After coming through the qualifiers with the 10^th fastest time overall Lessa was unstoppable as he won all races in the knockout bracket.

Newton’s was once again the opening round of the IDF season and riders from all over the globe ventured to Bathurst in a bid to get their year off to a winning start.

However, it was Australian rider Brennan Bast who made the biggest impression in Saturday’s qualifying with his record breaking time of 57.27 seconds.

Bast kept up his strong form up all the way through the bracket to set up a showdown with Lessa in Sunday’s final.

The four-man decider also featured Josh Evans (AUS), the only rider other than Bast to qualify under last year’s record mark, and Pepe Laporte (BRA) who had recovered from a crash at Forrest’s Elbow during qualifying.

Expectations were high for an exciting final and it certainly delivered.

Only 0.37 seconds separated first and fourth.

Lessa narrowly held out Bast for victory while Laporte beat Evans to the last spot on the podium.

Emily Pross (USA) won the women’s title and finished with the sixth fastest overall qualifying time.

Fin Cantrill (AUS) won the junior crown, Douglas Dalua (BRA) was masters champion and Abdil Mahzan (MAS) won the luge.

Jackson Shapiera (AUS) was the winner of the consolation final.

Bathurst’s four-strong contingent all qualified for the open skateboard bracket.

Last year’s podium finisher Mitch Thompson qualified with the third fastest time while Jordan Hall (33rd), Jaydon Howarth (39th) and Eden McDonough (49th) all made a great impression with top 50 times.

Thompson safely navigated his way through to the quarter-finals but he became another victim of Forrest’s Elbow.

Pross surprisingly missed out on a semi-finals spot in the same race as Thompson. Pross also failed to make it through the Elbow cleanly.

Hall and McDonough met in the opening round. Hall’s second place finish saw him qualify for the round of 32 but his competition ended when he encountered an in-form Bast.

“I’m still kind of processing it. I went too hard into the corner and paid the price. The previous world champion [Carlos Paixao] crashed there as well and he was out in the same round as me,” Thompson said.

“The final could have gone either way. Thiago was the fastest on the day and he deserved it. Brennan took off over a second from last year’s record lap but couldn’t quite make it work in the final.”

Thompson, Hall and McDonough now prepares for the Keeping It High events in the Philippines starting on April 18.

“In a week’s time I’m off to the Philippines and then South Korea so that should be a good leg,” Thompson said.

“After that it’s off to Europe and America for the rest of the tour.”