EP#51 - 2026 ProMX Rd 2 Wrap with Danny Ham and Boyd's Moto Racing Matt Boyd

ADB's Mitch Lees caught up with ProMX commentator Danny Ham and Boyd's Moto Racing's Matt Boyd to talk about all the stuff that happened at Round 3 of the 2026 ProMX Championship on track and behind the scenes off the track. 

Transcript

SPEAKER_05 0:00

Welcome to the ADB Podcast, where we talk all things dirty with your host, Mitch Lee.

SPEAKER_04 0:08

Okay, guys, welcome to another ADB podcast. We've got another ProMex wrap this time from round two in Canberra. Um, and yeah, with me today I have uh ProMex commentator Danny Ham. Hammy, thanks for coming on the podcast.

SPEAKER_03 0:22

Always a pleasure, mate. No problem at all.

SPEAKER_04 0:24

And I also have Jeff Briggs. Briggsy's flying home, or sorry, driving home, but flying in the car to get home uh in five or ten minutes. He's still on the podcast, but he sounds like he's in a tin can. So apologies for the audio if it's a little bit average until Briggsie gets into his soundproof room. But Briggsy, thanks for coming on.

SPEAKER_00 0:41

Yeah, no always, mate. Yeah, just in the old uh WordPress, the big truck, and yeah, happy to be here again.

SPEAKER_04 0:48

Perfect. Uh all right, we're gonna get stuck into a wrap-up of Promox Round 2 in Canberra. But before we do, I am gonna just quickly thank our sponsor, Dunlop. Dunlop for sponsoring the show with the AT82 tire. It's a multi-directional tyre that has kind of different traction on either side of the knob. Uh so you can get traction on hard terrain and soft terrain, depending on which side of the knob is biting into the ground. So you can flick the tire around and get different traction depending on the terrain. So go check them out there. Dunlop, big thanks to those guys. Uh right, so Canberra round two. Um Jed Beaton came into it with a pretty healthy lead, having taken both motos uh down in Monthaggy. Um but now I wasn't there. Uh obviously Hammy was there commentating, he was there for a few days. Um that track, Hammy, looked challenging, to say the least. What like we know Canber gets like this, hard packed, full of ruts, but there were some sections where it looked sloppy mud, and then there's some sections where it looked like the freeway that you know you drove down there on, and then other sections where it was dusty. Did track crew track crew get unlucky with the weather, or what what was going on with that track?

SPEAKER_03 2:00

Uh it comes down to prep. Absolutely. Looking around the area is very, very dry down there, and the dams everywhere around the place were almost empty, if not completely empty. So straight up challenge for them with the amount of water. No matter what watering you do, you can never beat rain, obviously. We know that. Um, the way it goes into the ground is completely different. However, did they miss the boat just a little bit? I think so. Um, they have a watering system down there. I know on the Friday it was extremely windy down there. A lot of people were complaining about the dust that was getting blown around. So that there's a challenge for them trying to get water in when you've got those conditions. Having sprinklers that probably are just getting blown away anyway. Uh, it's gonna make the watering fairly uneven. And I think that's what we got a fair glimpse of for watering of some sections that really copped a lot, other sections it didn't cop enough. Uh, and that's what you got your mix and match done. Now, I'm not an expert on preparing a track. Um, I'm gonna leave it at that. Yeah, I'm not gonna say too much. I what I can say is I'm glad I wasn't writing it at that state.

SPEAKER_04 3:12

Yeah, I know, mate. Watching from the telecast, you know, it's it's such a good broadcast to watch. And um, man, I was just like, oh boy, have they missed the mark a bit with the track. It just looked like there were ruts in some of the sections, long, straight ruts everywhere. Um, and then the corners, there's ruts everywhere, but you could only really take one that was half fast. Um, so you know, while it kind of looked like okay, maybe you're gonna have several different options in each corner, there really was only one option. There were some insides that some of the guys were taking, which was were quite clever. Um, but oh yeah, a bit hard, I think, to watch for a for our national level event.

SPEAKER_03 3:47

So I uh Hoags and I walked the track at the end of the day, and yes, some of those ruts were gnarlier than you actually could imagine from the TV footage. Um, I don't know. I don't like a track like that. It it locks everyone says you've got to rip it deep, and it's gotta be this way for a national, but you can't move. You you just simply cannot move on the track. Yeah, you can't change your lines up. I I think it takes away from the racing. Yes, it's extremely hard to ride those things. Yes, the best riders will shine in those conditions. Uh I get that, but it just takes away a little bit from racing for in my eyes. I think we had some good racing, don't get me wrong. But I think if we have a track where you can move around a little bit, I think we generally find closer, more exciting racing when that happens.

SPEAKER_04 4:39

Yeah, definitely. Because I think even some of the lappers, the poor lappers, were getting in the way a little bit towards the end of those races because they just couldn't get out of the out of a rut. They were so deep, or you know, they were so tricky to get out of, and they kind of held, we're gonna get into it in a second, but even Kyle up when he was charging in that second moto, um, just simply because there was nowhere for him to go. So, and that's not really what you want to see. We want to see the the best, you know, kind of get together, um, not get together with lappers. So it is what it is. Um, aside from that, at least it was sunny, it wasn't raining, it wasn't like we had a full-blown mudder, it was just a bit disappointing with the track. Canberra attracted seemed to be like a pretty decent crowd. You'd say the crowd was pretty good.

SPEAKER_03 5:19

I I think so. Again, we get locked away in our little dog box all the time, and we've had two rounds now where we've had the nice commentary box, uh, being the truck getting taken around. I got told that we weren't to expect that as the standard at the first round, but two rounds in, we've got it. So uh pretty pumped about that. We get a chance at lunchtime, and it's half an hour, that's it, to get out of the box. So we start at nine in the morning in the box, we finish at four in the afternoon. Um, so it's a pretty long day for us. So, to answer your question, we don't get to see too much of the crowd. However, I did do my little walk at lunchtime, and there seemed to be a fair few people around, especially around the pit area. There was a lot of people moving around and checking out the teams. So I think the crowd was healthy. I don't know if it was big. Uh, numbers I couldn't possibly tell you, but it seemed like it wasn't too bad.

SPEAKER_04 6:10

Yeah. Uh lots of stuff for everyone to see now. There's so many trucks in the pits, there's more and more. Even some of the satellite teams, or I guess you probably call them, you know, almost privateer teams, have really good truck setups. Even you and Hoax are talking about on the broadcast about some of the um the lengths that these teams are going to to come across as professionals they can. So it's lots of lots for people to go and have a look at in um in the as a spectator.

SPEAKER_03 6:35

It's a great setup, it's a great setup for anyone that's never seen the sport before to go and see it. It is quite a spectacle. So, and the teams have done a great job at presenting themselves from the very big factory teams to, like you said, the smaller satellite teams, they're all there looking really, really professional. So that's great to see.

SPEAKER_04 6:51

Okay, let's get stuck into uh the classes. Now, later on in the podcast, we're gonna be joined by ADB's tech editor Matt Boyd because he is the bloke building motors for Riley Burgess, who came second in MX3. Um, so that's gonna be cool. We're gonna talk to Boydie about a bit about that class and building that motor, but also uh I think this is public uh enough knowledge, but Boyd's gonna be building bikes probably for Nathan Crawford on Honda. He's gonna be involved there anyway, putting motors together. So we've got a few questions we've got for Boydie about Crawford and where that's going as well. Uh so he's gonna join us later on, but for now, let's get stuck into MX1. Um Jed is the Jed Beaton show again. You know what surprised me? I know we know he's good still on hard pack, and I I know I know hard pack isn't Kyle Webster's forte, so to speak, but uh I felt like especially in that first motor, yes, we saw we'll talk about the second moto in a minute when Kyle Webster came out of nowhere and just was making up second after second, but I probably didn't expect to see Jed that quick around Canberra as I did, especially in Moto 1.

SPEAKER_03 7:57

Yeah, so last year he was really quick as well. If you if you can remember back then, he really dominated Canberra. It's uh a track that gels with him, no doubt. Uh look, it comes to the the bike setup. We've been saying it even towards the end of last year, leading into this year, the bike just looks so good underneath him. They've done a lot of work there at Monster Energy CDR, Yamaha, I've got to say that right. Um, yeah, they've done a lot of work, they've changed a few things around. Dak has said it on the broadcast, how they've even made some more changes this year to make him a little bit more comfortable. And quite honestly, if you look at the two bikes, when you talk about Kyle as well, and the way they sit underneath the riders, Beaton's bike just looks so planted on the ground. And I think that is a big key, especially when you get to these hard pack tracks, of why he can go so fast. Now, he was fast from the opening laps, first uh qualifying lap of the day, and he was four seconds faster than anyone. Yeah, no one was even close until the last two laps in qualifying. So it just goes to show how comfortable he is straight off the bat, straight out onto the track, and he just yeah, he just rode that wave the entire day.

SPEAKER_04 9:07

Um Kyle Webster coming through in that second moto. He he had did I was it two crashes or he had a terrible start? Then he had the weirdest crash in a rut on a left-hand quarter where he kind of endowed, but then absolutely well, he got within 1.9 seconds, I think, at one stage before he kind of that last lap, you know. Jed said afterwards in his um interview that he kind of knew he was getting close, so he wicked it back up a bit. Um, did you expect Kyle to be as quick as he was then at somewhere like Canberra?

SPEAKER_03 9:40

Uh yeah, look, Kyle, we uh it's been the norm over the last years that Kyle Webster, the sand rider, but yeah, he's an all-round rider. He really is. He's he's grown over the last few years. He can certainly ride hard pack, no problems at all. Um, we just kind of forget that. We just assume that he is that sand pack uh sand rider, the soft terrain rider, but he certainly knows how to go um very, very fast on the hard. It's just that when you watch him compared to Beaton, he seems like he's a little bit closer to the edge. And that might suggest why we see these small mistakes or the little tip overs that we saw. First moto, he's tip over. It was behind the trees for us. We couldn't really see it. I think there was just an either an over or underbalance in a rut that caught him out. Where he crashed was a very muddy part of the track. And the track crew did a little bit of work on the track in that lunch break because it was so muddy from the start of the day, no one was riding through that particular part, through the center of the track. Uh, so they went and did some work prior to the first of the MX-1 to try and open up the track a little bit, get some more lines in. And it kind of caught a few people off guard on that opening lap. There was no lines that they kind of thought were there, weren't there, and what was underneath the slosh was these ruts that they couldn't really see. So I think he just got caught out a little bit at the start. But when you see him get going, the speed he had was incredible. And and I really think that Kyle needed to do that this weekend. Had Beaton just run away with it like it looked like it was going to be, especially after that crash and then the off-track excursion. Mentally, for Kyle, he's very strong mentally, don't get me wrong, but mentally, that would have been a tough one to overcome going forward through the rest of the championship. I think he really needed to try and beat Jed, and I think he did the best that he could as far as that was the best result he could get without beating him. I think that was enough for him to realize or to to keep fresh in his mind, yep, I'm still in this, I can still run that pace and I can still run for this championship. I think it was extremely important for Kyle, and and he did that in that second motto, especially.

SPEAKER_04 12:00

Who do you think out of Jed and Kyle has more outright speed at a track like Canberra, Wonthaggy?

SPEAKER_03 12:08

Um who I'll I'll I'll phrase it this way: who's more willing to be on the edge and and and throw a blistering pace? I would think Kyle Webster probably is that guy. And he could probably ride it a little bit more comfortably at that edge than what Beaton does. Beaton doesn't generally like to get out of his comfort zone, but he's worked so well over the last year and a bit to improve how fast he's in that comfort zone. Um it's it's rare that you see him make too many mistakes or or have these little situations where you go, oh, that was a little close. Maybe he's pushing a little bit too hard. He he likes to stay comfortable, and I think his pace is picked up in that zone as well. So he is he's probably the more solid rider who's willing to go that little bit harder. I think beaten, I'm sorry, Webster, if he needs to, he can do it, and I think he can do it for a little bit, but it's not sustainable over an entire moto.

SPEAKER_04 13:05

Um beaten starts, he's got them dialed. He is always at the pointy end when he's starting, which is impressive. Um, bike or person related, because we're going to talk about Kyle's starts in a second. Um, but with Jed's, is it bike or is it is it Jed?

SPEAKER_03 13:22

Uh I think if I'm correct, they said that they did a lot of work on starts leading into the championship this year. Um, don't quote me on it, but I think I I had that conversation possibly with Dacker as to what's been going on. Uh I think it's a combination. Again, the bike is set up beautifully, you know. He's comfortable on the bike. Starts are a massive mental game. If you're comfortable knowing that you're gonna go out there and ride and probably win, you're probably gonna get good starts, decent starts, or starts that aren't gonna concern you. It's those moments where you start thinking about, oh crap, I've got to get a good start, or this is gonna happen, or I've got to do this or that. And if I don't, then it's gonna be a nightmare. And as soon as you start thinking that way on a start line, you're gonna get crap starts. So I think he is just in the right mindset to win races, and he knows that he doesn't have to necessarily get a whole shot, but he's put positioning himself decently every single time. And I think on the weekend that had a lot to do with the starting position on the gate.

SPEAKER_04 14:24

Okay. So where so Jed was obviously because he qualified fastest, he picked where where would have you started exactly where Jed was, or did you was it a bit odd?

SPEAKER_03 14:31

Yeah, around no, where around that area where Jed and those boys started from the inside, even if you didn't get a great jump, you were able to sneak around the inside and find yourself in a good starting, uh a good position coming out of turn one. Webster, he's a little further out, and we've seen some great starts from Webster. We know that he's a good starter, but if you miss time just a little bit, you are absolutely caught out in that first turn, especially with the way everyone was pushing from inside to outside. You could see, like, I mean, in the MX2 second motor where Haruki Okiyama went into the first turn first, he came out in about fourth. Yeah, because he drifted so wide and everyone else just snuck around the inside. So it's just, I don't know. I I was I was surprised with Webster's pick. I thought he, especially after the first one, I thought he might have gone inside a little bit more. I think that starting position was a big, big uh role in the outcome of those first turns.

SPEAKER_04 15:31

Um, coming off MX of Nations for Webster and the starts he had there, Wanthagi wasn't bad, but wasn't fantastic. And now Canberra, is there would there be any concern in Honda Truck about maybe doing more on the starts that you mentioned before about it being a mental game? These guys have done all the physical practical starts they can possibly do. Surely they've got the same peripheral and reaction time that it's elite. You were that that level, Hammy. You guys know how often you're doing starts. So if it's a mental thing, is there an issue for starts for Webster?

SPEAKER_03 16:03

I don't think so. I I just just honestly, I think it was gate position. If that was a corner that swept around, like we saw at Wanthagi, then it would have been a different story from where he was. He would have swept around and probably come out in the top three, no problem at all. Um, even if he didn't get the greatest of jumps, you can still sweep around and keep that momentum. Um, no, I don't think there's a problem for Webster. I think honestly, he comes out this next round. Where's the next round at Gilman? Yeah, he likes he likes Gilman. Um, you know, he's gonna go into that pretty comfortable. Same sort of start, though. You need to be well positioned on the gate. Um, no, I don't think there's a problem. I think as soon as Webster just shakes that monkey off his back with the the little mistakes he's been having, things are gonna turn around very quickly and he is gonna be well in it, especially after that moto number two on the weekend.

SPEAKER_04 16:54

Yeah, it's it's repeating the same story a bit for each moto where Webster catches Jed, then goes down. Webster catches Jed, then goes down. And I think like you said early earlier, um, he has probably the better outright pace. It's a bit it reminds me a bit of like the Bubba days where you know Bubba had so much outright speed and could easily catch anyone, but you just kind of braced yourself a little bit for like, oh, is he gonna push too hard and and come a cropper? So um it's a bit it's repeating it. Let's hope Gilman changes a little bit and we see a bit more of a steady eddy for uh Webster. And yeah, I mean he's not far he's he's been second, second at every kind of moto, so he's he's right there in the points. He doesn't have to panic about championship. There are so many rounds still to go. He doesn't have to panic about any of that yet. It'd be good to see him, you know, maybe even if he doesn't get the start, just hang there the whole the whole moto without yo-yoing back and forth. Um Tanti, third, that was better, I feel Canberra for him. Um, he's a hard, more a hard pack guy, you'd say, like Canberra track would suit Tanty.

SPEAKER_03 17:55

Um, I would think so. I think he he does pretty good in the hard pack conditions. Uh, very impressed with Tanty on the weekend, uh, especially out of round one. Remember, coming off a pretty major injury. Uh, didn't know where he was going to slot in. I think he did a decent job at round one, don't get me wrong. But I think there's been a massive um leap forward still, again, since then for this one here. So he is definitely trending in the right direction. It was a very, very solid ride. Uh, maybe just end of moto, maybe that fitness isn't at that elite level yet, which you wouldn't expect coming out of injury. He's been off the bike for racing for quite some time. So I think I think overall he did a really, really good job. And I think that's just going to keep getting better and better. Uh, Gilman, I think we're gonna see another strong performance out of him. Um, yeah, I was very impressed with the way he rode. I think that again, the Yamaha guys have got those bikes dialed in pretty good. They're two separate bikes, completely different bikes. So Dak says. Um, he's told me the differences on them. So they are they are a different setup. Um, they're not favoring one or the other, it's just the way that those two boys have individually gone out and tested and set their own bikes up. Yeah, um, and I think it still works pretty good. So really impressed with what he's done. I think he'll be a major force for these you know, podiums out throughout the rest of the year, along with a couple of other riders, but I think he is definitely one of the major ones now.

SPEAKER_04 19:27

Yeah, he's kind of if Jed and Kyle are the just that little bit ahead of the field, Tante's now kind of in this like mix between he's maybe not quite at the same speed as Beaton and Webster, but he's also seems to be more comfortable doing that speed than Wilson Todd and Ferris and you know Crawford, we're gonna talk about that in a second. Um, so I guess if he just hangs around and continues to podium, and then we get down to the last round or two, and Jed and Kyle are a neck and neck and they're gonna push each other. There is potential for him to be a bit of a Stephen Bradbury, you know, on the way through and pick up some silverware.

SPEAKER_03 20:02

Yeah, look, I I wouldn't be surprised if with the way he's going, that we don't see him be in a bit of a battle with these guys at some point through the year. I think he has definitely got the pace. Um, the fitness side of it is is a big thing. Him being confident in himself that he can run the entire race at the pace he needs to do to run with those guys is is the big thing. And I think if he can, you know, truly believe that in himself, then we may see him battle it out. Whether it's for a full moto, not sure. Maybe. Um, but certainly he has the ability to. So yeah, wouldn't be surprised if we do see it.

SPEAKER_04 20:42

Yeah. Uh the next little group of riders all kind of seem about a similar pace. Uh, and it was actually really cool to see the old dog in Todd Waters pushing his way through and fighting up the front uh and running pretty competitive speeds. You and Hoags were calling out the lap times, and they were pretty good. But Wilson Todd, uh Todd Waters and um Zach Watson there for KDM, they all kind of that like we've discussed earlier, that next uh group of riders. Um, any of those guys, I mean Wilson Todd was that was a bit better this weekend. He's young too, so he's got a lot of kind of probably speed to gain, especially if he hangs around Webster and he can follow what Webster does. Um, is Wilson Todd kind of Aaron Tanty level and it could potentially push before the end of the season for podiums?

SPEAKER_03 21:22

I yeah, for podiums, definitely. Uh just back from Tanty at the moment, I think he's still got a little bit of work, but another rider that's is moving in the right direction. Um, I'm I was expecting more out of him at the opening round, being a soft track. We've seen him in previous years, MX2, just how incredibly fast he was on those softer tracks. Uh so I was a little bit disappointed at one thaggy. I'm sure he was beating himself up just a little bit after that one as well, but he turned it around this round at Canberra. I think he did a pretty good job. He'll be one of your podium. Guys, uh, I wouldn't be surprised. Come Gilman, he's not battling for a podium there. No, I think he's definitely there. But but at Gilman, I think we're gonna see a few riders getting for the final spot on the podium.

SPEAKER_04 22:13

Yeah, some of the guys who prefer the deeper sandy kind of tracks. Um, Toddy Waters, he had a good one. He seemed to have a pretty consistent day all day. He ran good speeds, he was in around that same position. He's probably a bit higher than I thought he would be. There's a few other riders below him that I thought might be, oh, maybe one or two above him. Um, Zach Watson, I mean, he's on his own now with KDM. What a big kind of few weeks it's been. I don't know how close he was with Crawford before that all kind of fell apart.

SPEAKER_03 22:43

Don't know the relationship between them. Uh, do know that the relationship with Watson and KDM is great. Got a chance to talk to Cobb London on the weekend and and just have a chat with how things are going. And uh they're very, very happy with the way things are going with Watson. Um, they weren't expecting too much out of him, and I don't think they've now put the pressure on him to perform to the level that they expected um the number three to do it. But I think he is he's definitely uh impressing. I think he is still working out being on a team at the moment, how to approach it, what he can do as far as you know, testing and setups and all of that. He's still learning a lot at the moment. So I think KDM is quite happy with the way he's going, and his results were much better this round. I did the same deal with him. I expected more out of him at Wonthaggy. Yeah, um, whether they were crashes or problems before or leading up to it, I'm I'm not sure. But uh again, another solid ride. He was right there, just off the back of that sort of little group, but not far enough to say he can't catch them. I think he's definitely one of those riders that will be contending for podium. Um, probably more so for fifth at the moment, but maybe later on in the year we'll see him definitely up there.

SPEAKER_04 24:05

Um Luke Zelensky, what a ride. From he's the first privateer across the line, and he was holding off Webster at one stage. He was holding off Dean Ferris at one stage. Uh, this is a bloke that's got to work all week. Um, that was impressive, and he's on that privateer Yamaha team. They're putting in a pretty good effort. I heard you and Hoax mention that they've got a truck, they've kind of got the the setup going. So um he's been around for a bit. We know he's got speed, and he's probably, you know, a fringe factory guy in terms of what he can offer. Uh, but man, he's got to be happy with how he did on the weekend.

SPEAKER_03 24:40

Absolutely. His name started coming up towards the end of last year. We started seeing uh him really coming to light. Uh, so it's no it's no surprise that he's in the mix up there with those guys. Um to hold off you, like you said, Ferris and and whoever else was battling him at the time. I think that's a pretty solid performance for him. Um, it's hard as a privateer for those guys at that level who go to work, like you said, all week long, turn up at the race. It's hard for them to be able to put the time and effort in they need to do to be able to run an entire moto at the pace of the pro guys that are out there doing it all the time. Uh, it's not to say that it can't happen, but you do see at the start of the races where they have that energy burst and they are able to run those lap times, and towards the end, they fade off just a little bit. Uh, that is that is uh uh a trait of someone that has to go to work every single week because they just don't get that time to be able to really put that effort in. And I think it's just showing how great a job he is doing to be able to run up there with them guys.

SPEAKER_04 25:55

Is there yeah, is the I mean he's in front of a couple of factory guys, he's proved himself he's proved to kind of everyone out there and all the teams that he can do what he can do on a privateer bike. Um, is he young enough that there's potential in the future get tapped on the shoulder by any of the teams, especially from some of the guys that he's beating? I mean, we we've got one rider on a KDM on the factory team, that's it now. Um, you know, obviously Todddy's just got himself on the husky team, he's in front of the the Kawasaki guys. Is there potential to go factory for for him or is he is he a bit too old? Is he young enough to go factory?

SPEAKER_03 26:30

No, I think he's definitely uh uh a rider that could get onto a team. I think he would do good, but everyone's got this misconception that you know you you do great on a privateer bike. The moment you're gonna factory bike, you're gonna gain another second or two, and you're gonna be that guy that's just unbelievably fast. It doesn't work that way. That's the beauty of motocross. You don't have to have the absolute best bike in the world to be the best rider on the track. Yes, it helps. Yes, it makes a big difference, but just the fact getting onto another bike isn't going to make you become a winner. But what he is doing at the moment is certainly proving that he he has the ability to ride fast. He he has ability if he did have a team to work with him, and as long as he could work with that team as far as setups and understandings, he could be one of those guys that maybe he is up there. Does he get a tap on the product? He could. I don't think he's out of the question. I think he's certainly a guy that has proven himself to be able to, especially if you look at supercross ladder in the year as well. Um, he may get something come his way. The rider goes out with injury, maybe he gets a call up. I don't know. It's it's hard to get into a team when we don't have a lot of spots as it is, and the teams really roll over their riders each year. So it is a tough one. Um, but he's not out of the question.

SPEAKER_04 27:52

Yeah. Um, he beat Dean Ferris, which is impressive because I would have thought Canberra would have suited Dean down to a T. Hard pack, rudded, long. Dean's so good technically. Um, and we know how what his you know natural bike ability is like. He's a four-time MX Nats champion. Uh he had an issue. I've texted him, I haven't heard back from him yet. It looks like he had an issue in Moto 2 where he just dropped down the leaderboard. He was charging through. He was worked his way up to fourth and then he dropped down the leaderboard. Do you know if he crashed or he had a slight mechanical because then he hovered around 10th and 11th?

SPEAKER_03 28:27

Yeah, uh no, I don't know myself. I could only assume that it was uh a crash of some sort for the fact that yes, he dropped down and then hovered around that position as if it took him a little bit of time to get back up and get going. Um so I think it was a crash, but I don't know. Um, I'm the same as you. I kind of expected Dean to be, especially after one thaggy, maybe just a little bit better on that condition track. Uh, the technical side of it, I thought he was going to be a guy that was certainly running up there for the podium. Um, again, bad starts. You put yourself in the middle of a pack, you've got a lot of work ahead of you to try and get uh up to the front to a point where you can challenge it out. So, from what I can remember, I don't think he got a great start in either of them two races. He was buried pretty deep, which puts him on the back foot straight away. And like you said, with the track the way it was, it's hard to get around guys if you're slot hard into a rut that goes for 50 meters. There's not a lot you can do. So maybe that had a bit to do with it, but I did expect him to be up there a little bit more. I know that he's been working pretty hard leading into it. Um, bike setups to try and get a bit more comfort, be a bit better on the bike. Maybe they weren't quite there on the weekend. I'm not too sure. Okay.

SPEAKER_04 29:54

Um, yeah, there's kind of no excuses for the starts because Westy, his teammate, got had a Kraken start in Moto 2. Uh, he was kind of top four or top five, and he stayed there for a little bit. So uh, and we all know he's got how much speed that guy has and how much potential he has. So um, yeah, it was uh it'd be good to see Deno get a start and see what he could do with the start. Um Jacob Sweet was the next guy in line. He was on another privateer Yamaha. It seems like if you're a privateer go Yamaha, we know how much power they have, we know that they're kind of ready to go out of the crate, there's not much work that needs to be done. Uh that was pretty impressive. Um, and then I gotta ask, was it Rossan? I can't pronounce his last name. Rossanditch, Rosenditch, um Rosendic, Rosenditch. Rosenditch, yeah. Uh was it him? There was someone in Moto 2 on a KDM who had this start on the far inside that just blew him off the track. He kind of went off the track, was riding along the side of the grass, and then hopped back on the track, looked scary as hell, got all sideways before it kicked him off the track. Was that him or was it Fitzpatrick?

SPEAKER_03 30:54

I'm not sure. I didn't even take any notice of it. I'm looking around through the pack to try and see where everyone is, and I I've completely missed that. There was a few guys that got pushed off the track going around turn one down through those rollers and everything. Uh, wouldn't surprise me with some bar banging going on down that star straight if there was a few more incidents on the way down. So it looks scary. Uh, don't know who it was, but yeah, it was pretty wild going into that first turn.

SPEAKER_04 31:19

Sweet and Ross Sandage were next, they did pretty good. Then we've got Nathan Crawford. We're gonna talk about Crawford for a second because it's obviously the big news for this round. They've got him listed here on a KDM. So obviously he filled in all his uh entry forms before he decided what brand he was going to be on. For those that don't know, Nathan Crawford has parted ways with KDM. He was, you know, their tier one factory rider. He is that's no longer the case. Uh he is hopping on a he's on a Honda uh and essentially a privateer Honda. But from what we've been told, it wasn't uh he hadn't didn't actually get a 2026 Honda Zero 450 and go and put his stuff in it. It's one of Konsky's bikes that he had spare that he borrowed, from what we've been told. He finished fourth in Moto 1, which is exciting. Probably I I mean, I'm gonna ask you this in a second, Hammy, but I would have thought maybe better than he was doing on the KDM. He certainly looked like he was maybe riding a bit more confidently. Uh, and then Moto 2, he was working his way through. There were a whole bunch of guys in Moto 2 that started in like 15th, including Web Star Ferris, Waters, it was a shocker for him for some reason. And Crawford was in that group, he was working his way through, and then you and Hammy noticed that he pulled off. We just heard today that uh through someone that knows Crawford uh in internally there that he's he fried a clutch. So whatever happened when he was pushing his way through the pack, he's done a clutch. That's sounds to me the kind of like the kind of thing you do when you've got a bike two weeks before you go racing and you haven't maybe had a chance to set everything up. Um how hard would that be to hop on a brand new on a brand he hasn't ridden for a long time and go forth in Moto 1 with no support either. I'm assuming he just turned up into high ace and off he went.

SPEAKER_03 33:04

Um I don't really have enough information uh to give uh an exact answer to that. Uh I don't know how long he's been riding a bike, the red bike for. Um did he ride better on that than he did the KDM? Yes. Did he put in a big effort on the KTM at Wanthaggy? I don't know. We don't know. We won't know. Um we know we what we can say is that we know the skill level of Nathan Crawford. We've seen it over the past couple of years. And again, I think I said this in the first one. There's the frustration of watching him ride like he did at Wonthaggy, knowing what he is capable of. Uh, I think he showed that in motor number one down at Canberra, no doubt. He looked pretty good on that bike. Uh, yes, it's far from being the ideal setup at this point. They haven't had enough time to get it right. I think he will find more comfort and and probably a little bit more speed too, when they do get that opportunity to test a bike and get it ready to go for him to race at 100% race pace. So uh it was a preview, I guess you could say, of what to expect moving forwards. Uh, there's not a lot of time until our next round. Uh, how quickly they can move on that and get it to what he wants, I don't know. Uh, I don't know the support that he's going to be getting and what um uh parts and and you know things, tech suspension that he's got available at his fingertips to be able to get the bike that he wants. Again, though, the beauty of motocross is that it is 80, 90 rider, uh, 10, 20 bike. So he is able to, because he is such a talented rider, to be able to twist that throttle and get it moving. Um, I think we'll see a bit more out of him yet, don't get me wrong. Um to fry a clutch in the second race didn't seem like there was anything wrong, but I mean, we didn't see much either on TV. And again, we are very limited to what we see on TV. So um, yeah, interesting. We'll wait and see, I guess. Come Gilman. Uh, I'd I wouldn't be surprised to see him doing a very similar thing at Gilman, maybe even a bit stronger. Um, it's good, it's good. It gets another person in the mix.

SPEAKER_04 35:38

Yeah. Um, what means more? What means more to Crawford? Passing Zach Watson, like he did in Moto One, or passing Wilson Todd, who we know he's in he wants to be on a Honda next year, and we know that he's got an eye on that factory Honda team. What means more to him? His old teammate, or it potentially the guy that he could take the seat of?

SPEAKER_03 36:00

I think it's probably pretty even between the both of them. He certainly wanted to beat KTM. Yeah, there's no doubt in that. I mean, we don't have to be a rocket scientist to work that one out. Um, but to to get a spot on Honda next year and to be able to beat Wilson Todd, the factory guy on the weekend, that's got to feel pretty good. There would definitely be a motivational driver for him to go and do that, no doubt. So uh I think both of them were probably gonna sit pretty good with him. Unfortunately, he just couldn't close it out in Moto 2 with that bike issue. Um, otherwise, yeah, it would have been a pretty solid performance out of him.

SPEAKER_04 36:40

Yeah. Um, all right, the the rest kind of slot into line, you know, West, Goggins, Jackson, uh, Cody Olin on the beater um alone. So yeah, everyone else did pretty well. Regan Duffy, he's still there, which is cool to see. And actually, it was cool to see Joel Campbell on a Stark. Did I see John Prudy's name pop up somewhere on a Stark? Was he racing on a Stark there too?

SPEAKER_03 37:00

So I didn't see him at the track. Uh, I only saw a post on social saying that he was making a start there on the weekend. And I know there was a couple of Starks. Interesting though, to have the Starks there. I didn't think they would make it through an entire race. No. At the 450 level. Yeah. So I can understand a 250 level where you're down a little bit on power, then it should make it through, but I didn't think it'd make it through on the 450 race, but I haven't seen how the Starks are performing these days either.

SPEAKER_04 37:29

So yeah, I know that you guys talked about the about I think it was Camp Jai Campbell Stark he pulled off second motor. So I don't know what happened there. We'll have to get in touch with him, figure it out.

SPEAKER_03 37:40

Not often you see a Stark getting pushed off the track. Yeah. Unless it's run out of battery, but it was way too early in the moto, so I don't know what happened there.

SPEAKER_04 37:46

Yeah, it can't be a battery thing, it must be something else. Um, okay, let's uh that's that's MX1 uh done and dusted. Uh like we said, it was impressive to see Cole come charging through the pack. He showed some incredible speed, but it was Jed's weekend going 1-1 again. He's won every single moto now for two rounds. Uh, so it's gonna be fun in Gilman to see if someone can break that streak. Um let's talk about MX2 because that is still like we discussed in the first uh podcast, that's still the best class. That that class is frigging wild. There's so much happening in it. Um now broadcast didn't let us see Moto 1 for MX2, but uh I know Larwood had some dramas. I I texted Konsky. Oh yeah, yeah, I texted Konsky a couple hours ago and it was like, what happened in in um Moto 1? He he snapped a what did Konsky say? He snapped a gear lever, a gear shifter, crashing into a fallen rider. And uh Konsky messaged me afterwards saying uh uh F my life or a lot on that toes, you know, how does this kind of happen? You know, so poor old Konsky's putting in, everyone on that team is putting in so much effort, and that's so random, it's so unfortunate to happen. Um so, but man, was he how how he finished a whole moto in gear two, didn't blow anything up, didn't cook anything, didn't run out of fuel on a track like that. You you hear that happening in supercross, and you go, well, okay, they don't need as many gears in supercross, but for motocross to be stuck in second, even stuck in third or fourth, ride the clutch, hope you don't fry it. But second, um, still impressive. What did it look like on the track?

SPEAKER_03 39:25

Yeah, so um I was to be quite honest, and I said it in the second motor in the broadcast, it was a disappointing start to the day for Larwood. Uh, after one thaggy, what we saw, we were expecting this incredible ride out of him from the moment he got out in the track, and it just didn't develop that way. Ninth in qualifying, he didn't look fantastic, but let me also say MX2 and qualifying absolutely sucks. They have a brand new track, there are zero lines, qualifying really doesn't mean too much for the MX2 class. Uh, I'll just say that because it it is rubbish for them. They get the mud, they get a track that has nothing to work with. So throw that out the door. Anyway, moto number one didn't get a great start. Uh, and if if the incident that did his gear lever is the one that I I thought it was, it was with Seth Birchell. Yeah, uh, it certainly looked like it would have been it, the way he hit the bike, where he hit the bike. Um, that was about I don't know an exact number, but I feel like it was eight, ten minutes into the race. Prior to that, Lawoard still wasn't moving. He wasn't really getting into the flow like we were expecting him to do. So I don't think he was comfortable to start the day. Yeah. Have the problem, get through it. Second moto, completely different rider. Absolutely, completely different rider. And that's what we expected from the start of the day. So, whatever they did in the break, whether it was just a mental thing, resets, uh, whether they changed something on the bike so that he was more comfortable, I have no idea. But whatever they did, they did the right thing because he came out completely different rider. And he came out the same guy we saw on Wont Thanky. There, determined, ready to win this championship.

SPEAKER_04 41:19

Yeah, because he caught everyone and passed everyone. Um, it was pretty impressive, even caught up to Cade. I mean, I know Cade Kingsford didn't, he he would have been doing the maths in his head, he would have had maybe a pit board telling him that he didn't need first. There's no point in battling your teammate, that's for sure. Uh, to take first overall, and that's all that matters is the first overall at the end of the day. Uh so uh it was impressive to see him come through in the second moto and do what he did, Alex Larwood. And like you said, he looks so comfortable. There was just like you know, he had no issue catching a lot of those guys. Um, but Cade Kingsford, you know, I'd probably say it was his day. Uh first in moto one, led most of Moto 2 uh and before getting past, and you know, then held strong for second. He kind of latched onto Larwood, held off about five seconds from Larwood and kind of followed some lines and seemed to get into a groove after that too. Um still impressive by Cade.

SPEAKER_03 42:11

Hey, absolutely, uh very impressive. If you saw the start that he had, I know I wasn't on the broadcasts. Uh if you saw the start he had in moto number one, it was disgusting. It was like 15th, 16th, somewhere around that going around turn one. And somehow by the end of the first lap, he was in the lead. Whatever he did on that opening lap, because we couldn't see it all, was just incredible. I'd I'd honestly I'd blown away with the pace he had. Whether everyone was riding around with their handbrakes on or something, I don't know. But he was absolutely flying from the moment he got going out of turn number one. Um, so yes, very, very impressed. No, he didn't have to go and win the second motor, and he would have been very well aware of that. Uh, even if it was a different rider, he could have still probably sat there in second and come away with the win because the riders were a little bit all over the place with their motor one results. Um, but I know that Cade would have loved to have raced for the win. Uh, but at the same time, this is his first ever MX2 overall, and that would have been sitting pretty firmly with him going into that race that he wants to get that win. So, like you said, why would you risk that um by going and doing something silly, which in Moto 1, he did. He had his 22nd lead and then had a tip over and then caught up, and then a few corners later almost went down again. So I think he did the right thing. I think him riding around, latching onto the back of Larwood, like he said on his podium, looking at some lines, getting a little bit more comfortable, signs of a mature rider, an MX3 guy into MX2, signs of a mature rider. So I think he did the right thing, and he is very impressive considering. Considering he has come out of MX2 because even I thought, will his MX3 pace be enough for MX2? Well he's pretty much answered that, hasn't he?

SPEAKER_04 44:08

Yeah, he certainly has. He was going fast, and um, I think you know, we're talking about pace, and when we get to him, it's it's a combination of Hondas and KDMs and Kawasaki's at the top um the top eight before you hit a Yamaha. And we're so used to seeing Yamaha at the pointy end, especially in that 250 class. You know, if you look all around the world, especially in the US, you know, the Star Yamaha bikes have got lots of power. We've all ridden the stock Yamaha's have got lots of power. Um, so you just kind of expect them to be on that same pace as Cade Kingsford and Um Larwood are displaying. So, but we'll get there. Um next up was Dylan Walsh. Now, what a day did he did he have? It was I mean that like I said, we couldn't watch Moto 1. Uh, but you know, he was third in Moto 1 and then fourth in Moto 2, and he was only fourth in Moto 2 because uh we all know that Alex Anderson passed in the last corner. So for those that didn't see it, Alex Anderson kind of stalked uh Dylan Walsh all Moto. He was only like a second and a half off. In fact, he led Walsh for a while there. Um and then um followed him around and then the very last corner, 50 metres before the finishing jump, he just shot down the inside, took out Walsh's front tire and went through. Now, I am totally fine with that pass as a spectator and as someone who is watching this to be entertained. We all pay our money every month to stand or whatever subscription service you have to watch this. That I want to be entertained. I thought it was clean enough, it was aggressive, but it was a cracking pass and off he went. Shouldn't have left it open. I feel like Walsh was wide, just hug that inside.

SPEAKER_03 45:42

Yeah, yeah. So a couple of things with that one. Um, I think Walsh had a bit of a crash earlier in the day, so he was struggling a little bit with comfort out in the track. Uh, he had a good moto number one, battling it out with Byron Dennis there for quite a bit. Yeah. Uh in the end in moto one, he actually had to make some passes to get there up in the third place. So he did right very, very well. Uh, second moto got around the outside of Ryan Alexanderson, gapped him a little bit, but then Alexanderson regroups and then, like you said, stalked him all the way to the end. Second last turn, Walsh makes a mistake. Walsh admits that on the podium, opens the door basically for an opportunity. Now, I said on the broadcast, I got pretty excited about it that uh, you know, it was fair game and I love seeing this. I don't like seeing the takeout side of it. I do like the fact that we've got riders on the track, and it includes him that is willing to race to the checkered flag because there's been too much over the last few years where riders just get into their pace and they ride around, and this is the place I'm gonna finish, and they decide that at 10 minutes, and there's still another 15 minutes to go. So I'm liking the fact that these guys are pushing it all the way to the end. Excitement level, absolutely, it was great to see for the excitement level. Uh, aggressive, absolutely aggressive, but you've got to remember for it was third, it was for third on in the race, and it was very close to him ending up on the podium because of that move. He he was two points short. Um, and he Alex Anderson said that he got told by the pit board need to pass for the podium. Um, so yeah, in his mind, he thought that might have been what he needed. And if it got him third on the podium, then you know, why else would you do it? You'd have to do it. Yeah, um, so yes, very aggressive. Like you said, yes, there's gonna be a repay down the line, which again, good for us because it makes it more exciting. Exactly. Um, but no, look, I I'm I'm all about racing to the check and flag, and that's that's what I was most excited about.

SPEAKER_04 47:42

Yeah. Um he whals did mention that he's got a you know, eyes, he's gonna need eyes in the back of his head because he'll have a he'll be going looking for him if he's gonna get in the way. So that just is better for us as spectators. This is sport, and that's why we love it. That's why we love our sport. Um, but he had a really good ride. The Kawasaki's off the start in Moto 2 were all really strong, I felt.

SPEAKER_03 48:05

Yeah, they uh they had a a solid ride, that second moto. I don't think they were as good in the first one. Um, Ryan Alexanderson had a crash in the first one. He was up there, I think, definitely top 10, maybe closer to the fifth, maybe isn't about sixth. Uh, and it was early on, maybe lap two or three. So we didn't really get to see what Alexanderson could do. He didn't qualify again all that great, throw the qualifying out the window, like I said before.

SPEAKER_02 48:31

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 48:31

Um, but he was definitely a writer that was up there. And I'm not surprised. I'm I was expecting Alexanderson from what we've seen in years past, obviously he spent some time overseas, that he would be a rider that could potentially be a podium guy. Uh, and he's shown that he is that potential podium guy, which is good because that brings another one, like we said before, into the mix. The more of them we get, the more exciting the racing is. And I still think we haven't seen the best out of everyone in this class either. I think there's still some guys yet to shine that will also be a part of that podium mix. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 49:07

Um, Byron Dennis was far fast in the first one, and um Byron has shown so much speed over the last few years coming through as a junior, especially um a few years ago. Uh so we know that he's fast, but unfortunately he went down in Moto 2 while kind of in that top three or four, so it kind of bumped him back to I think he finished fifth or sixth in Moto Two. Um, but could have been a different story had he you know finished just one place higher, he probably would have picked Dylan Walsh for second on the outright podium. Um, but he that's I think Dennis has got to be really happy with that second place finish in Moto 1, especially considering you know he doesn't have a gazillion years of experience in this class.

SPEAKER_03 49:48

He would want to be happy with it. Yep. I had a chat with his dad um just before the whole weekend started, you know, just expressing how impressed I was with him out of Want Thaggy. Uh, it's these little mistakes that he's making that's holding him back at the moment. Once he figures these out and can do an entire moto, mistake free, uh, and have that confidence, that self-believe in himself that that he is a winning guy. I think we're gonna see a lot more out of him. It's just gonna take one result. Yeah, that's all. And then he is going to be a constant top three guy every single time he's on the track. Yeah. Um, and it's not far away. It's not far away.

SPEAKER_04 50:31

That's good. It's exciting to hear too, because that just, you know, we're so used to the Honda Yamaha battle, but it's the two KDM boys in the 250 class now that are taking it to the Honda team. So it's cool to see another colour in there. Uh, and especially, you know, Walsh coming from overseas is um exciting too. Um Matt Dixon, he did well. Uh, first kind of privateer across the line, right at Kingsford. Obviously, I think he he crashed in Moto 2 midway through. I'm not sure what happened in Moto 1, but a crash in Moto 2 kind of just meant he had an average day.

SPEAKER_03 51:01

Yeah, he was also average like Lawood at the start of moto number one. They both were in that similar area on the track and really didn't seem to be moving forwards. I don't think the comfort level was there. This was one of those tracks that uh I'm sure they can ride ruts, no problems. But if you're slightly uncomfortable in these conditions, it's really going to have a big impact on your speed and ability to get through the day comfortably. So I think that maybe played into it a little bit. Add the tip over, and all of a sudden your frustrations are going through the roof, trying to work out what you've got to do to get a clean race. So he's one of the riders that I'm saying we haven't seen the best out of him yet. Uh, I think we will. He went into the year um with some setbacks. Um, and I think he's still working through that to get himself to be that elite level once again. And he's a rider that definitely can. Let's backtrack though. Maddie Dixon, again, you didn't see motor one. Maddock Dinkson came from probably further back than anyone, maybe 18th in the first race out of the first turn. Something crazy. I remember seeing how far back he was. And he blitzed everyone to the checkered flag, right to the back wheel of those top guys on the checkered flag. So he had an incredible moto number one. Moto number two certainly didn't show it, but moto number one was insane how fast he was going. He was picking them off like they were absolutely nothing. So that's another rider that could potentially be a podium guy if he can work out his weekend.

SPEAKER_04 52:40

Do we know what team he's on? It's obviously not the factory Honda team. They've got enough riders in there. It's his own team.

SPEAKER_03 52:45

He's just doing his own thing, to my knowledge, but I may be maybe mistaken.

SPEAKER_04 52:50

Yeah, okay. Wow. Sorry, Dixon, Maddox, uh, sorry, Maddox Dixon's on a KDM, not a Honda. And uh yeah, it's it's obviously got to be his own team. So that's impressive. Jed Ols was in after him on a Honda, another privateer. Um, who you know Jed had a good first moto result. Um, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 53:06

We know he's far down in the second one, uh had a crash as well. Okay, so yeah, he he's again that track. If you're not feeling it, it's gonna reach up and bite you. So I think there was too many riders that that happened to on the weekend.

SPEAKER_04 53:22

Yeah. Uh then we get to the the question that I've got for you is Noah Ferguson Kobe Hantis. What's yep, what's going on with uh, you know, that Yamaha Monster Energy Yamaha team, they should really be top three, top two, um, just with the f the level of support that they get. Uh, and we know how how impressive Yamaha's motorsport department are. They they just run very elite professional teams. What what's going on? Uh, ninth and tenth, that they should be higher than that, especially being beaten by two privateers.

SPEAKER_03 53:56

Uh Ferguson 100% should be much higher than he is. Um, I don't have an answer for that. I have an answer for what's going on with Yamaha. That track doesn't matter how powerful or incredibly set up your bike is if you're not feeling the groove. It's just that simple. If you aren't gelling with the track, you're going to have a bad day. Sorry. And I think that's probably the ultimate reason is just that they didn't get into that groove with that track and it put them a long way back. So uh they probably had some issues, possibly off-screen from what we saw through the day. Uh, it didn't take much to have a small tip over somewhere along the way. I think Birchell was down at one point at least in, I think it was like I said, Moto One. I think that was him that went down. He was showing there for a little bit with some speed. Um, Hantis, the same deal. So these boys, they they showed some speed, but their results certainly don't. I think their results probably look worse than the riding that we saw on track. Um, but yeah, they just weren't in the groove, I don't think.

SPEAKER_04 55:06

Um, yeah, they're down in sixth overall in the championship. Noah Ferguson is, and he's got a little bit of a hole to climb out of because Cade Kingston's leading it on 83 with Alex Larwood on 80 points. Um, and yeah, Noah's down on 58. So, you know, there's still a lot of racing to go, but it's starting to uh he's starting to drop back a little bit, especially just like you said, being on that Yamaha team. Um so we don't they they kind of get a bit further up there. Um we dropped down to Yoko Yama. You talked about him before as well. Uh he whole shot it almost, and then it kind of dropped right back. He have you had it have you caught up with he speaks English pretty well on yeah, yep. Yeah, have you had a chance to catch up with him at all for the broadcast?

SPEAKER_03 55:50

Not not this year. I've spoken to him many, many times. He's had a great, great guy, nice guy. Um he's so small that power to wait on that bike with him getting to the first turn is no surprise at all. Um, and but he he also had a great race with fellow countrymen Soya Nakajima as well. And they were in the mix of like four or five riders. So they were all doing pretty good. I think they were top 10-ish area, um, some inside, some outside of the top 10. It's it's really showing the depth in this class. It's just it's incredible. It doesn't matter where you look on the track, there's battles going on. Um, but yeah, he he's a great guy. Um, those conditions, although he's so sure he can't touch the ground anyway. So he um the rut you wouldn't think would concern him because he's got to be feet up everywhere anyway. So um, no, he's a good rider. He is really, really exciting to watch sometimes. I know he likes Gilman, so we'll see some better results out of him, I think, as we move next next round.

SPEAKER_04 56:50

Okay, cool. It was cool to see him do well off the start too. Someone like uh with the Japanese import, a lot of excitement around him. So that was cool to see. Uh hey, let's conscious of time, let's move into MX3. Uh, was there was nothing else in MX2 that stood out that uh, you know, that we didn't see before the broadcast either, with anything that might have happened.

SPEAKER_03 57:08

No, no, but I don't think we've seen, as I said, the best of everyone yet. And I think this really is gonna be the exciting class to watch moving forwards. I think there's gonna be some shakeups. Uh, but the boys have got some work ahead of them if they want to run with the Honda guys. Yeah, they certainly have a couple of steps to take to try and make that work.

SPEAKER_04 57:31

Yeah, definitely. Um, it's gonna be exciting. It's gonna be that is the best class, especially now that Lawood had that shocker in Moto 1. We get a chance to um see him come back in points, and it's evened up a little bit, so that's exciting. Uh okay, let's move into the MX3 uh wrap, and we're gonna bring in Matt Boyd. He's gonna join us on the call because Boyd was spinning spanners on Riley Burgess's bike, who came second uh at in Canberra. Boyd, thanks for coming on the podcast.

SPEAKER_05 57:59

Thanks for having me.

SPEAKER_04 58:01

Um so Hayden Draper was fast, but he was gifted, Moto 2 anyway, that first place when um Ellingham went down. He won Moto uh one Thagi, Draper. He's looking pretty solid. Um is Draper, I'll ask you first, Tammy. Um, watching on on both motos, is uh Draper is Draper faster than anyone else in that class, or is there a chance that some of those guys, Riley Burgess, uh Roe, Downey, we know Ellingham can match the speed. Can they can they catch him?

SPEAKER_03 58:38

I think so. Um consistency, strength on the bike. Draper probably has the hold over everyone else. Speed-wise, there's a couple of guys that I think can run with his pace, no problem. They proved it on the weekend with Roe and especially Ellingham. I think those guys have proven Ellingham, especially. I think he's another one, just like I said, with uh Byron Dennis, same sort of situation. The moment he gets that good result, uh, and it was a good result on the weekend, but the moment if he can pick up a win, it's gonna keep coming to him. So we were hoping that was happening on the weekend because then that would have rolled into the next round and the next round, and then we would have had this really good three-way battle up the front.

SPEAKER_02 59:20

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 59:20

Um, but yeah, as far as the strength and confidence at the moment, I don't think anyone's matching Draper. The speed-wise, yes, there is a few guys, they just need to work out their four races.

SPEAKER_04 59:32

Yeah, okay. Um Boydy, when you're trying to get someone like Riley in the game, uh, get his head in the right space coming into Canberra, and you know that Draper is fast, he's on you know equipment that's funded and paid for by a factory and um, you know, not your workshop. Um, is it hard to get him mentally ready to take on someone like Draper knowing how fast he is?

SPEAKER_05 59:57

Um no, not really. I mean in Australia it's not really like we're in a situation where we can't get what anybody else is getting or can't do with bikes like you know what everybody else we're on a fairly uh even playing field. Like um they're not getting any special parts from Yamaha that's making their bike entirely better, or there's nothing in that bike that's making Draper faster than anybody. Okay, it's just simply he's a uh a good rider on a good bike.

SPEAKER_04 1:00:30

Um let's talk about Riley Burgess, mate, because he's your rider. Um Riley is he's young. How old is Riley? Riley's still 17. Yeah, he's still 17. We we caught up with Riley at Supercross in Melbourne last year. It was good fun just with his family, and um actually Riley Burgess's younger or youngest brother did some testing. Yeah, did some testing for us. Yeah, yeah, little Flynn. Yeah, it flin did out at Cessnaut, which was good fun. So we kind of got to know the family a bit there. Very humble, very down-to-earth family. In fact, Riley, sometimes I feel like mate, you are aware you're a top three in one of our pro classes because he's you'll you'll see him on like an electric balance bike randomly stuffing around out the side in front of a stadium or out the front of a track. He's very laid back. I've never seen that guy look like he's even close to nervous. Uh, and he's second in the points in MX3 as they run. Uh, and he was was uh third on sorry, second on the weekend as well. Um, what's is he really that not bothered by pressure?

SPEAKER_05 1:01:34

Um I mean, you know, in internally we see him get pretty serious before the race and start concentrating on what he has to go out there and do, but uh yeah, he is pretty relaxed. But I think for Riley, uh things are probably gonna change for him when he actually realizes that he can and deserves to win that race.

SPEAKER_04 1:01:56

Um what have you done to his bike? How he's he that's essentially a privateer bike. I mean, I know there are a lot of privateers in this class, it's really just Yamaha and Honda that have got any kind of special treatment, I guess. But um, is there anything in his bike that make allows him to be competitive? Because if you look down the line of who did well on the weekend, it goes Yamaha, then Burgess, then Yamaha, Yamaha, Yamaha, Yamaha, Gas Gas. So this you're doing something boidy that means he's finished above four other Yamahas.

SPEAKER_05 1:02:26

I mean, for us, we're probably in a bit of a unique spot. We can do what we like to the bike. We don't have any sponsors telling us we can't. I don't have any manufacturers saying you can't do that, you can't use this, I get to do what I want. Uh so that gives us the uh opportunity to put a good engine together, picking and using the best parts that we want.

SPEAKER_01 1:02:46

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 1:02:46

And I can tune it, I can use the pipe we want to use, I can use the pistons we want to use, I can use the valves, the cams, the ECUs. I get to pick the best of the best, and uh because we're paying for it all, there's nobody to tell me, sorry, that doesn't align with our sponsors. We uh we get free reign.

SPEAKER_04 1:03:05

Do you think he can go the same speed as you know, let's let's say Draper, uh let's say Devison, because I don't know what happened on the weekend, but he was fast in Monthaggy, he just missed it. Jackson Fuller, do you think he's got Riley Burgess has got the same speed as those guys?

SPEAKER_05 1:03:21

Absolutely. So me and Riley had this conversation after Wonthaggy when uh I mean everywhere I looked, every comment, every forum, every news outlet was talking about how Draper looked so effortless on the track, and you know how much faster he was than anyone else. And uh we're in the truck on the way home, and I rang Riley and said, I've seen you ride like that. I've seen you do that, I've seen you float over the bump to make the track look smooth and effortless. I've seen you do that. You just you know, nerves. He rode tight. Uh we need to get a couple of rounds into this thing, let Riley loosen up and uh you know, get a bit more comfortable with the series and and then uh he'll start to get better and better as we go.

SPEAKER_04 1:04:05

Hey Hammy, is it hard for kids this age, they're 17, a lot of them, 18, uh they can be up to 19, I believe, in the MX3 class. Is it really hard to get their mental game strong enough to overcome those things? We talked earlier in the on the podcast about Kyle Webster, and that guy is so strong mentally. Just look at what he did at MX and Nations in the worst position he would be in, dead last or wherever he came. Is it really is it uh hard to get a 17-year-old to change their thought process and not look at their phone and look at the comments and look at all that kind of stuff?

SPEAKER_03 1:04:40

Yeah, that side of it's um a bit different these days from when I was obviously growing up to being that young writer coming into it with the comments and and all of that. It should be, if you're mentally strong enough, it should be easy enough just to lock all that out. And and what what he was saying is uh I feel is that it's the belief that you can be in those positions, and I think that's what he was saying. If he believes that he can be that guy, because like what he said, he's seen him ride that way, he's seen him go that fast. It just needs to be Riley needs to believe that now. And if he can do that, then that's when results really do just start to come from nowhere. They just they just continually keep coming at him race in, race out. And that's a big mental game in motocross. The best guys uh in the sport aren't better because they're fitter or they've got better equipment. It's they believe that that's where they need to be. And that's part of the biggest game, uh, the biggest goal for these kids. And as you said, as a young writer, it is going to be a learning curve, but it it comes back to them wanting to believe it and wanting to be there. And if they do that, then they will pick that up no time at all.

SPEAKER_04 1:05:56

Yeah, it must be frustrating, Boydy, especially you know, as those. Of us are in our maybe 40s or even late 30s, you kind of you've got the maturity to look back and go, just tell yourself you're good enough to do it. It's not that hard to get through, but we were all 17 once, and you know, I was certainly not in a headspace to be thinking that maturely personally at 17. Uh, it must be kind of tricky to to convince them that they've got the equipment, don't worry about all the noise you're hearing.

SPEAKER_05 1:06:22

I mean, one of the hardest things I find is also just trying to get them to realise it's only round two. You know, you can't you can't win it in two rounds, but you can certainly lose it.

unknown 1:06:33

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 1:06:34

So, you know, this thing's got to build. Um we're in a good spot. He's second overall. There's still like uh what 12 motos to go. We're still a long way from the end. So, you know, he doesn't need to be winning races right now. He needs to be up there, yeah. He needs to be scoring good points, and he, you know, he needs to be in the conversation every week. But the back half of this thing, that's where the confidence has really got to kick in, and he's got to turn it on and sort of bring it home from there.

SPEAKER_04 1:07:03

Um, Hami, Jackson Fuller and Devison, what what happened at Canberra? Because they both had really good rounds in um Wonthaggy, and they're still top five, they're third and fourth in the championship, but they just went missing in Canberra.

SPEAKER_03 1:07:20

Yeah, they dropped the ball. There's no other answer for it. They just they really stuffed up on the weekends, and they will be going home, having a good hard look at themselves and and thinking about what went wrong and why and how. Again, it's one of those tracks that it just destroys you if you're not confident, not comfortable. Uh, and they probably copped the worst of it on the weekends. Um, Devison was all right in the first race, he was up there leading it. Um, and he seemed pretty decent, seemed like he was all good, but yeah, that quickly turned around. Once one mistake happened, another mistake happened, and then another one happened. And it snowballed so fast after that. What we saw on TV with him stopped near the mechanics area, pointing over to the mechanic, and then the bike running. I I don't know what happened there. Yeah, it was really weird. I no idea, but uh it'll be a round that they want to forget. Fuller, I didn't see him until the results page, and I think I even mentioned Fuller. We didn't even say his name, expected to be him to be up there. So, yeah, no idea on them guys, but that's that's part of this MX3, isn't it? It's the learning phase of you can be good at one round, but you've got to be good at all the rounds. And like Boy said, clicking off those results to get points is key. It's not like the pro classes of MX2, MX1, where you expect those guys to be winning every round and they're probably going to be the same guys. MX3, it can be anyone that gets up there on the podium each round. So, like he said, if there's consistency there with Riley, uh, and this goes across the board, not just for Riley, but if there's consistency there across these riders, they'll probably find themselves at the pointy end, come the tail end of this series without trying too hard because there's so many ups and downs within this class that if you're just consistent, you're going to be well positioned towards the end of this year.

SPEAKER_04 1:09:16

Yeah, for sure. Did you hear Body at all? Anything on the side of the track back in the pits when you were at what happened to Devson and that second?

SPEAKER_05 1:09:24

I'm not sure he looked pretty comfortable in Moto 1. I think it snowballed after that first crash for him. I'm not sure if there was something wrong with the bike or him, but then by the time we even got from the start, the gates dropped before we got it even got to the mechanics area, he was fighting in. Like I don't think his mechanics were even expecting him to come into the mechanics area because we were we weren't even we were still walking in and he comes flying into the pit area kind of looking for someone, frustrated because his mechanics weren't there ready for him and kind of was waving his hand in the air and back out on the track again because you're not allowed to come backwards through the through the mechanics area. And once you're out of the mechanics area, you have to go another lap. So I didn't see him again after that. You know, I started uh concentrating on our own race, and I'm not sure where he went or what happened from there, but there was yeah, a bit of confusion, something going on. I don't know if he went down the first first lap. The bike was still going, but yeah, I'm I'm not sure.

SPEAKER_04 1:10:23

Do you know do you think he would know those rules around the pits? Like we said, these kids are young, this is the first time they're racing in a lot of them for the first time they're racing in the MX3 class. Do you think does Riley know those rules that are regarding the pit area and what you can and can't do?

SPEAKER_05 1:10:37

Look, for a 17-year-old knowing the rules and knowing the rules in the heat of the moment are two different things. Yeah. Um, you know, I think he did know the rule because he did follow the pits out, but they're 17, right? Like uh, you know, some of these kids at 17 they might have more than 10 years racing, but like it's racing experience, but there is different rules for ProMX and different bits and pieces that they have to get across pretty quickly, and and you know, adrenaline flying, um you know, the brains thinking one thing, you know, they can be forgiven for getting things wrong here and there. It's just how it goes at that age.

SPEAKER_04 1:11:17

Um look, Cooper Rowe, Hayden Downey, Job Dunn, they all made made the most of it. They had good weekends in Canberra. Um, they were kind of third, fourth, fifth, sixth down to Heath Davey. They all he also had a good round. Like I said, just a run of Yamaha's there. They're on a bike that we know how fast it is. But as Hami said, that's not necessarily the best thing out of um out of Canberra when it's so technical. So the ruts are so long and straight, and to stay in long, straight ruts is probably one of the hardest things to do, surely, on a motocross track of all the things motocross riders can actually do out there. Funnily enough, the the the long, straight ones can be the hardest. Um Seth Thomas, mate. Now, Boydy, you have built bikes for Seth. Are you still building doing stuff for Seth Thomas? He's on a gas gas, he was next in line, he came in seventh in Canberra. Are you still doing bikes for Seth?

SPEAKER_05 1:12:02

Yeah, yeah, I still support Seth. I still do all these engines. Um, unfortunately, Seth just can't be in the truck with us with his gas-gas uh affiliation. Um, yeah, we're not that we have a uh an affiliation with any manufacturer under our truck, but uh as much as we pushed and tried that got squashed on the head, unfortunately. So, yeah, Seth does hit under his own tent, but he does run all our engines.

SPEAKER_04 1:12:30

And he's fast, fast on that bike. That bike's competitive, you would say, with those, you know, top Yamahas. Take Riley out of it. We assume it's probably a similar-ish bike to Riley. Riley's on a KDM. Um, by the way, he's a TBA according to ProMX. So you bought it, you've got to get on there and you've got to fill in that form correctly.

SPEAKER_05 1:12:49

Yeah, to be honest, that's uh yeah, that is that's not our doing. That's what that's filled in, that's being corrected. When we're all at a loss at how that keeps popping up, but um, yeah, is what it is. It's not a it's not a big problem, I guess. Um but yeah, Seth is uh he's young in that class. Like it was only last year he roasted the MX85 class, so he's still very fresh in that class. Um impressive for him to be in those top tens, I think. Like it's a big step up from MX85 to MX3. And look, Seth's a competitor, he's uh he's he's very strong-natured, he's very confident, and he wants to be out there winning already. I don't think it's gonna take too long before he starts uh knocking on the door at podiums or getting on the podium in that class. He's just uh he's got that drive in him to keep pushing until that happens. But I personally I think he's in a great spot for his first year in that class. Two MX3 races down, and he's uh he's getting top tens.

SPEAKER_04 1:13:53

Yeah, definitely. And and where's your six? He's sixth overall, which is pretty impressive first going there. Hey Bordy, do you reckon he'd be faster in that class on a 1-2-5? No way.

SPEAKER_05 1:14:05

1-2-5 would be a tough bite to get around that track. Uh Canberra was gnarly, like it was tough. The pit board strike where they had us pitboarding, there was like 12 ruts, just gnarly footbag deep ruts with kickers in them right across the track. It was hard enough to get the guys just to even read the pit board once, let alone every lap for 20 minutes, because they're coming through there trying to concentrate on what rut they're gonna pick, you know, keep their their toes and their heels out of the mud, and then pick a line in the next corner while trying to read what we're telling them. So yeah, I don't know. I would I certainly wouldn't want to be on that track on one two five.

SPEAKER_04 1:14:44

Um, okay.

SPEAKER_03 1:14:46

I wouldn't want to be on that track at all.

SPEAKER_04 1:14:50

Boy, you were building in one four-fours or something, weren't you? What about a one four-four? Would that be mildly competitive against a two fifty F?

SPEAKER_05 1:14:57

No, no, no. We were building uh 112s.

SPEAKER_04 1:15:00

112s, okay.

SPEAKER_05 1:15:01

Sorry. Yeah, yeah. So that's always kind of stepped up each class really young. Uh we've always had to keep him kind of moving in the next class as early as possible to have competition. Uh, because you know, you don't have competition, you kind of stand still. So we had to build him a 112 early on so you can get in the 125 class and start racing people that could give him a challenge. So yeah, no, that that's that wasn't a 112 track, that's for sure.

SPEAKER_04 1:15:28

Um, okay, the next line of guys. Um, you know, I think some of them we've talked about in the past, they train with Briggsy. Briggsy's unable to join us today, he's dropped off the line, but um down the line, Max Compton, Oli Burkett, some of these guys, they're all fast. There's a lot of names in this class that are already kind of popping out as guys that can go good and that we we know already, and then we know that they're fast. So um we talked about earlier, Hammy and I, about MX2 being the class that's the most interesting because it's just chaos out there, it seems, at times. But this MX3 class is starting to kind of form up. If Draper doesn't run away with it, if if he gets a couple of um odd results, it's kind of shaping up as a class that could have any of these guys coming up and making a mess of that top three. Boy, do you reckon?

SPEAKER_05 1:16:12

Yeah, look, we've still got six different tracks to go to, and you've got to be good everywhere. Uh that MX3 class is one of it's it's that class where if anything can happen, it will. Uh so consistency is gonna pay off. I can't see us getting to a track somewhere where Draper's not good.

unknown 1:16:30

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 1:16:31

Uh he's pretty technically sound on the bike, he looks comfortable, he looks confident. Um, but you know, anything can happen. This is motorcycle racing. This is why we we have eight rounds and we don't end the trophy uh out after round one.

SPEAKER_04 1:16:44

Yeah, correct. Um okay, let's quickly talk. So, conscious of time, we're gonna have to wrap it up in a second. Let's talk about um there's probably not even any point until we're at MX85. We can just say Blake Bahannon, the kid is a freak. Boydie, you have you have you you've built bike bikes for Blake too, I believe. I know he trains out with Briggsy. Have you had anything to do with his bikes or any of his uh anything, any of his setup?

SPEAKER_05 1:17:08

I did do a little bit for them uh probably a couple of years ago now. I'm not sure. Uh I know they use MCD suspension. I don't know exactly what they're doing for engines.

SPEAKER_01 1:17:22

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 1:17:23

Uh I do do uh engines for couple uh like the the other guys on that Yamaha team. But no, I'm uh currently I can't take any credit for that one.

SPEAKER_04 1:17:35

Um so there there is engine work done to those bikes uh in if for the Yamaha that Yamaha team. Is it would that have a significant advantage over the rest of the field on an 85?

SPEAKER_05 1:17:46

Oh look, I'd I'd find it hard to believe that you could put uh bike on a stock bike and the result would change. Um I yeah, I can't see anything happening like that, but yeah, I'm sure it does it that would help him. It does help him, I'm sure. But yeah, I think he could be just as impressive on a stock bike, to be quite honest with you.

SPEAKER_04 1:18:09

Yeah. Um Pami, you've called so many races. Does he stand out more than say the Kingsfords that have come through MX3, sorry, uh MX85, any of the other kids you've seen, just in the last like five years, let's just say, does he stand out more than the other kids that have come through that class?

SPEAKER_03 1:18:28

I wouldn't say more, but definitely he's on par with those top-level guys that have come out of the class. He certainly is a talent that looking forward to seeing how he develops over the next couple of years. Um, good point. The point he made before, though, if he doesn't keep progressing forwards by getting some more good competition, then he may get a little bit stale as well, just riding here in this group of riders where he can run away with it for 30 seconds in a race like this. So, but what he's gonna have to do, I don't know. Uh, but I think at the same time, technically he's such a good rider that he's going to be able to make those switches and changes when he needs to, when he needs to step it up as well. So he's such a small little rider at the moment. I'd love to see him do a bit on one, two, fives and and so on. Uh, I believe he is doing a little bit on one-two-fives, just practicing at the moment. Um, but yeah, as long as he keeps taking those steps, he's he's definitely going to be a kid to watch in the future. And it's exciting to see this kind of level come up through the sport.

SPEAKER_04 1:19:32

Yeah, definitely. He goes and races, you know, some of the events in the US. He did the Blue Crew MX of Nations thing last year. I assume he'll probably do something similar this year. Um, is that enough overseas? And obviously he races worlds. Is that enough overseas competition? Nah, he needs to be in a series somewhere else, maybe.

SPEAKER_03 1:19:50

Yeah, yeah, I think certainly it would be an advantage to him to go do these races. But you don't just doing a one-off race, I don't think you get enough overall experience to be able to say it's going to grow his speed, his talent, his level, where he's got all of them as it is. But I think he needs to be in a series where he's doing it week in, week out, or at least multiple times in the month so that he can really take the biggest advantage from it.

SPEAKER_04 1:20:17

Is this the point in their career, then, you reckon, Hami, where you know they've they've got that decision? They're 13, 14 years old, and they've got a decision. We we spoke to Caden Minier a month or so ago about his trip, uh, his journey through to Star Racing Yamaha and how it all kind of happened, it was 13 for him that he had to make the decision to come over to the East Coast, bits and pieces. Is Blake maybe at a bit of a um crossroads sliding door moment now, where if he goes through and cleans up this year and wins every single motor we've got by, like you said, 30 seconds. Does he decide if I go overseas, then I may make a serious career out of this that will be, you know, generational retirement kind of thing? Or I can keep racing here, probably dominate in Australia potentially for the next, you know, 10 years. Everything happens in motocross, there'll be ups and downs. But is this is he at a point in his career where he might have to start making a decision whether or not overseas are yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:21:05

This is the age at the moment that you're gonna get the most benefit from learning from other riders, other situations, other tracks, other races. Um you know, ride this year out and then definitely make a plan for next year as to where they want to go from there. Whether it's just small trips where it's multiple races at a time. Um, I don't know if he has to go and move overseas to be there full-time, but at least start exploring those options of getting over some different series where you've got multiple races, spend some time in those countries and be able to do something a little bit more than what he's going to get from racing here just all the time.

SPEAKER_04 1:21:40

Yeah, because you instantly think of the Lawrence and Reed situation where at a similar ish age, I guess they kind of went, We've got we've got to go over here. Um, Boydy, if it was your rider on your team, I mean no one wants to lose someone that's that dominant on their team because it makes you look good. Would you ever consider tack saying, Look, mate, as much as I want you to stay and make me look good, you need to probably go overseas and find some faster guys?

SPEAKER_05 1:22:06

Well, look, it's probably a little bit different situation for me because uh I'm sure Yamaha are gonna put the backing behind like where uh if it was one of my guys, we'd have to find a way of finding it. I'm sure uh you know he might be able to get some kind of deal or help from Yamaha Europe or or Yamaha like US. Uh his parents don't strike me as silly people. I'm sure the conversation's been had. And I'm sure there's some form of plan uh for the future. They're putting in a lot of work. They're you know, they they seem very calculated with everything they're doing. Um yeah, I'd be shocked if there's not some kind of plan in place of some sort like that.

SPEAKER_04 1:22:50

For sure. Especially with the Town Lees over there, there's a Yamaha connection and an Anzac connection, you know, that makes it that little bit more comfortable. So uh yeah, there's got to be something happening for them overseas soon, hopefully. Um going down through the Yeah, and I've heard from uh a little uh uh a mutual friend of ours in Tomo that uh there is a close relationship between the Bahannans and Townleys.

SPEAKER_05 1:23:14

So whether that leads to something over there, whether that's something happening, I guess uh I will tell.

SPEAKER_04 1:23:20

Yeah. Hey, speaking of Kiwis, what's with Kiwis coming over to our series at the moment and freaking kicking ass too? It's kind of like, you know, between the MX2 guys, uh, you know, and Draper, I'm like, well hang on, you guys are fast. They've gone up. I feel like we had they had Townley there for a while and Coppins, no one, and now they've got a glut of Kiwi fast riders. How many is does this just happen because they happen to be racing each against each other over there and so they build each other up, or do you just get lucky?

SPEAKER_03 1:23:50

Uh no, they they've got a strong series over there. It might have gone a little bit softer over you know a few years back, but they're back in force now. Um in my era, it was the King brothers, Darrell Hurley, uh Luke Burkhart, Cody Cooper. Yeah, they've always done it, they've always come over here. Um, and I think it's great having them over here to be able to battle it out with our guys. It just adds more spice to our series. Yeah, and I know a lot of our guys love going over there too to do the races over there. So I think it just drags everyone along, makes everyone better for it. And I think it's great.

SPEAKER_04 1:24:23

Yeah, I think it's awesome. It's good, good rivalry. It's nothing better than a Kiwi Aussie rivalry. So hopefully they can kind of build that for us as spectators. Um, okay, we're gonna wrap this up now because everyone's kind of get on with life and bits and pieces. We've been yapping for an hour and a half. Um, Bordie, thanks for coming on for to talk about MX3. Some stuff about Riley has been really interesting. He's coming second, so you must be pumped, mate. That's your new Boyd's Moto uh racing team. So that's exciting for you, and we hope it all kind of keeps panning out for the next couple of rounds anyway. Um to Gilman next. Bordy, you'll be at Gilman. Hammy, you'll be at Gilman. Um, despite$3.50 for diesel and uh Hammy, you'll fly, Bordy, you've got to take the truck there. Sorry, bud. And I know that old truck, it ain't it ain't fuel efficient, so you'll be uh you need to remortgage the house to get there. And and there's we've been told there's fuel all the way there. Every server on the way has got fuel, so everyone needs to make sure they go to the the next round. Don't panic or stress about any of that, just pay the extra to get there, it'll be awesome. Um, you guys will both be there, yeah.

SPEAKER_05 1:25:24

Yep. Yep, yeah, we'll be there. Uh not looking forward to the two-day trip in the truck. Or uh yeah, it's probably gonna be the best part of probably a four thousand dollar round trip to some diesel for us. So yeah, happy, happy days.

SPEAKER_03 1:25:38

For those that don't know, yeah, go hammy. I I was just gonna say have driven that trip many, many, many times. So I've done my time, I know what it's like, and yes, I am flying. Yeah, that's the way to go.

SPEAKER_04 1:25:49

For those that don't know, Boyd's in a Pantec truck. What year is it, mate?

SPEAKER_05 1:25:54

It's uh a late 90s uh mission fighter.

SPEAKER_04 1:25:57

Yeah, it's got it's had a lot, it's got a big history. It's been in with KDM factory teams, other bits and pieces. If if trucks could talk, that'd have a that'd have a lot to say. So um, yes, enjoy that that run down the freeway, Boydie. We don't envy it, and Hemi's going the right way in the air. Um, yeah, off to Gilman. It's gonna be exciting, uh completely different terrain. It's gonna be sandy. Um, it's gonna get I should hopefully spit out some new winners or at least some new people contesting in all those classes. Uh and yeah, we'll we'll jump back on a podcast with Hemi. Hopefully we'll have Briggsie this time, and Bordie might get you back on as well if you're not on the road traveling back from South Australia for uh round three of Gilman. Always good. We'll speak to you then. Sounds good, guys. Thanks, guys.