Hot’N’Cold: Raymond Terrace MX Nats

Transmoto’s Jeremy Hammer separates the best performers from the worst at Raymond Terrace, the sixth round of the 2015 MX Nationals, held July 4 at MX Central. 

HOT

Kirk Gibbs
What better way to start this feature than to mention Kirk Gibbs. The guy has been killing it lately, and showed exactly why he holds such a strong lead in the championship after yet another Overall win at Raymond Terrace. Gibbs now leads teammate Luke Styke by 61 points, leaving him with plenty of breathing room and a good chance of wrapping up the title before Coolum.

Matt Moss
The start of this season couldn’t have gone any worse for Matt Moss, with injuries ruling him out of majority of the series so far, and the races he did contest, he just wasn’t the two-time MX1 champion we’re used to seeing. He obviously put in the work over the six-week break, as he came out swinging in moto one to take the win, and looked to have his mojo back. A fourth in moto two was enough for second Overall, and I think Moss just gained a heap of confidence that he has been lacking so far – which is scary for his competition.

Caleb Ward
Caleb raced to his third consecutive MX2 Overall win at the Terrace, blitzing his competition with a moto two win. Ward unfortunately missed a couple of rounds this year due to a knee injury, and I think he’s just left his rivals jaw-dropped with the performances he’s been putting in lately. It’s a real bummer he’s not in contention for the title, but I’m sure he’s stoked just to take Overall wins for now.

Dylan Wills
I don’t think anyone expected this kid to win the opening moto on Sunday, as he put in a dominating performance by leading every lap to take his career first MX2 victory. His second moto didn’t go as planned, getting caught up with a rider while battling within the top five, however his 13th result still landed him on the podium for third Overall, which was also another career first for the MX2 rookie.

COLD

Lawson Bopping
Lawson had a rather disappointing weekend, finishing 12th Overall. A heavy crash in the opening stages of moto one is what sent him so far down the field, where he ended up in 17th. A big crash can ruin your confidence, and I’m sure Bopping had a heap of it coming into the weekend after grabbing the Overall win at the previous round in Coolum. He was only able to salvage a ninth in moto two, obviously hurting from the moto one incident.

Kade Mosig
There was a lot of hype surrounding Mosig heading into the second half of the series, however we didn’t get to see him reach his full potential on the weekend. A fourth in moto one might not sound bad to the average person, but Kade is capable of race wins and he needs them at this critical stage of the championship. Mosig was another rider who suffered a sizable crash mid-way through the second moto. He was able to bounce back to 10th, however his championship hopes took a big hit.

Luke Clout
Clout probably took the hardest hit of the weekend, and that was losing the MX2 championship points lead. It’s the first time all year that Clout hasn’t controlled the championship, with rival and ex-teammate Jay Wilson now taking it over. Clout suffered a mechanical issue on the line before the opening moto that hindered his result, and went into damage control in moto two to secure a fourth place finish. Some will think Luke will lose confidence, but I think he’ll be hungrier to regain the points lead – he only trails Wilson by a small margin of five points.