FORMER Mount Gambier motocross rider Kirk Gibbs started the 2020 New Zealand Motocross Championship with a second overall at the series opener in Balclutha on the weekend.
Despite the positive start to his campaign, which saw a 2-2-3 result over the three motos, Gibbs was left wanting more.
The round was won by defending champion Cody Cooper, who Gibbs had hoped to battle against throughout the weekend.
However, in the first moto a bad start forced him to play catch up, which set a pattern for the round.
“I fought back, came through the pack, had good speed and got to second – that is all I could do,” Gibbs said.
“My starts let me down all weekend which I’m disappointed about.
“It does not look that bad on paper, but I’m extremely disappointed with the end result.”
With only four rounds in the series, every championship point counts.
After the first event Gibbs sits 11 points behind Cooper in second place, with 24-year-old kiwi talent Hamish Harwood hot on his heels in third, two points behind.
Gibbs has high hopes of reclaiming his 2018 New Zealand MX1 title and will hope to push his YZ450F to the top of the podium in round two of the championship.
“I’ll come out swinging in Rotorua because I do not want to let Cody get too far ahead or it will blow out with it being such a short series,” Gibbs said.
Gibbs will work on several areas while he is back home in Australia for the next three weeks, before he travels back across the Tasman for the second round in Rotorua on February 23.
