It was a case of the good, the bad and the ugly for Kiwi hero Kayne Lamont at the latest round of the Australian Motocross Championships at the weekend.
The good aspect of racing for Lamont on Sunday was that the Husqvarna Red Bull WIL Sport BikesportNZ.com rider convincingly won the first of two MX2 (250cc) class races at the Murray Bridge circuit, in South Australia.
But then came the bad – Lamont was caught in a first-turn skirmish at the start of race two and dropped his bike. He picked up his Husqvarna TC250 and saw the handlebars and levers bent out of shape. By the time he’d managed to straighten it all out, he was last away by quite a considerable distance. 
He set out after the disappearing pack and incredibly passed more than 20 riders before settling for 11th position at race end.
And the ugly part of Lamont’s weekend? Well, the ugly truth is the New Zealand MX2 champion has moved only one point closer to the top of the championship standings. Lamont finished the day second equal overall, behind fellow Husqvarna rider Luke Arbon and level with Brenden Harrison.
Lamont had started the weekend 13 points adrift of championship leader Luke Clout and now he is 12 points behind, so at least he’s making advances in the right direction. Clout (Serco Yamaha) finished the day fourth overall at Murray Bridge, finishing fourth and fifth in his two races.
“Race one I got the holeshot and managed to pull a gap, but I got a bit caught up worrying about people behind me and went off track, which put a bit of pressure on, but I managed to keep them at bay,” said the 20-year-old Lamont.
“The track surface was quite a lot like Tokoroa today, soft in places but reasonably firm in others, but I’m really looking forward to the next round at Wanneroo (on the outskirts of Perth, next weekend) because it’s quite sandy and a lot like the Taupo track at home,” said Lamont.
“There will be three races for each of the classes next round too, instead of just the two, and so my chances of gaining ground look better, as long as I don’t have more bad luck.
“I’m a little sore after the crash but I have plenty of time to recover and I’m feeling very strong. I’ll be fighting fit at Wanneroo.”
Fellow Kiwi Hamish Harwood (CMR Red Bull Motorex KTM 250), from Takaka, finished seventh overall on the day at Murray Bridge on Sunday and he remains third in the MX2 championship standings.
Meanwhile, in the Open Class, KTM Motocross Racing Team rider Kirk Gibbs has ticked off another career milestone, taking his first overall win in front of his home crowd.
The Mt Gambier native finished a gritty fourth in the first race after he ran out of goggle tear-offs and was forced to throw away his goggles, riding a number of laps with no protection from the roost of riders ahead, and copping a black eye in the process.
After visiting the medical crew at RaceSafe to have his eyes flushed, Gibbs seemed determined to spend as little time as possible in traffic in the second race, executing four passes before the end of lap one to burst into the lead and power away to a dominant win.
The victory brings Gibbs to within 13 points of the championship lead, coming into next weekend’s round at Wanneroo.
“My first overall win, I’m really happy, so it’s good, and a lot of family and friends were here to see it so I’m very pleased,” said Gibbs.
“Today was a bit up and down obviously, that first one was tough, I didn’t get the best start, and I had to take my goggles off and copped a rock to the eye, so I’ve got a bit of a shiner.
“That last race I got a good start and just made passes really early which made it easy. I got the lead just before the end of the first lap and just rode away with it. I’ve had a podium at every round now so I’m really happy with that, that’s the biggest thing I’ve always wanted is to be really, really consistent. I’ve been doing that so far, so I’m really pleased with where I am at.”
Best-performed of the New Zealand riders in the MX1 class at the weekend was Mount Maunganui’s Rhys Carter (Suzuki). He finished seventh and ninth in his two outings (eighth overall) at Murray Bridge and he remains seventh in the championship standings.
Fellow Bay of Plenty rider Cody Cooper (Penrite Honda) finished runner-up in race one but DNFed race two and the New Zealand MX1 champion is now 17th in the championship standings.
Championship points:
MX1 Superpole:
1. Matt Moss 1:42.175 (5 points), 2. Jake Moss 1:42.788 (4 points), 3. Adam Monea 1:43.114 (3 points), 4. Kirk Gibbs 1:43.488 (2 points), 5. Billy Mackenzie 1:43.551 (1 points).
MX1 points from round four:
1. Kirk Gibbs 63 (28, 35), 2. Billy Mackenzie 60 (30, 30), 3. Jake Moss 57 (25, 32), 4. Adam Monea 54 (35, 19), 5. Matt Moss 51 (26, 25), 6. Kade Mosig 47 (21, 26), 7. Hayden Melross 47 (23, 24), 8. Rhys Carter 46 (24, 22), 9. Jacob Wright 43 (15, 28), 10. Sam Martin 42 (19, 23).
MX1 championship standings after 4 of 10 rounds:
1. Matt Moss 294, 2. Kirk Gibbs 281, 3. Adam Monea 259, 4. Jake Moss 247, 5. Billy Mackenzie 242, 6. Kade Mosig 216, 7. Rhys Carter 214, 8. Hayden Mellross 206, 9. Jay Marmont 196, 10. Jacob Wright 185.
MX2 points from round four:
1. Luke Arbon 67, 2. Brenden Harrison 55, 3. Kayne Lamont 55, 4. Luke Clout 54, 5. Kale Makeham 54, 6. Caleb Ward 51, 7. Hamish Harwood 50, 8. Errol Willis 49, 9. Jay Wilson 44, 10. Ryan Marmont 41.
MX2 championship standings after 4 of 10 rounds:
1. Luke Clout 261, 2. Kayne Lamont 249, 3. Hamish Harwood 242, 4. Brenden Harrison 235, 5. Kale Makeham 221, 6. Luke Arbon 204, 7. Jay Wilson 193, 8. Errol Willis 189, 9. Ryan Marmont 176, 10. Caleb Ward 172.
MX Development (under-19) championship standings:
1. Egan Mastin 273, 2. Jack Simpson 272, 3. Jed Beaton 270, 4. Nathan Crawford 265, 5. Wilson Todd 209, 6. Kyle Webster 206, 7. Jayden Rykers 199, 8. Aaron Tanti 177, 9. Brock McLeary 176, 10. Daniel Price 155.
© Words and photos by Andy McGechan, www.BikesportNZ.com
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