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Serco Yamaha riders again showed great speed at round six of the Rockstar MX Nationals.

On a cool but perfect winters’ day in Albury, Ford Dale, guest rider Jason Dougan from the UK and Kirk Gibbs completed the round in fourth, fifth and sixth places respectively in a strong showing for the Yamaha team.

Ford Dale overcame a huge first turn pile up in moto two and another heavy fall in moto three to finish a sore but solid fourth place in the ultra competitive Pro Lites division. Dale is a fighter and continually dusted himself, leapt back on his bike and grinded out some head turning results. His 2-4-11 results were the product of hard work and spirited racing.

“My bike was perfect today and I was able to put it right up the front, but lapses in concentration cost me dearly. With the recent rain, the track was rutty and you couldn’t afford to take your focus off it otherwise the penalties were harsh, as I found out.”

“Still, I clawed a few places back in the championship and want to really pour the speed on in the final three rounds, Dale said.

Team mate Kirk Gibbs also was running up the pointy end but a flat tyre in the last race of the day wrecked any chances of a podium finish for the round. Gibbs slotted his YZ250F in 5-2 places in the opening two motos, but the deflated tube slowed his progress in the third moto. He limped home in 12th place.

“I felt I raced well today all day but the sixth overall doesn’t show it. I didn’t lose many points in the championship and still managed to hang on to second overall in the championship,” Gibbs offered.

Serco Yamaha also hosted Jason Dougan from the UK in a guest ride for the team. Dougan, a Yamaha rider in the 450 class in his native England, made the trip to Australia to contest the Albury and Moree rounds of the MX Nationals.

Dougan acquitted himself well on foreign soil and his consistent moto scores of 5-8-4 saw him climb up to fifth place in the overall points for the round.

“This whole deal came together at the very last minute and I owe a huge thank you to everyone at Yamaha Australia and Serco Yamaha for allowing this to happen. The team and the bikes were amazing and I was really impressed with the way the team and the event went.”

“I had no idea on how I would go but a top five is a good result as there were plenty of good riders in that Lites class.”

With three of the top six riders on a Serco Yamaha, Team Owner Gavin Eales saw the day as a success for his team.

“It would have been great to get the guys up on the podium as their speed probably deserved a better result than what they got. But that’s racing and to have all three of them up the front was a solid result.”

“Ford made up some points in the championship and is now in fourth, Gibbsy holds onto second place and we are well placed for a run home in the final three rounds,” Gales explains.

Moree hosts the next round of the Rockstar Energy Drink MX Nationals on July 18. For more information, visit www.mxnationals.com.au

Round Six Results – Albury
Pro Lites RIDERMANUFACTURERRESULTSPOINTS
1st PJ LarsenKTM1-1-175points
2nd Cody MackieKawasaki4-3-358points
3rd Ryan MarmontKTM3-5-750points
4th Ford DaleYamaha2-4-1150points
5th Jason DouganYamaha5-8-447points
6th Kirk GibbsYamaha6-2-1246points
7th Lawson BoppingSuzuki7-10-541points
8th Kade MosigSuzuki11-6-640points
9th Brendan HarrisonKTM0 -7-236points
10th Luke StykeYamaha9-11-835points

Championship Points- After Round Six
1st PJ Larsen - 357
2nd Kirk Gibbs - 273
3rd Cody Mackie - 271
4th Ryan Marmont - 265
5th Ford Dale - 226
6th Lawson Bopping - 219
7th Luke Styke – 219
8th Michael Phillips – 181
9th Kade Mosig – 177
10th Luke George - 161