Serco Yamaha Metal Mulisha Racing pulled off a stunning 1-2 finish at round six of the MX Nationals at held at the sandy Hervey Bay circuit, Queensland, over the weekend.
Luke Styke hammered his way to an impressive round win on the back of 1-1-4 results and increased his lead in the MX2 championship. Styke used great starts, smart race craft and good speed to put the squeeze on his opponents and stretch his lead in the championship to 46points.
The pre event rain made the track soft, rutted and ultra technical with long ruts and bike swallowing bumps all round the course. Styke showed he had done plenty of work during the break and the 1-1 start to the day highlighted another strong performance for the ever improving racer.
“Today was all about the start and getting good track position in the first couple of turns. I focused heavily on the start and used a Pirelli tyre that would get me good drive off the line and it worked every time.”
“The last race could have been a little better but I did what was needed and it’s hard to be angry about a round win and increasing my lead in the championship,” Styke said.
Team mate Kirk Gibbs also showed the five week break in the championship did him no harm as he bounced back to form with second place overall for the round. Still not 100% over his wrist injury, Gibbs was at least able to grip the bike and fight for position much stronger than in the opening half of the series.
His second place for the round, via his 3-3-6 results, in the three motos sees him gain one position in the championship hunt, moving up to fifth with four rounds remaining.
“Today was much better for me and at least I was able to race for the win and be competitive with the fast guys,” Gibbs explains. “The first half of the series has been rough but hopefully the worst of the injury is behind me and I can now just focus on trying to ride as fast as I can and win as many races as I can on the run home.”
Team Manager, Michael Marty applauded his team on a successful day and said it was a significant result for the team.
“The track was tough day and the riders did an exceptional job. Also the mechanics put in a huge effort to keep the bikes in top shape and achieve the results we did.”
“But we also had a chat after the race and got everyone to keep working and focus on doing the hard yards as this championship is far from over and anything can happen.”
The Serco Yamaha Metal Mulisha Racing Team now turn their attention to Horsham in Victoria for round seven of the MX Nationals on in two weeks time.
Video by: Metal Mulisha
