his own point. Yeah, yeah. He looked the fittest. He's tight, he didn't slow down. At no stage did he look like he was gasping for air when he was you know jumping the bike or anything. He just looked fit.

SPEAKER_02 1:05:47

Yeah, and he's another one who trains at Beaton. So yeah, I look to see him um continue his form and gain some more speed, training with off the back of them guys as well.

SPEAKER_03 1:05:58

So yeah. Um We talked about Draper, he's gonna be consistent. We know how fast he is as well. He was obviously going quick uh early on.

SPEAKER_02 1:06:06

So um he he looked the most comfortable to me out of this class. Um, you just watch his technique and where he sits, he's very sits very centered on the bike. A lot of these younger guys sit back a little bit more and swing off it. Yeah, he just looks so in control. Yeah, uh, I think had he not had that second moto crash, like I think he went down the first turn or something. Yeah, um, had he not had that happen, I think he probably would have won the day, to be honest, to come back to third. Pretty impressive from dead last. So he's obviously the one to beat on that type of track. I'm not sure how he'll go on the hard pack at Canberra, but yeah, he's he's fast, his techniques. He's he actually reminds me a little bit of a cole Davies, that smoother kind of style, not as aggressive and just yeah, very comfortable.

SPEAKER_03 1:06:55

Yeah, um, those two were kind of clear. I feel like they were probably they looked the fastest, like you said. I think this is a good class. There's lots of guys in there that can go fast. They went past Fuller, uh, kind of towards the end of that race. Um Jackson will be solid for the year. Does he is do you think he's gonna have the pace to run with those two Yammies?

SPEAKER_02 1:07:15

Yeah, look, I think the top four, um, and then throw in a couple of others can all do really well. Like Jack Ellingham was actually running up front both motors and made some mistakes. Yeah, he's he ended up 13th, you know. So um Seth Thomas, he's just come off a broken arm literally four weeks ago. For him to be that good, get a six outright in what is he, 15. So he's only just entered the class. Yeah, he he will challenge at times, I think. He'll improve throughout the year. Um, but Jackson Fuller, Jackson's one of the ones who I expected to battle with Jack Devison, Draper, Burgess, like for the title. Like them four, in my opinion, are the title picks. I'm not I haven't heard much of Heath Bishop who got fifth, but Jackson's definitely been him him and Jack have battled the last few years in all the sunshine, Sunny Coast and State titles, New South Wales, all that. So yeah, I think that'll continue to happen in that class. And yeah, he'll have his good rounds and his bad rounds, I think.

SPEAKER_03 1:08:23

Last next one down is Riley Burgess. We know the Burgess as well because they train with you, Briggsy, and also ADB's technical editor Matt Boyd is Burgess's mechanic. He's um is he on Boyd's Moto Racing Team? I think he is, isn't he? Yeah, yeah, yeah. He is, yeah. Uh, which is pretty cool. So Boyd, our tech editor, has started his own racing team and he's offering some pretty good packages and services for guys out there who want kind of a factory feel at a racetrack. And um Burgess is probably his prize pick. He's done, you know, pretty, pretty good. Um, he's done the best, I think, in the higher in the better classes. Um but how are you feeling? I mean, first things first, Riley. You're under uh your motorcycle on the uh results chart is a TBA, so I've never heard of it. I've never heard of a TBA. It's a KDM, KDM people. I know it's a I've never heard of a TBA. It's a KDM, so I get you you may need to refill out your form. Um he was going faster. You you were with him a few weeks ago, even a month or so ago, and he was quatting on a supercross track, and I was like, what's he doing on a supercross track? That's we've got nine, six months till that that turns around. Has he been motoing hard and fast? Is he also gonna be out of he's young and it's gonna be it's gonna take him a bit of time like Seth to come through, but has he got the uh ability to do it at the end of the season when he's got some time?

SPEAKER_02 1:09:37

Oh, he does. Like I as his coach and sort of someone who watches him ride day to day, I I see him and I'm like, holy smokes, kid! Like if you believed in yourself as much as what I believe in you at times, and because I see what you can do, you'll be hard to beat. Um, second moto, he had that mistake. He tucked the front when he was, I think he was in fourth at the time, faded back and come back to sixth. So rule out that mistake. He could have possibly gone 3-3 or 3-4 and and maybe push for that third overall podium. I think that Jack and Hayden were were just a little bit better on the day, to be honest. Yeah, uh, but I think that Riley can be battling them guys and should be. Uh, it's his class to challenge this year, same as them other three guys. So, yeah, I think he'll bounce back. I think he'll be good. He's got to get a little bit stronger. He said he was pretty gassed at the end of that second one. So that's something that he'll be working on in before next round. But yeah, yeah, yeah, he's fast. He's got a lot of talent, as they all do. They all they're all incredible little riders.

SPEAKER_03 1:10:40

So yeah. Um, let's talk about incredible little riders because Seth Thomas, we've ridden with him out at your joint quite a few times. He boid he's had a lot to do with Seth over the years, too. We've actually run some stories in ADB about the 85s that Boydie was building Seth, and I feel like that was about three minutes ago that Boydie was building him in 85. Now he's top five, top ten in a um MX3 class at ProMX. Um you know what? The he's like you said, what is he, just 15, or maybe not even, or just turned 15? He's got to grow into his body too, because he even he's young, he looks little on the on the 250f.

SPEAKER_02 1:11:13

Yeah, well, last year he was at Worlds on an 85 and got third. So there you go. I mean, he came home from that. He did a little bit of one, two, fives in the offseason. He only started riding at 250f around January, yeah, like Christmas. So um, man, this kid's got a future. That's all I can say. He's him and his dad Kurt, they work really hard. He's also on one of Boyd's motors, to be honest. Um, but he's talented. They they work really hard. He does a lot with Craig. He was at Beaton for a month. They're not scared to try anything. Um, they come and come and ride laps with me when I'm coaching as well. Um, Seth's a great kid, got a lot of time for him. He'll be one to watch um for sure. I can only see him getting better as the season goes on. And towards the end of the season, I would not be surprised if Seth has a podium too soon.

SPEAKER_03 1:12:07

Yeah, I was about to say the same thing, just uh from what we've seen out on a practice track, but also watching him on the weekend. He's just gonna get bigger, stronger as a kid, too, and he's gonna be able to hold on to that bike and do things on that bike. So, yeah, I he was he actually impressed me probably one of the most in that class. The other guys I expected to go fast, but I just didn't know where he'd go against guys who are happy to probably be a bit more physical and bits and pieces in a bigger class and they're bigger bodies than he is. So, yeah, he was he was good.

SPEAKER_02 1:12:33

Yeah, um, Heath Fisher, he got fifth just ahead of Seth. I I don't know much of Heath Fisher. No, um, I think he's a Queensland kid, to be honest, from what I've seen. Uh good ride, solid ride. So he's got to be happy with that. I think he went, what do you go, five four overall? Or I think so. Yeah, yeah, and fifth overall. So yeah, good result for him. First MX3 debut.

SPEAKER_03 1:12:57

Yeah, solid. Solid. Uh anyone else on that list that kind of stands out like you said Ellingham did go early, uh he was going fast earlier in the race before a few tip overs. Um, before we move on to the MXW because it's a little bit in there.

SPEAKER_02 1:13:10

Yeah, Cooper Rowe should have been up there. I think he had a pretty decent crash, so I hope he's alright. Um prayers with him, thinking of him. Drew Kramer, ninth. Um, he's another kid that I coached. So shout out to him. Good kid. Um, they're working hard. Kyle Harvey, Hayden Downey. I'm not I haven't seen a lot of them guys, but and Job Dunn. But that top 10, man, these kids are flying. Like literally, they're that fast these days. It's pretty impressive. Um, Cooper Ford, I think, will bounce back. He was in 15th. Uh, I've seen a bit of Cooper. He he'll be one to watch too. And yeah, uh see, see what happens next round. That's the biggest one.

SPEAKER_03 1:13:51

Yeah. Uh all right, MXW. This was probably the shock of the weekend, was because uh poor old Charlie having the bike issues. We we got a uh a press release from Honda to say that it was a fuel line that popped off. Um, and I texted Konsky just earlier this morning. Yareev Konsky is kind of the big cheese over there at Honda when it comes to their racing stuff. And I just wanted to know was it a crash or did it randomly happen, or was there and all I got in a response back in a text message was random. That's it. So yeah, I think there's a little bit of uh soul searching internally there in that team, and I think um it's you know, these things can happen, and and we know the level of at which Charlie's bikes are always prepared because she has never had this happen, you know, over the last couple of years on a Honda, and she just kills and rips rips everything to pieces. She's so good.

SPEAKER_02 1:14:37

But unfortunately, yeah, if anyone's gonna be hard on themselves, it's probably gonna be Yareve. Yeah, correct.

SPEAKER_03 1:14:43

Yeah, these things happen. Like, how many times I recall Brett Metcalf running out of field when he should have won a uh a lights race, you know, racing in the US. So, you know, you missed out by the last corner.

SPEAKER_02 1:14:56

It just seems to be your eve's luck, too, right? Like, what about Dino in Brazil when they cracked the bottom of his you know cases and oils going everywhere and they're putting oil in halfway from the United again, and you know, they still got the job done, and and that's the funny thing. I think I I actually I just sent him a message on Instagram, Yareve, just saying, mate, don't be too hard on yourself, these things happen, and what a story this will be if Charlie can bounce back from this.

SPEAKER_03 1:15:20

Yeah, totally.

SPEAKER_02 1:15:21

Like Loch Lachlan Turner's got a pretty decent lead now, and and man, she rode impressive, she was really, really good. But I think Charlie's gonna be fired up, and that pass that Charlie made on Laughlin in that Oceania race, man, that was impressive. That's good, hey.

SPEAKER_03 1:15:36

And I think that's the thing, like you know, we know how fast Charlie is, we know she can also manage a season, and and they they don't get as many rounds, which is the downside for Charlie now, obviously, as the other guys. So she's got a fair bit of uh points to make up there. You're talking you know, 38 points already, sorry, 28 points already. Um, but you know, anything as we said can happen. Um, and also too, you know, with with the the the bike bopping uh propping a fuel line off, that is just random. It's nothing to do with the bike, but also when you've got that many factory bikes out there, I mean Honda have the biggest group of riders of any manufacturer. Um, your likelihood of something like this happening to one of your you know, factory bikes, one of your uh is gonna is higher. If you've only got three bikes out of you know five classes that are supported by the manufacturer, the likelihood of one of them having something that happens where you're gonna hear about it is pretty low. When you've got you know as many as they do, up to 15, I think it is. One you to go a whole season with no mechanical issues on 15 bikes prepped and you know under a factory tent, that's almost impossible.

SPEAKER_02 1:16:40

Yeah, it is, and it's just it's just dumb luck to be honest. Like, you know, how no one wants to see it. I want to see Charlie battling with Loughlin Turner. It's better for the sport, it's better for her. Uh, it's also gonna be good now that she's gonna go back to America and want to beat Lachlan in her own turf. So it I mean, it's a crappy start to the season, but and like you said, the reduced number of races does make it a lot harder now. But it's motocross, anything can happen. Uh the best thing Charlie can do now is put Lochland Turner in a position where she has to push.

SPEAKER_00 1:17:15

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:17:16

Uh she she has to be beating her every round now and make make Loughlin make a mistake, so that's the biggest thing.

SPEAKER_03 1:17:24

Um, and she definitely has it for speed, so I think it's gonna be fun watching those two kind of go to battle. Um Mayla and Taylor McCutcheon. I I thought Taylor McCutcheon might be slightly ahead of Mayla and probably the rest of the field there. I kind of had Lachlan Turner and Charlie Cannon battling it out with Taylor McCutcheon kind of in and around there. Did Mayla that ride impress you?

SPEAKER_02 1:17:46

Um, yeah, definitely. I think same with Jordan Jarvis. Just remember, we had the being the Oceania, we had the the US girls over and the New Zealand girls. So there was a few names in here that we don't normally see, but Mayla's, she's from America, and yeah, I she's solid. She she proved that Jordan Jarves is the same. It was only a few years ago, Jordan was trying to qualify for uh an MX2 Supercross. So she was like the first woman to try and do that, which is really impressive. And when you see some of these girls ride, that they're unbelievable. Um, Taylor last year, I think, was third for most of the motos. So I I yeah, and like I said, she got third in the first moto. Uh slightly bad start in the second one, and you know, the tracks a bit deeper and rougher and a bit harder to pass. So yeah, Taylor will be up there. Whether all these girls do every round is another thing, but I can see Taylor slotting into that third. Hopefully, she can find a bit more speed and and battle the front too. It's gonna be a tall order, I think. But yeah, yeah, she's proved that she has in the past.

SPEAKER_03 1:18:53

So yeah, yeah, it's uh it's good. At least there's someone over here now that's gonna really take it to Charlie Cannon with Lochland Turner. And if Taylor can kind of find some of the form from last year, we'll have a bit of a three-rider championship. Um the other girls. Other girls in there that you know pricked out our ears was Emma. Um, you know, she's done quite well.

SPEAKER_02 1:19:13

Really impressive considering she was essentially retired last year, yeah, finished up retiring and then sort of oh, I'll get a bike, jumps on the Yamaha and comes out and goes fifth. So just shows her talent. Um, she must she still rides a lot, but yeah, very impressive.

SPEAKER_03 1:19:30

Yeah, and that family too, they go fast. We know that they that family goes fast, so there's no doubting around that. Taylor Thompson, I thought she was pretty good too.

SPEAKER_02 1:19:38

I don't I don't know Horn who finished in front of her on seventh, but um Um I think Jamia Studio is another American girl. Um Coracia Horns, uh New Zealander, so she was there last year, she did really well. Um, she raced our whole series last year. Darcy Wally, she's from Queensland. Um she's come along leaps and bounds. It was only sort of two years ago. She was at the top 10 sort of level. Now she's definitely in the top five in the Australian girls. Um Taylor probably didn't have the weekend she was hoping for. I've seen better results out of Taylor before, but you know, it's all them other girls training in the mix. We don't normally ride with them, and maybe America does have the speed on us in terms of that depth in the field at the moment. Um, but yeah, I think yeah, Taylor's nine, she'll look to rebound Canberra. She raced state titles there and won that only a month ago, so she knows that track well. Hopefully, she can have a better result next round. Yeah, um, yeah, Maddie just come off off-roads.

SPEAKER_03 1:20:43

Yeah, that was cool, hey. Going racing off-roads series, and uh, where is she, 11th, you know? Um it's pretty impressive.

SPEAKER_02 1:20:50

Yeah, and she's got more speed in the tank too. Last year she was battling Charlie at Toowoomba. So uh she's doing her own privateer sort of thing this year. Um, I think she'll figure it out. She'll she'll definitely get better as the season goes on. But all these girls are really talented, you know.

SPEAKER_03 1:21:08

Yeah, if I if I can, will you be giving Mia tongue 200 200 push-ups to this this week? For those out there that don't know, Briggsy's Mia's kind of coach, she rides at his joint. Uh, will you be giving her some grief? I'll be giving her a rev up for sure. You've got to beat Maddie. You just gotta tell yourself Maddie's the off-road girl, you gotta beat Maddie. She's trying to race between the trees and the motor on a motor cross track.

SPEAKER_02 1:21:31

It's just one of them things like I spoke to Ben Ben her dad, and if Mia could ride at the potential that she does through the week, I don't think we'd be having this conversation. But racing's a different thing, and she's got to learn to do that.

SPEAKER_03 1:21:46

So yeah, it's all in the head on race day. Um hey, the other cool thing I thought the impressive thing about this class was 23 riders. Like, that's a solid gate for the women's class. And I think it's proving definitely uh in the chat I had with Kawasaki earlier in the week, we're sitting down with some of the people from head office, and uh Gina is Gina Costello, is one of the ladies over there that we deal with. She's been kind of rusted on it, Kate Kawasaki now for years. Um, and you know, she's a big advocate for um pushing more of the women's classes in a lot of our different disciplines, you know. And and is this proof that they should be they should run at least one of the girls' motos in the ARVO, you know, there's 23 on the grid in the Arvo broadcast.

SPEAKER_02 1:22:25

Well, it's not 23, it's there was 32. Well, 32, sorry, 23. Yeah, in in qualifying, there's 32, but 23 scored points. Yes. So 32 is aggressive. Yeah, it's massive. So and and it's a testament to the series, it's a testament to women's racing in Australia at the moment and how popular it is becoming. Obviously, we had eight other girls from four bank kiwis and four Americans, but yeah, it's definitely really cool to see that many girls out there and getting amongst it for sure.

SPEAKER_03 1:22:54

Yeah, definitely. It's probably worth having uh some of the girls that are on that bro uh board for women's racing in Australia on to talk about where they want to see the future. We we had Jess Gardner on the podcast two weeks ago, and we were asking her how things have changed since when she started in 2009 and 10 in the women's class through to 2026, and she said a lot. And uh starting with, even in the off-roads, they were never allowed to race on the pro track, on the big boys track, and nowadays they are. So, you know, it's awesome to see the that that the number of people competing in the women's class increasing. It's also awesome to see the level at which they're riding at now is insane, but also maybe this is a good uh direction to bump them into that broadcast at some stage as well, uh, in the future, which that'll be I think really cool for the girls too. Um all right, MX85, MX65. Um Blake Bahannan. That was that was you could you could almost put your house on him going one-one. Am I wrong in saying that?

SPEAKER_02 1:23:53

Uh no, not really. I mean fast. He's impressive. Yeah, he's been doing a little bit with us too. Um, and last week on the he was back on his 85, been riding the 125 a lot. Um, we did some training, he jumped back on his 85, and he was running the same times as most of the kids on the 250s that I had there. So uh he's I think his race lap time was like a 155. We'll put him mid-pack for MX2 or MX3 or something. Yeah, um, damn impressive considering he's on an 85.

SPEAKER_00 1:24:29

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:24:30

Uh I wonder how long it'll be till we see him maybe step up into MX3 with a you know a bit of permission from MA.

SPEAKER_03 1:24:39

So yeah, yeah, he'd need an exception, but man, he would be good. Yeah, yeah, and he would be good in that class, my word. Like he's I think he'd go top five just based on what you see you can do.

SPEAKER_02 1:24:50

I I don't know about that yet, but I think definitely top 10. Just his consistency in race form. I mean, the MX top ten in MX3 are still really fast kids. Yeah, Blake's got that speed, he's just a little bit younger, a little bit smaller, not as strong as some of them guys at the moment. Yeah, but remember he's only 13. So you forget that.

SPEAKER_03 1:25:12

You just see what he did at Supercross last year, and you think like he's doing stuff that big bikes are doing. This this shouldn't happen. So you forget he's just turned it, he's just turned a teenager for crying out loud.

SPEAKER_02 1:25:22

Yeah, no, a big ear to come forward from him. Um, I expect him to to dominate this class or win it convincingly. Yeah, uh you know, anything can happen at his motocross, but he is the one to beat at the moment. He's just so polished, mistakes are rare, starts are good, he's the package that you want.

SPEAKER_03 1:25:42

Yeah, definitely. Um, look, if he went and pulled a Jet Lawrence and just won everything out from here, it wouldn't surprise us all that much, would it?

SPEAKER_02 1:25:50

No, not at all. Um, and I to be honest, it's sad that we kind of expect that out of Blake. Uh it's a lot of pressure to put on him and his family being a 13-year-old. But when you're that good, I think people just go, yeah, Blake's gonna win it. And then uh yeah, you know, some he he might go in with the flu next one and feel like crap, and people still expect and go, Oh, what's happened, you know. So nah, he's he's unbelievable. Good family. Uh I've got a lot of time for him, and I like seeing him do well. He's a good kid, so yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:26:18

Yep, yep. We'll get familiar with that name everyone, Bohanan, because we saw what he did last year, uh, and especially on the supercross scene, and we've just seen what he has done at round one. So I think you're gonna be that's gonna be a uh name that'll kind of sit in your living room for a long time. Um going down the list, any of these guys, uh Jay Stocker, Liam Millard, Oli Chandler, Kobe Binnan. Uh do you know have you have they done anything out at your joint? Um yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:26:43

Liam Millard has Ollie Chandler. Um I don't know Jay Stocker. Um and then Archie Black too, Kyle Spruell, uh down the order a little bit more. They're good kids, they uh all ride really well. Spruell is actually, I think he's like the 65 champ, stepping up to an 85. So definitely some talented kids in here. Connor Feather, I kind of expected a little bit more out of him. Um obviously didn't start second race, don't know what's happened there, or DNF. Um and Lewis J. Carafa, he's normally pretty solid down there. He's from down that way. Uh there's a few kids in there I don't know. Body Austin, Riley Mullen. Uh he's a wolf, I haven't seen a lot of. Um, even Ryder Tricky and Darcy Burke. But yeah, Liam Millard's definitely one to watch. Um he's a little I think he's 14 this year, maybe Liam. Um good kid. Ollie Chandler's the same. They're gonna be there the whole season. Uh yeah, great series. It's great that these kids get to race on a track that you know the MX1 guys do. It's pretty gnarly.

SPEAKER_03 1:27:49

Do we know are they racing in Canberra? 85s. Yeah, I think the 85s do six of the eight rounds. Yeah, yeah, they do. They do Canberra. Uh they miss out on South. Australia. They're back up at Queensland. I bet they're not complaining about that with the current fuel prices. It's correct. They miss out and mishappen. They send you now. They've got to go from Queensland to where are they off to now after that? Oh no, they're pretty good. They staff in Queensland. They've they've been dealt a good uh a good hand in regards to having to put fuel in the car. Not that what 13 and 14-year-old is putting fuel in the car anyway, daddy's pain or mum's pain for the same thing.

SPEAKER_02 1:28:31

So speaking to Tim recently, just when we've been training, and we've got to catch up with him for a podcast ourselves, but it's like what sport other than motocross demands so much of you as a kid that okay, now you've got to think where do I go from here? Do I go to Europe? Do I go to America? Do I sell everything I own to try and chase my kids' dream? It's not even my dream, you know, and then potentially put everything you've worked your whole life for on your kids' shoulders.

SPEAKER_03 1:28:59

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:29:00

Like it's such a gnarly sport. So um yeah, I think the parents even will be breathe breathing a sigh of relief with their petrol bills because it's not a cheap sport. The last thing you need is another mortgages. Yeah, that's all right.

SPEAKER_03 1:29:13

The last thing you need is another 60 to 70 percent just thrown into the budget for this year to go racing. So uh yeah, let's say that changes for them soon. But yeah, they're they're back in Canberra, and then they've got a little bit of a break, which is I guess good for them. And that seems to go from Canberra to Queensland, and they stay in Queensland, uh, and they do their last two rounds, or their last round is actually Queensland. So yeah, so that's good for them. Uh all right, so that's the wrap pretty much from our um round one at Wonthaggy. I think it kind of delivered everything we kind of expected, which was Carl and Jet out front. Um, I guess Larwood was probably the biggest surprise at how fast he was going. And I think those the MX2 and the MX3 classes will be the ones that are going to be the most entertaining with the top ten, you know, arguably, could probably get on the box somewhere at any round. So, you know, that's it's set that up really nicely, which is good. Um, all right, we're off to Canberra next. That's in four weeks' time. So those that are feeling a bit hurt and busted up, uh Kyle might be feeling a bit sore, he's got four weeks ready to get to get things ready. Um, you know, Nathan Crawford's got four weeks to figure out what's happening on his side of things. Charlie Cannon's mechanics got four weeks to figure out how we can make sure the fuel line does not disconnect this time. Um, because the girls are not at Canberra. Sorry, no, they don't actually go to Canberra, their next round isn't until uh July, so they've got a bit of time off. I assume Charlie will be going over to the US to do her thing over there. Um, all right, that's pretty much it, Briggsie from round one in Wonthaggy. Um we're gonna catch up again at the next round in a month's time, so we'll speak to you guys then. We've got a round of the AEC too, so tune into our Enduro podcast after uh rounds three and four uh coming up here in New South Wales. Uh that'll be in a couple of weeks' time. But for now, I think that's a pretty good wrap on Wonthaggy, Briggsie.

SPEAKER_02 1:30:57

Yeah, yeah, definitely. Um we were hoping to get Jed on. I don't know what's happened there, but he's missed it.

SPEAKER_03 1:31:03

He's missed it. He's texting me saying he's he's got no reception and he can't get he can't get onto it.

SPEAKER_02 1:31:09

That's alright. We might try and catch up with him later in the week anyway and uh ask him about his his round one. And yeah, uh no, it's good. It's good to be back back at the races and watching it go. And I think um it also shows how lucky Kyle kind of is that we have a separated series, right? He's got a month off now to to regroup and recover, but yeah, yeah, looking forward to round two and seeing what these kids can do and and also the older guys, and yeah, great weekend of racing.

SPEAKER_03 1:31:36

Definitely, mate. All right, well, we'll uh catch everyone uh for round two of the 2026 Prime X series with a wrap with uh hopefully uh one of the guys who finishes in the top three, and of course, uh Jeff Briggs and Danny Ham will join us for that as well. So we'll see you guys in four weeks. Cheers.