2022 Australian Supercross Championship | Round 1 Melbourne

Round 1 Melbourne:

After a few years off due to a global pandemic, the Australian Supercross Series is back and bigger than ever. Round 1 took place at Marvel Stadium in Melbourne Victoria as the feature event for the WSX series. The 2022 Fox Racing Australian Supercross series had a lot of hype behind it for obvious reasons. Reigning SX1 champ Justin Brayton and newly signed Dean Wilson made a last-minute decision to race the series along with other series stars Brett Metcalf, Luke Clout, and current Australian Motocross Champion Aaron Tanti. Other notable riders include Jackson Richardson, Hayden Melross, Matt Moss, Kyle Webster, and Dylan Wills who all want to leave their mark as Australia's fastest Supercross rider! In the SX2 class, the title hopes look to be with Genuine Honda as they brought over Max Anstie and Wilson Todd while Serco Yamaha signed Canadian Champion Cole Thompson to team up with Bailey Malkiewicz having tremendous speed. Other notable riders to have a bid at the SX2 top 5 are KTM’s Nathan Crawford and Yamalube Racing's Rhys Budd as they look to improve their SX careers with strong finishes to start 2022.

Qualifying:

Qualifying went off with a perfectly prepped track that held plenty of moisture leaving riders with dream conditions. The track did require precise timing and high intensity for riders to see their name at the top of the timing board. In the SX2 class Wilson Todd, Max Anstie, and Cole Thompson were on another level. In the SX1 class newly signed Genuine Honda rider Dean Wilson finished on top of the board ahead of teammate Justin Brayton, and CDR Yamaha’s Luke Clout. Aaron Tanti who was making his 450 SX debut finished a respectful fourth in qualifying.

Racing:

SX2
The stage was set for the SX2 class Main event which saw Max Anstie put on a dominant performance making some quick moves to get into the lead and avoid the carnage unfolding behind him where riders were crashing in the whoops, flying off the track and getting eaten up by the dragons back! Anstie won by a gap of 10.2 seconds over Cole Thompson in second and Nathan Crawford in third. Going into round 2 look for these 3 riders to set the temp for the rest of the field with Max Anstie and Cole Thompson a step ahead of the rest.

SX1
In the SX1 class Matt Moss got out to an early lead ahead of Aaron Tanti and Justin Brayton but after a few laps the pressure from Tanti was too much and Moss was passed for the lead. SX1 rookie Tanti was now leading with some veterans behind him not letting him get away. On lap 6 Brayton got by Moss and slowly started to apply pressure to Tanti. Meanwhile series favourite Luke Clout was having a rough night crashing multiple times suffering a broken thumb and unfortunately had to retire for the night. The battle was on between the rookie Tanti and the Veteran Brayton, Brayton would slowly wear Tanti out and on lap 14, he made the move and sprinted away to a 7.4 second lead proving once again he was back for another title to try and make it 5 consecutive Australian Supercross Championships. Dean Wilson would make a late race charge on Matt Moss capturing third and rounding out the podium for his debut in the Australian Supercross series. Moving into round 2 look for Brayton to get even more confident, this leaves Tanti, and Moss attempting to find a little more speed and consistency to stay with the reigning champ. The battle from fourth to eighth is going to be good with Dylan Wills, Hayden Mellross, and Kyle Webster. Next stop is Adelaide on October 29 for round 2!