Picture: FOREMOST MEDIA
FORMER Mount Gambier motocross rider Kirk Gibbs finished second overall in round six of the Australian MX National Championships to jump from eighth to sixth in the season standings.
It was a solid return to racing for Gibbs, after disappointing results in round four and five at Murray Bridge, where he suffered a shoulder injury which dropped him down the order.
An almost two-month mid-season break followed which provided time to recover, while a second-place finish at the annual Manjimup 15000 in Western Australia at the start of the month implied Gibbs would be back near the front of the field when the championships resumed.
And that was the case on Sunday, as the CDR Yamaha rider kicked off the event with a third in the first moto, before winning the next race to rise to second overall at the end of the day.
Gibbs started well in the first race, but fell out of rhythm in the mid stages to lose a few positions.
On the verge of dropping outside the top five, he relentlessly worked his way back to the rear tyre of team mate Luke Clout in third place, before making the pass on the final lap.
A top-four start had Gibbs well-placed for race two, but the more the race went on, the better he was.
On lap four he moved to third, before another pass into second on lap nine.
Lap 11 saw Gibbs take the lead and hold onto it from there.
But it was not easy, as Todd Waters, Hayden Mellross and Brett Metcalfe were all hot on his tail, with the four riders engaging in an all-out battle.
Gibbs crossed the finish line just over half a second in front, with the top four separated by only three seconds.
A 1-2 finish saw Waters claim the honours for the round, as well as top spot on the season standings.
Gibbs was pleased to come away from the weekend with positive results.
“It was good to get things back on track and finish up with a good result,” he said.
“The way I rode was what mattered and to be able to pass all the guys at the head of the championship and take the moto win means more to me than finishing on the podium for the day.
“I just need to focus on the way I ride and doing my best laps and the results will continue to flow for the rest of the season.”
Clout entered the sixth round as the points leader in the championship, but a few issues saw him with a 4-7 result to finish the round in fifth and drop to second in the standings, three points shy of Waters.
Both riders will now look forward to the next round of nationals at Maitland in New South Wales on July 14.
