WA teenager dominates AusProMX season opener at Wonthaggi

2021 Australian ProMX Round One Wonthaggi

Report by Trevor Hedge – Images RbMotoLens

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MX1

Western Australians are not called ‘sandgropers’ for nothing and Perth teenager Regan Duffy underlined that reputation by topping the opening MX1 Qualifying session this morning after heavy overnight rain had soaked what had been a well prepared Wonthaggi Motocross Track. 

Kirk Gibbs was second quickest ahead of Luke Clout and Todd Waters. Veteran Brett Metcalfe was fifth ahead of Hayden Mellross, Max Purvis and the prodigal son of Australian Motocross, Matt Moss was eighth on the time-sheets. 

Without seeking any of the spotlight or self-promotion, Matt Moss had been the subject of most headlines into the lead up to season 2021.  Matt, together with brother Jake, both returning to competition after a four-year doping ban.  The twins have been mainstays of the Australian Motocross scene for over two decades, winning numerous junior championships before turning senior and then racking up more than a few Motocross and Supercross Championships between them. 

The top ten from the MX1 category then contested a ten-minute Pole Shootout and the heavens opened once again as riders hit the track in what would prove a difficult session for some.  Todd Waters went over the bars without injury but Hayden Mellross went down quite heavily. It was an early sign of what would prove to be a gruelling day on a heavy track for man and machine. 

Duffy backed up that qualifying form to also prove fastest in the Pole Shootout ahead of Luke Clout, Brett Metcalfe and Kirk Gibbs. 

MX1 Race One

The gates dropped for the opening Moto at 1135 and a quartet of riders went down together before the end of lap one. There were no problems for Luke Clout though as he was out front and had a clear track and vision while Brett Metcalfe, Todd Waters and Matt Moss gave chase. 

It wasn’t long until the Western Australian duo of Jayden Rykers and Regan Duffy started showing their sand form. Rykers moved past Matt Moss for fourth place and Duffy then pushed Moss further back to sixth.  Duffy then proceeded to take fourth place from Rykers on what was quickly becoming a brutal track. 

Duffy then went down though and was relegated back to seventh place, only to breeze back past a number of big name riders and move back up to fourth place in no time. He then also got the better of defending champion Todd Waters to move up to third place. 

At the halfway point of the race Luke Clout was continuing to dominate. Brett Metcalfe was running in second place, seven-seconds behind the CDR Yamaha rider, while Duffy was a further 14-seconds back in third place, despite those previous mistakes. Todd Waters was fourth, Kirk Gibbs fifth, Hayden Mellross sixth and Jayden Rykers had been shuffled back to seventh after making a couple of mistakes. 

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Duffy continued to reel in that leading duo, a second a lap quicker at times than both Clout and Metcalfe before Metty then decided to drop his hammer after keeping his powder dry for the opening two-thirds of the race. The 36-year-old South Australian showing his class and experience to close and then pounce on a seemingly unsuspecting Luke Clout, stealing the lead with less than five-minutes left in the opening bout of season 2021. 

Once out front Metty pulled away from Clout and took the chequered flag 3.4-seconds before the #4 CDR Yamaha.  Regan Duffy had been closing quickly on Clout but ran out of time to catch the CDR Yamaha man and had to settle for third place while ruing those earlier costly mistakes. 

MX1 Race One Results

MX1 Race Two

Kirk Gibbs scored the holeshot in the second and final MX1 bout for the opening round of the season ahead of Luke Clout, Hayden Mellross and first race winner Brett Metcalfe in fourth ahead of Todd Waters and Jake Moss. Jayden Rykers was seventh, Connor Tierney eighth and Regan Duffy ninth halfway around lap one. 

Duffy quickly worked his way up to sixth place by the end of that opening lap while Gibbs had lost the lead due to some sort of incident and it was a CDR Yamaha 1-2 up front with Mellross leading Clout. Not for long though as a charging Duffy pushed his way past Metty, Clout and then stole the lead from Mellross with 20-minutes left on the shot clock. The Western Australian teenager then pulled away from the CDR Yamaha duo with apparent ease. 

By half-race distance Duffy had a ten-second lead over Luke Clout. Todd Waters had moved up to third place while Metcalfe was running fourth, Gibbs fifth and Mellross sixth. 

Luke Clout’s YZ450F then cried ‘enough’ with just over ten-minutes left in the Moto, the machine appeared to be losing fluid as it slowed. Clout stayed on the bike and tried to nurse it home but was losing places and points before eventually pulling into the pits to retire. 

Regan Duffy was continuing to set the pace up front and with seven-minutes remaining had a 17-second lead over defending champion Todd Waters, who in turn had four-seconds on Metcalfe. 

Rain started falling again with five-minutes left in the race. Duffy had backed his pace off a little and Waters was starting to pull some ground back but the West Aussie still had 15-seconds up his sleeve. 

In the final minutes Kirk Gibbs and then Hayden Mellross passed Brett Metcalfe after the South Australian lost the front and went down. 

With two laps to run the fight for the podium positions started to hot up.  Gibbs had closed to within three-seconds of second place Waters and both Mellross and Metcalfe were not completely out of podium contention.  That was until Metcalfe collided with a lapper and that would cost him his chance of round victory, the veteran though still had a handy buffer over sixth place Connor Tierney and brought his Honda home in fifth place.

Taking the chequered flag after stamping his authority on Wonthaggi today though was 18-year-old Regan Duffy who played to the crowd on the final lap but still took victory by 13.6-seconds over Todd Waters while Gibbs rounded out the podium positions ahead of Hayden Mellross. 

MX1 Race Two Results

MX1 Overall

The return of the Moss brothers was not as fortuitous as anyone had hoped for. Matt took a knock to his head and shoulder in the opening Moto which ruled him out of the second bout while Jake retired from the second race with goggle issues. 

Taking the championship lead to Canberra next month is Perth teenager Regan Duffy. The KTM rider bagging 45-points to Metcalfe’s 41 to take the round win while Todd Waters rounded out the overall podium on 40-points. 

MX1 Points

MX2 Race One

MX2 had been on track before MX1 and thus had a cleaner track and had recorded faster times than the big-bores in qualifying.  Kyle Webster topped that MX2 Qualifying session ahead of Alex Larwood, Jesse Dobson and Rhys Budd.

Dylan Wills scored the holeshot in the opening MX2 bout but it was Alex Larwood that quickly got about setting the pace up front as Kyle Webster and Dylan Wills gave chase. 

Factory Honda’s Kyle Webster closed down and passed Larwood for the lead four-minutes in to the 25-minute plus one lap Moto. WBR Yamaha’s Larwood did not relent though and continued to pressure Webster. 

At the halfway point 1.3-seconds separated that Webster/Larwood duo up front while JPM Husqvarna rider Jai Constantinou was 20-seconds further behind in third place with a four-second buffer over Rhys Budd. 

Constantinou made a mistake in the second half of the Moto though and was relegated from third place all the way back to eighth. Rhys Budd moving up into that third place and Jesse Dobson fourth. 

Larwood lost touch with Webster as the race progressed and with five-minutes left on the shot clock Webster’s lead had blew out to six-seconds as the rain started absolutely pouring and rider visibility reduced to a haze. 

That pair though continued to streak away from the remainder of the field with race leader Webster 44-seconds ahead of third placed Budd when the last lap board was presented. Webster’s lead over Larwood was 7.5-seconds at the same juncture.

Webster went on to take victory over Larwood by 6.3-seconds. Rhys Budd was more than half-a-minute further behind and just managed to hold off Jesse Dobson for the final spot on the Moto One rostrum. 

MX2 Race One Results

MX2 Race Two

Rhys Budd scored the holeshot in the second bout but it was Kyle Webster that took the early lead and set the pace. 

Budd was second before being gazumped by Jai Constantinou a couple of minutes into the Moto. Nathan Crawford then pushed Budd further back to fourth. 

A few minutes later Jesse Dobson, Alex Larwood and Jay Wilson then relegated Budd back to seventh place. 

As the race approached the halfway mark Nathan Crawford then took second place from Constantinou and pulled away from the Husqvarna rider. Kyle Webster had led by over ten-seconds but lost a lot of time on lap five which saw his lead narrowed to less than five-seconds with half the race still to go. 

Jesse Dobson then started to close in on his Serco Yamaha team-mate Nathan Crawford to set up a challenge for that second place but lost a lot of ground on lap nine with lapped riders which extended Crawford’s buffer back out to four-seconds with five-minutes left on the shot clock.  Kyle Webster led by almost ten-seconds at this juncture.

Webster the clear victor and lapped the field up to ninth place on his way to a 12-second victory over Crawford after backing off on the final lap from what otherwise would have been a 15-second victory. 

Jesse Dobson held off a late charge from Alex Larwood to secure third place while Jai Constantinou took fifth ahead of Rhys Budd and a seventh placed Jay Wilson.

MX2 Race Two Results

MX2 Overall

With those dominant 1-1 results of course Kyle Webster is the round winner and will take a ten-point lead over Alex Larwood into round two. Nathan Crawford completed the round podium ahead of Jesse Dobson and Rhys Budd. 

MX2 Points

MX3 Race One

16-year-old Ryder Kingsford topped MX3 qualifying ahead of Ben Novak and 17-year-old Blake Fox. 

Dubbo’s Blake Fox worked his way through to the lead and rode strong throughout to pull away from the field.  The best of the rest was Ryder Kingsford who took the chequered flag 15-seconds behind Fox while 15-year-old Kobe Drew rounded out the podium ahead of Ben Novak. 

13-year-old Western Australian phenom Kayden Minear went down early on lap one of the opening 20-minute plus one-lap MX3 Moto and was relegated to the back of the field.  The Mandurah City KTM rider then clawed his way back through the field as far as fourth place and looked to have the pace to challenge for a podium before another small mistake late in the race cost him his shot at the rostrum, eventually taking the chequered flag in fifth. 

MX3 Race One Results

MX3 Race Two

Kayden Minear scored the holeshot second time around but it was Blake Fox that took the early lead from Ryder Kingsford, while Minear was third ahead of Ben Novak. 

A few minutes into the race Kingsford got the better of Fox for the race lead and immediately set about breaking away from the GasGas rider.  The Goulburn based 16-year-old managed to do exactly that and built a small buffer over Fox and managed to lead all the way to the flag to take victory over Fox by almost two-seconds.  Kayden Minear took third place almost a full-minute behind that leading duo for third.

MX3 Race Two Results

MX3 Overall

Ryder Kingsford the round winner thanks to that second moto victory and will head to round two on equal points with Blake Fox. Kobe Drew was third for the round ahead of Kayden Minear. 

MX3 Points

2021 Penrite ProMX Championship Calendar