Tuesday Track Talk

Corney Shines in Indonesia
The Asia Pacific Yamaha BLU CRU R3 Cup is overflowing with Australian riders gaining experience and knowledge on an international stage and after the first two rounds were raced in Australia, the series moved back into Asia on the weekend for round three.

The Mandalika Circuit hosted round three and it turned out to be a sensational round for Queenslander Hunter Corney. Corney went bar to bar with Indonesian rising star, Sabian Ilmi and both flashed across the finish line a second apart with Corney in second place.

But with it all on the line in race two, Corney got of a great start and was never headed. He put his head down on the opening lap and quickly began to open up a gap over his rivals. When he came around to finish the nine-lap race, his margin was just over eight seconds, which is an eternity in this style of racing.

The successful weekend in Indonesia now sees Corney at the top of the points table after three rounds. Corney is on 104 points, just two clear of Thailand’s Teerani Tabtim.

Other Australians include Rossi McAdam in fourth, Pheonix O’Brien in sixth, Connor Lewis seventh and Xaier Cyrmi in tenth.

The next round is set down for Motegi in Japan on September 5 and 6.

Townley back on the Box
New Zealand’s Levi Townley has put a rough couple of weeks behind him to finish strongly at the Foxhill’s MXGP in the England over the weekend. Riding his YZ125 for the MJC Yamaha team, Townley took an instant liking to the Foxhill’s track and went about trying to get his maiden GP round win in the EMX125cc division.

Unfortunately, bad starts hampered his result but didn’t dampen his enthusiasm or desire to be up the front. Race one he struggled with vision when he had a goggle issue but still made his way forward to an eighth-place finish.

Race two and after shaking off some arm pump in the early going, Townley began to crank on the pace and moved through the pack. His charge took him all the way through to second place. His 8-3 results gave him third for the round and another momentum builder for the talented Kiwi rider.

“Both my starts were pretty average, and my first laps weren’t good enough, so I had my work cut out for me today. I got terrible arm pump in race two real early in the race and my goggles broken in race one, so it was a weekend of what could have been. It’s a shame as we have been working really hard to get back up the front and I felt today was a day where I could have won. But that’s how it goes and I will come back stronger when we go to Sweden,” Townley ends.

SSMX Series Wrap
The fifth and final round of the Queensland Sunshine State Motocross Championships were contested over three days at Queensland Moto Park, southwest of Brisbane.

With the venue hosting the final round of the ProMX Championship in two weeks’ time, many of the national riders took the opportunity to get familiar with the track and be fully prepared for the final motocross hit out of the season.

Yamaha team riders, Aaron Tanti, Noah Ferguson, Souya Nakajima and Jack Deveson were all in attendance as well as a host of Yamaha Junior Racing team riders.

The big winner was our Japanese guest, Souya Nakajima. While he didn’t win the final round on the weekend, he has contested every round of the series so far and not finished outside the top five at any round. He podiumed at three out of the five and his consistency paid off and he won the series in the MX2 class.

Nakajima has been a busy man since landing in Australia and racing as often as possible. By the time he heads home he would have competed in 16 race events and has worked hard to fast track his speed and skill while here. Winning the Queensland Championship is a good reward for his effort and that of his mechanic, Masa.

Noah Ferguson finished third on the day and second in the series. Ferguson competed in four out of the five rounds, winning three of them as well as a podium in the final round. Ferguson hopes the weekend was a good tune up for the two big weeks of racing as the ProMX comes to a conclusion.

Madi Simpson took the final round victory in the Women’s division. Simpson rides the QMP track well and has had success there in the past, so keep an eye on her for the final two rounds in the ProMX.

in the Junior divisions, Ollie Thredgold was the star of the day, taking the round and the championship win in the 7-9 years 65cc class. Thredgold’s make a huge effort race in Queensland from their South Australian base as they search out the best competition they can find.

He was ably supported by Archie Balnchette, who finished third for the day, racing against his teammate. Blanchette didn’t race all the rounds in the series so wasn’t in contention for an overall result but handled the conditions well and give him a leg up when he lines up for the 65 Futures race at the ProMX.

It was a successful day for the YZ65 as Stella Harding parked his machine at the top of the podium for the day with victory in the 7-12 years 65cc Girls class. Stella is a cut above the other female riders and is often inside the top five when racing with the boys.

Hudson Franic took a round podium in the 10-12 years 65cc, with a third place for the round. He just missed out on a series podium after a couple of rough races early in the series.

The Weekend Ahead
The next two weeks are the busies on the calendar for the motocross teams and rides as they final two rounds of Pro MX are back-to-back with rounds at Conondale and QMP.

This weekend marks the return of national motocross to Conondale for the first time in nearly a decade. Always a rider favourite, the fans will fill the hills of the Sunshine Coast Hinterland to catch the best riders in the country do battle on an icon and popular track.

All eyes will be on the MX1 division as Monster Energy CDR Yamaha rider, Jed Beaton, has a chance to secure the championship with a round to spare. Beaton has over 60 points on his nearest rivals, Kyle Webster and Aaron Tanti, so nothing more than a solid weekend of riding should see the championship go his way. With 50 points up for grabs its round, the championship can be decided this weekend.

But Beaton and his team aren’t taking things for granted and continued to prepare as they have done all year. Motocross is a strange game and no one more than Beaton knows the ups and downs the sport can produce.

Teammate Aaron Tanti is in a battle for second place in the championship. Tanti is just one point behind Kyle Webster and with the last two rounds at tracks Tanti has done well at in the past, he is confident that if he rides well, he can leapfrog Webster on the way home.

No matter what happens, the ProMX Championship can only be viewed as a success for Tanti as he has been able to ride himself back to full strength and at a level similar to his championship year of 2022.

The final two rounds will also mark a chance for Noah Ferguson to cash on his speed and finish the season strongly. He sits in fifth place in the MX2 class, and still a chance at a series podium but will need to be at his best for the final four races to make up the points. But if anyone is capable of making it happen, its Ferguson.

For Souya Nakajima, the ProMX has been a huge learning curve for the Japanese champ, and he is just outside the top 10 in the points. Last time out at Traralgon was his most consistent and best round result, so his form is trending in the right direction.

It will be the first time the Queensland crowd will get to see Lala Turner in action. Having a current two-time AMA champion racing on Australian shores for an entire series is rare but Turner is loving her time in Australia.

She leads the WMX class by 24 points over Tayla McCutcheon with Chari Cannon another 10 points back. Conondale is another track Lala is yet to lay eyes on, but Traralgon showed she can adjust quickly and will be ready to go when the gates fall for race one.

In the MX3 class, Hayden Draper leads the series despite a tough couple of rounds. But of there is one thing history shows us is that Kiwi’s love the Conondale track. Draper will be looking to put in a big effort at the penultimate round to give him a points buffer heading into the final round.

And if you are wondering what the chain saw noise in MX3 this weekend. That will be Blake Bohannon. The 2026 85cc World Champ has swapped the YZ85 for a YZ125 and will make his first appearance in the MX3 division.

Bohannon, with the MX85cc championship wrapped up, he will now switch focus to the bigger bikes and Conondale marks his first national race in MX3.

On track action starts at 8am on Sunday. If you can’t make it trackside, you can catch the morning action on the ProMX Facebook page or watch the afternoon races live on SBS from 1pm.