Season best for HRT at Toowoomba
Crankt Protein Honda Racing Team riders Dylan Long and Jay Wilson made significant progress at what was a tough and technical Round 9 of the Motul MX Nationals at Toowoomba in Queensland yesterday.
With both riders heading in to the round optimistic of improved results, the racing on the track from the Honda pair translated this weekend, with both Long and Wilson taking well to the Toowoomba circuit.
For Long, Round 9 started off perfectly, making yet another appearance in GoPro Superpole, where he competed with the series’ best riders to eventually take third with a 1:47.227 lap time. From there, Long looked to put two consistent results on the board, and in race one finished in an impressive 6th position, and then went one better in moto two, finishing in 5th. With two results well inside the top ten, Long wrapped up the round in 5th overall.
“It was a really good weekend for me – having had so much time off the bike, it’s good to know that I’m not too far behind the eight ball, and still able to finish inside that top five,” Long shared.
“As a team, we made a lot of positive progress today. We have some great people in our corner and it paid off on the track.
“I’m currently sitting in fifth in the championship which we’re happy with considering I was out of Round 8, so hopefully I can maintain that, and finish off with a good result at Coolum next weekend.”
For Wilson, Round 9 saw the Honda CRF450R rider qualify in 9th position, but from there, Wilson looked for more, racing to 8th in race one, and then an impressive 6th in race two, to conclude the round just outside the top five in 7th overall.
“Today was a much better day for myself and the team. We managed to make some solid improvements and it showed on track,” Wilson shared.
“At this point, I’m not exactly where I want to be, but we have a much clearer idea of where we need to improve, and how I can better myself as a rider going forward.
“We were lucky enough to have Craig Anderson in our corner mentoring us at Round 9 which was really cool, so we’re all looking forward to building off the results from this weekend and seeing what we can do at the final round at Coolum in a week’s time.”
The Crankt Protein Honda Racing Team will now begin preparations for the Grand Finale of the 2016 Motul MX Nationals, being held at Coolum in Queensland on August 27-28, 2016.
For more information on the Crankt Protein Honda Racing Team, head to www.teamhondaracing.com.au
For more information on the MX Nationals, head to www.mxnationals.com.au
Photos: MXN Images
