Yamaha Racing managed to post some podium results at the AUSX Event in Townsville, with Monster Energy Yamalube Yamaha star Lux Turner and Monster Energy WBR Yamaha racer Jack Deveson, both landing in second place in their respective classes.

In a chaotic evening of racing that saw plenty of bar-banging and paint-swapping between riders, the enthusiast crowd at Queensland Country Bank Stadium enjoyed their first major supercross in over a decade and made plenty of noise as the chaos unfolded on the track.

Monster Energy Yamalube Yamaha

Back for another year contesting the Australian Supercross Championship, Turner had barely set foot in the country before throwing a leg over a 2027 YZ250F and taking it into battle.

He started the day well with P2 in qualifying and another second in his heat race before lining up for the two eight-lap races to determine a winner on the night in the SX2 class.

20 riders roared into the first turn for the first major supercross of the year, and all hell broke loose. Turner went down in a multi-rider crash, and by the time he remounted and completed the first lap, he was the last of the riders left circulating. He then put his head down and peeled off some impressive laps to charge his way back to fifth place at the checkered flag in a spirited ride.

Despite being battered and bruised in the opening race, Turner was back on the starting line 30 minutes later, and this time without any mishaps, he was able to finish the race in third. Which was then improved to second when a rider in front of him jumped when his wheels should have been on the ground. His 5-2 result landed him in second and a good start to AUSX campaign.

“It’s awesome to be back in Australia and racing again,” Lux starts. “I have been looking forward to it for a while. I didn’t have a great night, but I was able to hustle enough to finish the night in second place and put down some reasonable laps."

“My leg and neck are sore after that crash in moto one, so I was far from 100%. At least I was able to get my way to a podium finish when it wasn’t on my best day of racing."

“Thanks to the team for putting in a huge effort. I only landed in Brisbane on Wednesday, then flew up here on Thursday, so with no testing, I was able to gel pretty well with the bike, and the team did an awesome job at setting it up for me. Hopefully it's onward and upward from here.”

Noah Ferguson also got his AUSX campaign off on the right track, finishing fourth on the night with two consistent races. He came home with a 6-4 result from the two motos and has positioned himself well for the series.

He had an opportunity to cash in on the downed riders in race one but slowly slipped through the field for sixth, and then in the next moto, he raced his way past some well-established US-based riders on his way to a very respectable fourth.

Supercross doesn’t come easy for Ferguson, but he is willing to learn what it takes to turn himself into a podium rider, and Townsville was an impressive start to just miss the box by a couple of points.

“It seems like everyone had some issues tonight, and happy to say I had more than one,” Ferguson explains. “But it was good to get back and racing on a supercross track, and it was nice to be inside the top five before that start’s getting really serious."

“Thanks to Brownie and the Monster Energy Yamalube Yamaha Team for another great weekend, and hopefully next time, I can get on the podium,” Ferguson said.

Monster Energy WBR Yamaha

With Hayden Draper sidelined with a collarbone injury, it was left to Jack Deveson to fly the team flag in supercross in the SX3 division while Draper recovers.

After a disappointing ProMX season, Deveson is out to bury those memories and replace them with positive ones from this year's Supercross series.

But it wasn’t all trouble-free, as he dealt with some nerves and a host of emotions prior to race one. He was able to put that behind him when he got on track to finish the night in fourth.

“I have worked super hard since returning from injury and feeling close to 100%. It wasn’t the perfect night for me, and there were plenty of mistakes during the night, but I made the podium, and that was the goal I set for myself."

“It was good to get back in the swing of racing with these events, and I will be better for the hit out. I would love to have won tonight, but I made a few too many mistakes, and it came back to haunt me later in the race.”

For Seth Burchell in SX2, it was a steady as she goes kind of night where he placed eighth for the round with 11-7 race results. The 2024 SX3 Champ couldn't get the starts he needed to run right up the front, so he was forced to battle hard for position in each of the two motos on the night.

“Things were definitely a bit rusty, and that’s to be expected with the first race of the year. I felt ok but was off the pace of the front guys, but now we have that out of the way, I can knuckle down and see if I can uncork some speed before we get to Auckland.”

The next round of the AUSX Series happens in Auckland, New Zealand, on October 31st. Townsville certainly turned it on for a series opener with a good crowd on hand to witness all the action.

AUSX Results

Townsville

SX2

SX3