Kirk Gibbs has extended his championship lead following another round victory.
By Hayden Gregory
The battle for the red plate started on a level playing field as Dean Ferris collected the early Superpole and the all important additional championship points to join Gibbs.
With three 20 minute motos set to race the Thor MX1 class was ready for a very competitive round. The first race started with a holeshot to Superpole winner Ferris, ahead of Gibbs, Matt Moss, Todd Waters and Dylan Long.
The lead pack held strong out front with minimal changes throughout the race. A minor scare occurred on the last lap for Ferris after colliding with a lapper and falling from his bike. Luckily, the lead was enough and he was able to quickly remount and finish the lap to win the first moto ahead of Gibbs and Moss.
Race two started as the first left off with another holeshot to Ferris; Gibbs and Moss in tow. It didn’t take long for Ferris to stretch out to a solid lead, making easy work of the sandy track.
The battle was on for the minor positions with Gibbs narrowly holding off Moss and a hard charging Waters. As the race entered the closing stages Waters’ Suzuki stepped into gear catching both Moss and Gibbs to secure second place. Out in front Ferris remained unchallenged to take his second race win of the round, Gibbs claiming third ahead of Moss.
As the third and final MX1 race got underway Gibbs just edged out Ferris to prevent a hat trick of holeshot’s for the CDR Yamaha rider. A few turn’s later and disaster struck Ferris as he crashed out of the moto and was left in the hands of Racesafe officials.
With Ferris set to record a DNF, the third and final moto proved extremely important for both round and championship points. Kirk Gibbs would prove the benefactor checking out on the field in dominating fashion.
Gibbs would easily win the final moto ahead of Kawasaki’s Kade Mosig and KTM’s Jesse Dobson while also securing the round victory.
“It’s awesome to take the win here, and walk away with the points lead going in to the break,” Gibbs said. “I felt like towards the end of the second moto I found a few lines and I had a bit of confidence coming in to the final moto of the day.
“It was a shame to see Dean go down – you never want to see another rider get hurt, but I’m happy that I just stayed consistent and managed to ride to the track conditions.
“I knew that with the two guys coming back from Europe that they would be fast in the sand so it’s especially nice to walk away with a win here at Wanneroo.”
A consistent 2, 3, 1 result handed Gibbs round victory as did some misfortune to fellow rider Dean Ferris. The win now gives the KTM rider a buffer at the top of championship standings on 351. Todd Waters who finished the round in third behind Matt Moss climbs to second overall on 334 points, while a disappointing crash drops Ferris to third on 324 points, as we now enter the mid season break.
THOR MX1 Round Results
1. Kirk Gibbs 97 Pts
2. Matt Moss 86 Pts
3. Todd Waters 86 Pts
4. Kade Mosig 80 Pts
5. Jesse Dobson 80 Pts
6. Dylan Long 73 Pts
7. Jamie Law 72 Pts
8. Dean Ferris 70 Pts
9. Jay Wilson 69 Pts
10. Mitch Taylor 61 Pts
11. Michael Mahon 60 Pts
12. Charlie Creech 53 Pts
13. Craig Bolton 52 Pts
14. Michael Menchi 48 Pts
15. Izak Maule 44 Pts
16. Daniel Banks 44 Pts
17. Jacob Wright 42 Pts
18. Brett Norton 38 Pts
19. Jake Watling 35 Pts
20. Luke Wilson 33 Pts
21. Anthony Rubotham 29 Pts
22. Jack Foley 28 Pts
23. Joey Merrylees 24 Pts
24. Julian Cutajar 17 Pts
25. Paul Humberston 11 Pts
26. Damon Gibbons 9 Pts
THOR MX1 Championship Standings After Round 5
1. Kirk Gibbs 351 Pts
2. Todd Waters 334 Pts
3. Dean Ferris 324 Pts
4. Matt Moss 314 Pts
5. Kade Mosig 267 Pts
6. Dylan Long 258 Pts
7. Brett Metcalfe 225 Pts
8. Jay Wilson 221 Pts
9. Jacob Wright 193 Pts
10. Michael Menchi 188 Pts
11. Daniel Banks 178 Pts
12. Michael Mahon 171 Pts
13. Daniel Reardon 171 Pts
14. Jesse Dobson 158 Pts
15. Izak Maule 144 Pts
16. Jamie Law 110 Pts
17. Luke Wilson 109 Pts
18. Matthew Toth 108 Pts
19. Kurt Wightman 98 Pts
20. Lawson Bopping 85 Pts
