Yamalube Yamaha Racing in MX2 Championship Hunt

Rhys Budd and Jay Wilson sit third and fourth respectively at the completion of the Maitland round and are confident of increasing the intensity as the championship progresses.

Wilson came into the round after a confidence boosting third place finish at Canberra and looking to continue his upward swing at Maitland. With two, twenty-five-minute motos in front of him, Wilson was after two consistent performances to keep his championship hopes on track.

He started the weekend strongly and burst into the lead of the opening race. He held tough for a few laps until Kyle Webster managed to steal the race lead on lap four. From there Wilson kept the race leader in sight and maintained a solid second place all the until the final lap when he had a small fall in a rut and dropped from second to fourth.

Race two and again he charged to the lead with an angry pack of five riders jostling for position. He dropped to second as Nathan Crawford slipped by, then Jesse Dobson manged to get past just after the halfway stage leaving Wilson in third. But he dug in and battled hard until race end to finish in third place and his 4-3 results secured him third place for the round and making it back-to-back podiums and consolidating fourth place in the championship.

“I wasn’t the best guy here today. I should have finished second for the round but that final lap crash in race one cost me dearly,” Wilson explains. “I was just a little pumped up and didn’t quite get the rut clean and went down. I was furious at myself for doing that.

“Race two and I just had to fight for it. The two guys up front were doing a good speed and third was all I had in me that moto.

“Overall, I’m disappointed. At Canberra I was happy about third, but now my attitude is different, and I’m frustrated with third today. But clearly, I’m getting better, and things are improving so I want to keep that momentum going and take it to the next round.”

Rhys Budd also experienced some frustration in a day that had some highs and lows. Race one proved to be a high for the hard-working racer when he finished with a career best second place moto finish. He ran third place for the entire moto, keeping the lead to riders honest all the way, then Wilson made that mistake on the final lap and Budd was able to capitalise on it and snare second place.

The second race saw him again up the front, but he couldn’t match the speed and intensity of the lead group as the race went on and crossed the finish line in sixth place. His 2-6 scores left him in fourth for the day and third in the championship.

“The day started out great as I qualified well and had a good first moto. I was fortunate that Jay fell, but I was able to keep pressure on him all the way and when he made a mistake, I made the most of it.

“Race two was a bit of a struggle. I just couldn’t get into a good flow as the track had dried out and I couldn’t ride it as precisely or aggressively. But I will learn from it and ensure that I spend some time working on it before the next round,” Budd said.

It was a complete day of frustration for Levi Rogers. The 18year old showed tremendous speed in both races and mixed it up with the established names on both occasions but unfortunately fell while in a great position. In race one, lost the front in a muddy turn while in fourth place and was temporarily stuck under the bike, while in race two he had moved into sixth place and charging forward when he again fell and had to withdraw from the race due to bike damage.

“Today just wasn’t my day and I made way too many mistakes on the track. I did all the hard work by getting near the front and passing some good riders, only to let myself down at the worst times and throw away a good result. I need to be better than that and keep focused on the track and eliminate the mistakes,” Rogers said.