Reigning Australian Supercross SX2 champion, American Jimmy Decotis, will look to get his title defence off to the perfect start at round 1 of the Australian Supercross Championship at the Jimboomba X Stadium on Saturday night.
Decotis was excited about the prospect of racing on organiser Scott Bannan’s newly designed track after taking out one of the two races at the Jimboomba X Stadium in 2015.
“It looks really good, it looks like he has brought in new, I think it’s darker dirt, so it’ll be less hard pack, he does a good job on this event, he draws a big crowd, he puts on a great show, he had some fireworks last year after the main event,” he said.
“I see he made some changes, it’s the same layout as last year but the rhythms are different and different jumps so it’ll be cool, I feel like I’m familiar with it now and familiar with the schedule and everything so I’m looking forward to it.
“This is one of the more professionally run events of the series, so it’s really cool to be back here for round 1 and I’m looking forward to getting back out there, it’s a long ways from home, so I’m just trying to get adjusted but just really looking forward to riding the track.”
On the Day Decotis and his fellow riders will get three turns on track, but Decotis said he only has eyes for taking out the main event which will take place just after 9pm on Saturday.
“We have a heat race, practice and the 15 main lap main, it’s a six lap heat race and a 15 lap main, the 15 lap main is what matters, so I just want to have a good heat race and get a good gate pick and try win the main event, that’s the goal,” he said.
The Honda team racer said he thoroughly enjoyed his time in Jimboomba last year, and was thrilled to be able to get the chance to defend his SX2 title in this year’s championship, starting on Saturday night.
“It was cool, he (Bannan) did a really good event last year, there were a lot of guys in the class that were good, it was stacked class, so overall it was a fun weekend here last year, I really enjoyed it, I’m just stoked to be here and thankful that Yarrive (Honda’s Satelite team boss Yarrive Konsky) brought me back here to race for his Honda team, I’m truly blessed,” he said.
The rider from Massachusetts said he was looking forward to putting on a show for the Australian fans, but admitted the competition would be tough to beat.
“Gavin Faith this year is racing 250 this year, he’s gonna be my teammate, Jackson Richardson, Wade Hunter, Louie Woods, there’s a lot of really good Australian guys here and they definitely want to beat the Americans when we come here, it definitely puts a little target on our backs, but everyone was respectful last year for the most, I did have one incident last year but besides that everyone was really respectful, I’m just looking forward to battling with Jackson and Wade and those guys and getting into the mix and putting on a show for the Aussie fans.”
Decotis said he was stoked to be get the opportunity to contest the Australian Championship again this year.
“I’ll be doing the whole series, it was my first international championship, it was a cool experience, and, Yarrive took great care of me and my girlfriend Jamie, and we had a really cool experience here last year,” he said.
“They say it’s harder to win the second time round and I know it will be, especially with Gavin dropping down, I know he is fast, he’s got the speed, but it’ll be nice to have a buddy out there racing with and hopefully me and Gav can spray some champagne together at the end of the night together.”
