The Yamalube Yamaha Racing Team of Rhys Budd and Jayce Cosford finished fifth and sixth respectively, in a consistent night for the team at round two of the Australian Supercross Championship, held in Adelaide on Saturday night.
In perfect conditions, both riders had to claw their way forward in the 15 lap, SX2 (250cc) main event. To view the Yamalube Yamaha bLU cRU round review: https://youtu.be/BRGLOS2YYZMThe night didn’t go without its challenges for Rhys Budd. He fell once in qualifying and then again in his heat race to start the night off on the back foot. The heat race fall come in the opening two turns, where he was in second place and clipped the rider in front of him before losing balance and hitting the ground awkwardly on his shoulder.
The bike also was bent and twisted as the team rushed to get it prepared and turned around for the main event later in the evening.
Budd didn’t get the jump he wanted in the main event and was outside the top 10 in the opening stages. He was able to capitalise on some mistakes and make a few passes and by the midway stage, he was in a tense battle for fourth, fifth and sixth. He made his way briefly into fifth place in the second half of the race but then lost the position moments later.
He continued to charge right until the end and was able to regain fifth place on the last lap.
“There was some good I can take from the night, and it was certainly an improvement over last weekend in Melbourne despite the results not being that much different. With my result in the heat race, I had last pick of the gate for the main event and the options were either the full outside or the first gate on the inside.
“I went for the inside gate but didn’t get the track position I wanted to make it work, so I was a fairway back in the pack. I worked hard early to make some passes and got myself into a good flow as I kept moving forward. I was able to fifth and wasn’t far from fourth but I made a mistake and dropped a position.
“Overall, I leave feeling sore, but ok about the night. It was a step in the right direction from round one, but its also still not where I want to be. I think I should be on the podium, so that’s what I will continue to work towards for the last two rounds,” Budd ends.
Jayce Cosford felt at little more at ease this weekend after getting round one done and the nerves calmed down. Cosford, still relatively new to supercross, made his way to the main event via a fifth place in his heat race and looked to a good result in the main event.
Like Budd, he was not at the pointy end of the field as the 20 rider, SX2 final charged through for their opening lap. Cosford picked riders off one at a time and had reached fourth place with time to hunt down third if he could step up the pace.
He was at the front of a close-knit pack that included Nathan Crawford and Rhys Budd but the pace up the front was quick and the trio quickly become emersed in their own fight to the finish. Cosford fought off a few passing attempts and in the last couple of laps, was able to gain a few more bike lengths on the pair behind him. Then as he came through the whoops on the very last lap, with the finish line in sight and no real challenge from behind, he got a little loose and ended up falling as he entered the final turn of the race. He dropped from fourth to sixth place as he picked up his bike and scrambled to the finish line.
“That last lap crash left a sour taste in my mouth. It’s not a good feeling to do all that hard work, get yourself into a good position in the race to then crash within metres of the finish line. That should have been a fourth-place finish so I’m feeling a little bit dirty with myself.
“The positives were that I was better than last week and I rode well for 14 laps. My pace didn’t drop, I kept my breathing under control and was pretty strong until the end. I think the mistake came as I felt Nathan was a bit closer to me than what he really was, so I sent it a bit going into the whoops thinking he was coming up on me, when I actually had more time and space to work with.
“The last two rounds have proven to me that I can be a top five guy in supercross and that I just need to get it done. We have a couple of weeks off before Newcastle, so I can go back, work through what happened tonight and make more improvements at the next round,” Cosford reveals.
ASX Results
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ASX Results
ASX Results Rd 2 – Adelaide
SX2
1st Max Anstie
2nd Wilson Todd
3rd Noah Ferguson
4th Nathan Crawford
5th Rhys Budd (Yamaha YZ250F)
6th Jayce Cosford (Yamaha YZ250F)
7th Cole Thompson (Yamaha YZ250F)
8th Jaxon Hadlow
9th Gage Linville
10th Jai Constantinou
SX2 Championship Standings
1st Max Anstie – 50
2nd Nathan Crawford - 38
3rd Cole Thompson - 36
4th Noah Ferguson - 34
5th Rhys Budd – 31 (Yamalube Yamaha Racing)
6th Jai Constantinou-27
7th Kaleb Barham – 26
8th Jaxon Hadlow – 23
9th Wilson Todd – 22
10th Jayce Cosford – 22 (Yamalube Yamaha Racing)