Luke Clouts them in Wollongong | Blose wins SX2

2019 Australian Supercross Championship

Round Three – Wollongong, NSW

Report and Images by AM

SX1

CDR Monster Energy Yamaha’s, Luke Clout has broken through for his maiden SX1 round victory at the third round of the 2019 Australian Supercross Championship held at Win Stadium in Wollongong on Saturday the 9th of November.

SX1 Qualifying

For the first time this season, Penrite Honda Factory Racing’s Justin Brayton was knocked off the top spot in qualifying as Clout made is intentions clear from the get-go, topping the time-sheets. 

The track that was built from scratch in less than 24 hours after the original soil bought into the venue needed to be replaced. Despite the limited time to build the track, the Pro Traxx Australia team still produced a high quality full size Supercross track that produced a fastest lap time of 40.66 seconds for Clout, with his American team-mate Josh Hill posting the second-fastest lap time a fraction of a second behind at 40.702, while Brayton had to settle for the third fastest lap time.

SX1 HEAT 1

It was Oil Piping Services; Honda mounted privateer Jesse Madden who led the field out of the first turn in the opening SX1 heat, with Hill on his rear wheel.

By the conclusion of the first lap had Hill moved to the lead and was never headed as he quickly proved his worth to the CDR Yamaha outfit.

Team-mate Dan Reardon worked his way into second position and while he was able to close the gap to Hill he had to be content with second position.

Madden impressed holding on for a third-place finish. SB Motorsports Suzuki’s Jayden Rykers continued his good Supercross form crossing the line in 4th position, heading directly to the nights triple-header final event along with Rockstar Honda’s Jackson Richardson, Husqvarna backed Todd Waters and KSF Racing’s Gradie Featherstone.

SX1 HEAT 2

SB Motorsports Suzuki’s Cody Dyce shot out of the gate aboard his RM-Z450 in the second heat to secure the holeshot and lead the field. In an impressive ride for the former MXD champion, he held off three-time reigning SX1 champion Brayton for the opening three laps, before the American made his moved and raced to victory.

Clout again showed great pace, moving his way into second position and closing in on Brayton in the final laps, with Penrite Honda Factory Racing’s Brett Metcalfe rounding out the top three.

Raceline KTM’s new American import Henry Miller made a late-race pass on Dyce to finish 4th.

Empire Kawasaki’s Dylan Long finished sixth and Honda privateer Joel Wightman in 7th with the two riders taking the final two spots out of the heats directly into the finals.

SX1 SUPERPOLE

Clout once again showed he was going to be the riders to beat, almost dropping under the 40-second lap mark with a lap time of 40.021 to top the timesheets in the Superpole event.

Brayton was able to improve his gate pick for the night’s main event, with the second-fastest time, followed by, Reardon, Hil and Madden while Metcalfe had his lap time annulled after cutting the track.

SX1 LCQ

With 16 riders already qualified for the 20 gate three-race final, riders hit the line for the LCQ in a bid to claim one of the final four spots up for grabs.

South Aussie Yamaha privateer Elijah Wiese grabbed the holeshot, but it was Empire Kawasaki’s Lawson Bopping who quickly took control of the race out front and ran away for a comfortable race win.

Behind him, Yamalube Yamaha’s Richie Evans had his work cut out for him, crashing early in the race and leaving himself a huge task just to make the finals. With a lap to go, Evans moved into 5th position and entered a three-way battle along with Weise and Kawasaki privateer Jamie Harvey for the final two transfer positions.

Ahead of the fight for the final transfer spots, Honda privateer Justin Carafa powered to second position.

At the line, Evans was able to work his way passed both Weise and Harvey to finish third, while Harvey held firm to secure the 20th and final gate pick for the finals.

SX1 FINAL ONE

The opening SX1 final was a Justin Brayton show, with the American leading from the start and dominating towards a two-second race win.

Behind Brayton, Clout and Reardon went toe-to-toe for the opening half of the race, before Clout put an inside pass on his team-mate with the two riders bouncing off each other. The move would prove to be crucial for the night’s overall results, with Clout holding on to finish second ahead of Reardon, with Metcalfe in 4th. Josh Hill finished 5th with Miller 6th.

SX1 FINAL TWO

When the gates dropped on the second final, it looked as though Reardon had control of the first turn; however, it was Clout who exited turn two on the grass hill in first position, quickly opening up an unassailable race lead.

Reardon settled into second position, followed by Dyce who continued his break out night, though he was quickly passed by Hill, who also then made his way by Reardon for second spot.

Behind the leading riders, Metcalfe sat in 5th position, while Brayton was buried deep in the field with plenty of work ahead of him.

Things looked like they were all but done heading into the closes stages of the race, until Metcalfe stalled coming out of the final turn allowing Brayton to move into 5th behind Dyce, with the final result then taking a further turn after Hill made a mistake, slipping from second position.

At the line, it was Reardon who finished second to Clout, with Dyce celebrating an excellent third-place finish. Brayton salvaged a 4th place finish ahead of Hill who recovered for 5th, leaving Metcalfe to finish in 6th, just ahead of the Kawasaki pairing of Bopping and Long.

SX1 FINAL THREE

With everything on the line, it was once again Clout who took control of the race early, with his two CDR team-mates in Reardon and Hill running directly behind him, leaving Brayton with a freight train of Yamaha’s in front of him.

With the track breaking down and a single fast line created through the whoop section the race up front became a bit of a procession as the top four played followed the leader for the entire eight laps, leaving giving Clout his second straight win for the night ahead of Reardon, Hill, Brayton and Metcalfe.

Todd Waters had his best result for the night finishing in 6th position, just ahead of Long and Miller.

SX1 Summary

With his 2-1-1 race results, it was Clout who celebrated his maiden SX1 round win in front of a large contingent of family and friends who were on hand to witness the moment as the New South Welshman closed the gap to Brayton in the championship standings to just three points with two rounds of the championship remaining.

Reardon made it a 1-2 result for the CDR Yamaha team, leaving Brayton to round out the podium for the evening.

Hill gave CDR Yamaha three of the top four positions for the round, finishing just off the podium in 4th, with Metcalfe in 5th.

Long’s consistent night of 7-8-7 results was enough to secure 6th position overall for the round, while just behind him in seventh, Dyce carded an 8-3-14 scorecard highlighting the close competition through the midfield.

Bopping finished 8th, ahead of Waters who elevated himself to 9th off the back of his 6th place finish in the final race, while Miller rounded out the top ten in his first Australian outing.

Just six-points separate the top three riders in the championship, with Brayton leading Clout by three points, with Reardon a further three points back in third. With some world-class riders slotted into race the final two rounds of the series, the championship is still wide open, with Metcalfe still an outside chance 18-points down on Brayton.

SX1 Results/Standings

SX2

In the SX2 ranks, Penrite Honda Factory Racing’s Chris Blose stood on top of the podium for the first time this season, as both championship classes points standings tightened up at the top heading into the final two be races in Auckland and Melbourne.

SX2 Qualifying

As has been the case in the early rounds, it was the American contingent that topped SX2 qualifying with Serco Yamaha’s Jacob Hayes rebounding from his crash in Adelaide to top the timesheets, ahead of Penrite Factory Honda’s Mitchell Oldenburg and Chris Blose.

 
Points leader coming into the round Aaron Tanti was once again the fastest Australian, with the 4th fastest time as the SX2 field looked to replicate the SX1 qualifying with factory Honda and Yamaha riders leading the way followed by a Raceline KTM pilot in the mix as Joshua Osby laid down the 5th fastest time.

SX2 HEAT 1

Penrite CRF Honda Racing’s Kyle Webster led the opening SX2 heat out of the gates, but it was Yamalube Yamaha’s reigning champion in Jay Wilson who would lead the field over the finish line at the end of the opening lap, followed by Webster and impressive Yamaha privateer Jayce Cosford. 

The first of two mistakes on lap two left Cosford eventually heading to the LCQ, while Tanti moved into third position, followed by Mat Maladin backed Husqvarna racer, Kaleb Barham and Oldenburg.
 
Wilson never relinquished his race lead, going on to take the win ahead of Webster and Tanti. Oldenburg moved his way up to fourth, ahead of Barham, and Geran Stapleton, while Jaxon Hadlow secured the final direct transfer to the mains, leaving Raceline KTM’s Regan Duffy to head to the LCQ.

SX2 HEAT 2

Blose who had been luckless throughout the opening two rounds of the championship was able to show his true form in the second SX2 heat, moving to the front of the field early and running away for a second and a half-second win.
 
Behind him, the racing was intense with Osby eventually getting the better of Empire Kawasaki’s Bradley Taft to finish second, while TLR Yamaha’s Ricky Latimer impressed with a fourth-place finish, ahead of Yamaha backed privateer of Connor Tierney.
 
Davey Motorsports KTM’s Dylan Wills and KTM privateer Tomas Ravenhorst rouned out the race in 6th and 7th making their way straight to the night’s main events.
 
The other big news to come out of the second heat was a crash that forced Hayes out of not just the race, but the remainder of the night’s event, giving the opening round winner his second DNF in a row.

SX2 LCQ

Penrite CRF Honda Racing’s Rhys Budd made light work of the LCQ, grabbing the holeshot and walking away to a comfortable six-second race win ahead of Davey Motorsports KTM’s Morgan Fogarty.

 
Cosford made up for his mistakes in the heat race finishing third, while McKenzie O’Bree rounding out the top four and the final spot in the night’s big show.

SX2 FINAL ONE

Jay Wilson looked to have his championship defence back on track in the first final, racing to the front early and holding on for an uplifting race win.

 
Behind him, while the positions did not change a great deal, the racing was first class with the lead riders exiting turns 2-3 riders wide making for a great spectacle.
 
In the end, it was Taft who finished in second position ahead of Blose in third and Tanti in fourth.
 
Oldenburg had to settle for 5th ahead of Osby who after running third early finished the opening final in 6th.

SX2 FINAL TWO

Blose continued his fine night out in final two, leading from start to finish and in doing so put himself in a great position to take the round win heading into the last race.

 
Oldenburg and Osby both improved on their positions in the second final, finishing in 2nd and 3rd respectively while Wilson had to settle for fourth.
 
Tanti who ran as high as third early, recovered from a mistake to finish 5th despite some close attention from Wills in the final turn with the two riders crossing the line side by side.

SX2 FINAL THREE

After struggling outside the top ten in the first two final’s Connor Tierney turned his night around, grabbing the final SX2 holeshot and leading the field through the first lap followed by Regan Duffy who had also finished down the field in the opening two finals.

Blose moved into second position and gave Tierney everything he had, but the young racer never flinched, handling the pressure from three different riders behind him all race long to cross the line in first position much to the crowd’s delight.

Behind him the battle for second chopped and changed from lap to lap, with Osby, Duffy and Blose going back and forth all race long, with Osby eventually finishing second with Duffy third and Blose fourth.

Wills once again impressed to finish in 5th position, while disaster struck for both Wilson and Tanti with both riders crashing on the opening lap. Tanti was able to recover to 9th position, but unfortunately for Wilson further trouble relegated him back to a 19th place finish and putting a big dent in his aspirations for back to back titles. 

SX2 Summary

With all three of the SX2 finals throwing up completely different results, it was Blose and his 3-1-4 result that was enough to take the round win ahead of Osby with a 6-3-2 with Oldenburg and his 5-2-7 rounding out the top three.

Tanti even with his crash and 9th place finish in the final race was able to hold on for 4th overall for the round, with Wills good results in the last two races enough for him to finish the night in 5th position.

Jay Wilson was able to salvage a crucial 6th place finish for the round, even with his 19th place result in the final race, while Tierney even with his win in the last race had to settle for 7th overall with only four points separating 5th through to 10th for the night.

The mixed results have also tightened up the SX2 championship standings, with Osby becoming the third rider in three rounds to hold the red plate, leaving round three with just a single point championship lead over Blose with Tanti one point furth back in third and Oldenburg right in the championship hunt only a further two points back in fourth.

With just two rounds of racing remaining, Wilson is still in championship contention, but with 13 points separating him from Osby, he will have his work cut out in Auckland and Melbourne to bridge the points gap.

SX2 Results