It was another podium performance from Monster Energy WBR Yamaha Teamster, Ky Woods, who raced to a second-place finish at round five of the MX3 ProMX Championship, over the weekend.
Woods, who has stood on the podium at four of the five rounds contested so far, finished the day with 2-2 results to claim second and now sits second in the MX3 championship, eight points ahead of Jet Alsop in third.Woods and the team had spent the last week in the leads up to the Warwick round, fine-tuning their race bike and hoping to unlock the answers to get Woods to the top step of the podium. Unfortunately, Woods woke up on Sunday morning under the weather but battled bravely all day to still make it onto the podium.
Race one and Woods was into second place as the field charged out of turn two, but he simply didn’t have the energy required to match it with championship leader, Kayd Kingsford. Woods used his head and rode within himself to make it to the finish line and collect a valuable twenty-two points for his efforts.
After a couple of post-race “up and unders” Woods returned to the start line for race two and was feeling better. This time he took it up to Kingsford and wasn’t going down without a fight. The pair locked in, and the dual took them ahead of the pack and 30 seconds clear of the rider in third.
Woods kept the pressure on but could never get close enough to make a pass and when the checkered flag came out, Woods trailed Kingsford but 1.2 seconds across the finish line for another second place.
“The team has been working super hard, and we even tried a few things yesterday to keep trying to be better. I felt awful this morning as I woke up sick and couldn’t keep much down as well as low on energy so I just had to get through the day as best I could.
I felt better in moto two and was able to put all my effort into it. We came up a bit short, but I think we are headed in the right direction, and we still have three more rounds to go, so we will keep at it and see how many race wins we can get before the championship is over,” Woods said.
With a late injury to Koby Hantis, the Monster Energy WBR Yamaha team offered a chance for WA based Yamaha rider, Sonny Pellicano, to work with them over the Warwick weekend. It wasn’t a full team rider, As Pellicano was still on his own bike, but he would have the guidance and support of the team as well as the mechanics on hand to take care of things for him.
In return, Pellicano turned in his best result of the year to finish fifth on the day with 6-5 results. Pellicano started well in both motos and fought hard to keep his positions. The soft surface of the Warwick track is similar to the conditions he faces back in WA, and it was a good result for him and the team.
“I can’t thank Travis and the whole WBR Yamaha team for giving me their support this weekend. It was cool to have the team right behind me and all the advice and guidance I needed all weekend. They were able to make some improvements to my bike and spot things that helped me go faster.
“The weekend only makes me want to work harder so I can be a full-time team rider,” Pellicano explains.
Pellicano now sits sixth in the championship after five rounds.
Hantis is on watch with his shoulder injury and a return date hasn’t been set, although he has targeted the next round in Canberra as a goal at this stage.
ProMX Results
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ProMX Results
Round Five – Warwick
MX3
1st Kayd Kingsford – 50
2nd Ky Woods – 44 (Monster Energy WBR Yamaha)
3rd Jet Alsop – 40
4th Seth Shackleton – 36
5th Sonny Pellicano – 31 (Monster Energy WBR Yamaha)
6th Jack Deveson – 30
7th Max Compton – 28
8th Deegan Rose – 27
9th Hayden Downie – 23
10th Patrick Bulter - 23
MX3 Championship Standings After Round Five
1st Kayd Kingsford – 241
2nd Ky Woods – 203 (Yamaha YZ250F)
3rd Jet Alsop – 195
4th Seth Shackleton – 150
5th Jack Deveson – 144
6th Sonny Pellicano – 86 (Yamaha YZ250F)
7th Jackson Fuller – 83
8th Baylin Townsend – 83
9th Kayden Strode – 81
10th Cooper Rowe - 80