Budd Breaks Through for Maiden MX2 Podium

Budd wasn’t the only Yamalube Yamaha team rider to stand on the podium as the women were back in action for round two of their championship where Charli Cannon continued her domination with another 1-1 day on her YZ250F.

To view the Yamalube Yamaha Racing Team round recap: https://youtu.be/4AWLGufcGc0

The opening three rounds have been a source of frustration for Budd, as he has narrowly missed the podium after being in a position to make it happen on several occasions. But there was going to be no mistakes at Gilman, as he charged to a 3-2 finish in the two motos contested and landed in second place behind championship pleader, Wilson Todd.

In a strange twist of fate, Budd’s preparation leading up to round four had been limited as in the days after round three he went in for surgery on a broken finger and hadn’t been able to ride or train until just days before Gilman. But he was able to fight through both motos and take a well-earned podium position and move himself to third in the championship.

“It’s been a hard start to the season for me and not getting on the podium was becoming a real obstacle. At rounds two and three I had a good first moto and was well placed to finish on the podium but I would struggle in race two and just miss out.

“But I needed to overcome it and just get it done and I was able to do that today after a lot of work and soul searching over recent times, so it’s a bit over whelming at the moment. 

“Thanks to my team, my family and partner for their support and working with me and hopefully now I got the first one out of the way, they will begin to flow a lot easier from now on,” Budd ends.

Charli Cannon has made it four wins from four starts in the Women’s championship (WMX) after another impressive performance on the weekend. Like Budd, Cannon was also injured in the lead up to this round with a broken bone in her foot and having limited time to prepare. 

But Cannon is a warrior and picked up where she left off at Wonthaggi, winning both motos by 30 seconds and 10 seconds respectively as she is a step above her rivals at the moment. 

“I really enjoyed the track today and it was a lot different to when I last raced here at the junior nationals in 2019. They bought in a lot of sand and it was a real mix of surfaces around the track. The last race was tough as the track was so rough as we were the last race of the day, so I just tried to stay out of trouble and get the race win.

“Thank you to everyone at Yamaha and Yamalube Yamaha Racing as well as the people that support women’s racing. We had over twenty riders again here today and its so good to see all the girls get behind the national championship as it’s not easy riding tracks at this level,” Cannon said.

The team was on track for a sensational day as Alex Larwood was right in the mix in the MX2 division. Larwood, a South Australia local, charged to a solid second place finish in race one and formed a 2-3 finish with teammate, Budd. The final moto saw Larwood move into second place again and really find his flow as he began to cut into the leaders’ gap, but his race came to a halt when he experienced a drive chain issue and was forced to retire from the race. 

The 2-DNF results gave him tenth for the day but with a range of other strange results, it lifted him to second in the championship, just one point ahead of Budd in third.

“That was a disappointing way to end the day, Larwood laments. “Not exactly sure what happened, but as I was going through the rollers, the bike lost drive and when I rolled to a stop, I could see the chain had come off, so that was race over.

“There isn’t much we can do about it and the guys are all gutted, so we will just have to rebound strongly at the next round and get things back on track,” he said.