Brayton and Richardson Declared Champions for 2017 Australian Supercross Championship

Brayton and Richardson Declared Champions for 2017 Australian Supercross Championship

The concluding round of the Australian Supercross Championship at Jimboomba, Queensland staged the title showdown with Penrite Honda Racing’s Justin Brayton and Serco Yamaha’s Jackson Richardson taking the SX1 and SX2 titles. Torrential rain at Jimboomba had turned the stadium into a challenge for the riders with muddy terrain.

SX1

The SX1 main was full of drama and excitement as the competitors battled for this year’s last round honors.

Justin Brayton rode cleverly and finished 5th for the round which was enough to secure the 2017 SX1 Australian Supercross Championship title, his second in succession. The tension was in the air as the competitors set off from the starting gate with Dan Reardon taking the lead early on. Brayton was clearly trying to ride safely to secure his title and was riding conservatively early on in the tricky conditions.

In the final laps, Nathan Crawford (Kawasaki) was showing sensational pace and challenging Wilson Coolair Motul Factory Suzuki’s Nick Schmidt for the victory. In the late stages of the race, Crawford managed to overtake Schmidt but unfortunately due to an incident in the whoops Crawford was unaware he was required to readdress his position. Although Crawford crossed the finish line in first, after a protest it was deemed that Crawford had gained an advantage and should have given the position to Schmidt. Crawford was relegated down two positions and Schmidt would claim the victory.

Schmidt; “I’m definitely excited. I felt good all day and coming in to the round we had a great week. We’ve had some bad luck so far this season but we managed to turn it all around. I got a decent start in the main event and I was sitting in fourth and I just put my head down and got to work. It was so muddy but I just kept picking off guys and making my way towards the lead. My mechanic just kept telling me to keep it on two wheels and I was determined to put Suzuki on the podium. A lot of crazy stuff went on after the race but the officials looked at it all and they ended up giving me the overall which is awesome.”

SX1 Champion Brayton played an intelligent race and managed to finish fifth to take the Championship and shared; “Tonight was the toughest Supercross race I think I have competed in; it was a matter of survival. Riders were crashing without warning so I needed to remind myself throughout the final that to win the Championship we needed to finish.” Brayton concluded.

Round Six – SX1 Jimboomba Results
1. Nick SCHMIDT
2. Kade MOSIG +1 lap
3. Nathan CRAWFORD (Penalised two positions)
4. Daniel REARDON +1 lap
5. Justin BRAYTON +2 laps
6. Dean FERRIS +2 laps
7. Joel WIGHTMAN +2 laps
8. Dylan LONG +2 laps
9. Daniel HERRLEIN +5 laps
DNF. Todd WATERS

SX1 Championship Standings
1. Justin BRAYTON 124
2. Daniel REARDON 108
3. Dean FERRIS 103
4. Dylan LONG 95
5. Kade MOSIG 94
6. Nathan CRAWFORD 94
7. Nick SCHMIDT 67
8. Todd WATERS 61
9. Daniel HERRLEIN 59
10. Joel WIGHTMAN 52

SX2

The defending Champion, Jackson Richardson has managed to go back to back to secure the title at Jimboomba. A fourth-place finish would see Richardson secure the Championship. Taking the win was Jay Wilson, ahead of Chris Blose and Dylan Wills.

Richardson finished fourth to reclaim his title, ahead of Morgan Fogarty who finished off his maiden season with an impressive fifth place.

“The longer the race went on, the worse the track got but thankfully we were able to get it done and that’s all that matters in the end, Richardson said. “Thank you to everyone at Serco Yamaha for their support. We started the supercross season a bit behind the eight ball as I had just come off injury but we all kept working at it and we wound up with another championship tonight.” Richardson finished.

Following his first podium finish in two years at the AUS-X Open just one week ago, Wilson headed into the final event of the season high on confidence, finishing the last outing of the series with a perfect score card.

With Jimboomba absolutely drenched with rain throughout the weekend, riders were forced to contend with the wettest and muddiest conditions of the season, but 23-year-old Wilson adapted and proved that he’s the consummate professional indoors and outdoors.

Wilson qualified in the top position in the SX2 class on Saturday with a flying 58.667 lap time, then backed up his performance in his heat collecting the race win –  but it was the main event which delivered Wilson and the Raceline Pirelli KTM team with a fairy tale finish to 2017.

After holeshotting, Wilson charged to the SX2 final win, lapping up to fifth place and taking the race victory by a huge 51.291 seconds – simply unheard of in Supercross terms. With a strong finish at Jimboomba, Wilson also concluded the 2017 Australian Supercross series in third in the SX2 Championship standings.

Wilson; “Wow! The last round at Jimboomba was absolutely everything I’ve been working towards – we qualified fastest, won the heat race and the main event so we couldn’t have done any more,” Wilson explained. “My fiancé, my daughter, my brother and my mum were all here for this moment and I’m so proud that I could do this for them. The conditions were absolutely brutal – we had so much rain before we went racing but I just rode the track for what it was, stayed patient and made sure we got the starts that we needed to get the win.” He finished.

Round Six – SX2 Jimboomba Results
1. Jay WILSON
2. Chris BLOSE +51.291
3. Dylan WILLS +54.700
4. Jackson RICHARDSON +63.052
5. Morgan FOGARTY +1 lap
6. Nick SUTHERLAND +1 lap
7. Wilson TODD +1 lap
8. John PURITTI + 1 lap
9. Lochie LATIMER +1 lap
10. Jye DICKSON +1 lap

2017 SX2 Championship Standings 
1. Jackson RICHARDSON 119
2. Wilson TODD 110
3. Jay WILSON 110
4. Dylan WILLS 102
5. Geran STAPLETON 74
6. Gavin FAITH 63
7. Nick SUTHERLAND 49
8. Taylor POTTER 48
9. Chris BLOSE 47
10. Morgan FOGARTY 40

Photo courtesy of Penrite Honda Racing Team