Richie Evans has expressed dissatisfaction in the result of his premier class debut at Appin’s rain-soaked opening round of the 2019 Pirelli MX Nationals on Sunday.

After event organisers shortened the schedule to just one moto due to severely muddy conditions, the Yamalube Yamaha Racing ace fell victim to the brutal state of the circuit in the sole outing of the day, recovering via a stop in the mechanics area to muster up a 15th place finish.

The Queenslander is putting the unpredictable encounter behind him as takes confidence in his program towards round two of the series, scheduled for 31 March at Wonthaggi in Victoria.

“The result today wasn’t what I was after, but the conditions threw up all sorts of challenges,” said Evans. “It was hard work out there today. I went all out at the start and got the track position I needed but that crash just made things so hard to ride and grip the bike that I had to swap gloves and goggles to even continue.

“But despite the result, I know my preparation has been good and I have done the work over the off season so I’m not going to let this affect me. I will learn from todays round and improve myself in these conditions and I’m ready to get things back on track at round two regardless of what we are faced with.”

The MX1 class was ultimately won by Todd Waters (DPH Motorsport Husqvarna) on return from a year in the MXGP World Championship, being granted the win after Hayden Mellross (Raceline KTM Thor) was docked 10 seconds for making a track infringement.