Image: Octopi Media.

250MX newcomer Cole Davies admitted that’s ‘not the way you’d expect to get your first win’ after his moto one victory at the Budds Creek National on Saturday, with the New Zealand sensation benefitting from a post-race penalty applied to Haiden Deegan and Jo Shimoda.

The Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing rider produced a marked improvement after finishing 26th on debut at Unadilla.

Davies, 17, qualified 11th at the finale before passing Red Bull KTM Factory Racing’s Tom Vialle for the lead in moto one. He would hold firm at the head of the field until falling into the clutches of reigning 250MX champion Deegan (Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing) and title-rival Shimoda (Honda HRC Progressive).

Two flagging infringements after jumping the step-up following the mechanics area under both red flag and red-cross flag conditions earned Deegan and Shimoda points and position penalties – one race position and five championship points each – elevating Davies from P3 to the race win.

“This goes to show that I’m not just a Supercross guy,” Davies commented on the podium post-race. “It was 12 weeks off the bike after surgery, I’ve had four weeks on the bike, so it goes to show that if you put in the work it can get you anywhere.”

After the penalties were applied, he reflected further on his race win, and now has an intriguing 23-23-1-17 moto scorecard to open his outdoor career.

“I’m a Pro Motocross winner – it’s not the way you’d expect to get your first win, after Haiden and Jo were penalized, but that first moto was good overall,” he added. “It’s definitely a step in the right direction after coming in at Unadilla.

“Honestly, what a start can do is pretty crazy. I got off to a good start in moto one and led for about half the race, which was very cool. In moto two, I had nothing left to give. A bad start set me back… I made a couple of passes, but went down again.

“For my second Pro Motocross race, I’ll take it. After 12 weeks off after my surgery, it’s a solid bounce back – we know what we need to work on – and the weekend was definitely a step in the right direction.”

The 30 points scored on Saturday proved critical for Davies regarding the upcoming SuperMotocross World Championship (SMX) post-season starting at Concord’s zMAX Dragway on September 6, taking a direct entry with P17 overall after being on the bubble of the top 20 before Budds Creek.