Stadium-X Showdown In Coffs

There’s an old adage that motorcycle racing gets in your blood. And it sure holds true in Australia because, while the rest of us are doing our best to remove the booze and fatty excess from the festive season, Australia’s die-hard motocrossers have had their first serious showdown of the year at last weekend’s Coffs Harbour Stadium MX, which sits conveniently between Sydney and Brisbane’s rider catchment areas. Sure, as we mentioned in last week’s preview of the event, decent prize money will have lured many of its competitors. But for most MX junkies, the appeal of the Coffs Harbour event stems more from being able to peg themselves against their rivals; to get a pre-season fix on how effective their off-season training regime has been, and to notch up some bragging rights before the state and national series kick off in a few months’ time. We couldn’t make it along to Coffs, so we leant on the event’s promoter, Ben Blanchette, to give us a rundown of what went down. Clearly more than a little excited by what was, by all accounts, a ripper of an event, here’s Blanchette’s emailed account of Saturday night’s proceedings…

I can’t say enough about how perfectly things ran on Saturday night at the 2018 Coffs Harbour Stadium MX, and how unbelievably good the racing was, with several of the Pro riders entering both MX1 and MX2 classes. Track conditions were tacky and quick, and it held its shape all night. The KTM Over-Bridge Tunnel layout worked really well for the racing, and I’m told it was the biggest under/over-bridge ever used for MX racing in Australia.

I understand that no one wants to read a blow-by-blow account of the racing action, but here’s a snapshot of what and who stood out in each class:

THE MX1 CLASS

Awesome racing action with the heavy battles played out between Luke Clout and Jay Wilson, with Nathan Crawford not far behind. These three shortened the race track up in no time. And to mix it up, Jesse Madden displayed muscle and sheer speed against these three. He led a few races and most definitely held his own in this premier category.

Clout appeared the more dominant. He boasted brute speed and looked very comfortable aboard KTM’s 450SX-F factory bike, but a few small mistakes cost him the Overall win. Crawford displayed aggressive style to hold back the rest of the field, who chased him all night. But it as Wilson who was ever so consistent and rode flawlessly for the Overall win. He out-muscled every other rider on track with raw, mistake-free speed, and it definitely appeared that he’d done his off-season homework.

MX1 Results – Top 5:

1. Jay Wilson
2. Nathan Crawford
3. Luke Clout
4. Hugh Mackay
5. Jesse Madden

THE MX2 CLASS

These guys sure delivered on the much-anticipated battle of the evening, with the field stacked with Pro riders from last year’s national MX and SX championships. Jackson Richardson attacked the track head-on. He showed that he was the guy to beat, setting the pace straight away on his dead stock Honda CRF250R and pulling away from the field with perfect riding style. Wilson Todd hunted him and was within striking distance here and there. As was Jay Wilson. In fact, these two were the only riders to put themselves in the mix with Richardson all night, and Wilson didn’t fall short of stealing the MX2 class show. Combined with his showing in MX1, Wilson really put in the ride of the night across both classes. Also riding two classes, Nathan Crawford rode solidly and aggressively to finish fourth.

Also worth a mention was the impressive ride put in by a very confident 16-year-old called Tyler Darby, who showed that he has the talent and speed to put it to these top guys, in spite of the fact he faded at the halfway point in each race.

MX2 Results – Top 5:

1. Jackson Richardson
2. Jay Wilson
3. Wilson Todd
4. Nathan Crawford
5. Luke Reardon

The huge crowd on hand to witness all this action was half local and half travelled. All in all, the entire show helped build a really solid platform for the event’s 10^th anniversary in January, 2019. Make sure you’re there for that one.