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Balclutha will host the start of the four-round New Zealand Motocross Championships tomorrow with plenty of southern interest.
The opening round of the series will be raced at Balclutha Riverside track. It will be followed by racing near Rotorua (February 26), near Hastings (March 19) and finally at Taupo, on March 26.
Aside from the popular annual MX Fest event held in Taupo four months ago, and a handful of regional championship events scattered in between, there have not been many opportunities for riders to truly test themselves against one another in the past 12 months or so.
The 2023 edition of the New Zealand Motocross Grand Prix at Woodville — always the first major motocross of the year — was unfortunately rained off just over a week ago.
So riders will be keen to finally get let off the leash in Balclutha tomorrow.
The motocross nationals did not go ahead last season because of restrictions surrounding the Covid pandemic, so that further adds to the keen anticipation for this year.
Balclutha rider Madison Latta will be racing in the top MX1 450cc class on his Kawasaki KX450.
"Training’s been going really well. I can already feel that work paying off and I’m excited to get into action on Sunday," Latta said.
He will face some high-powered competition, with current and former champions lining up.
The list includes experienced campaigners such as 39-year-old multi-time former New Zealand motocross champion Cody Cooper, of Papamoa; Westgate’s defending national MX1 champion — and also a former national 125cc and MX2 champion, as well as being 2013 Australian under-19 champion — Hamish Harwood and Mangakino’s former national 125cc and current national MX2 motocross champion Maximus Purvis.
Te Puke’s Tyler Steiner, Dunedin’s Sam Cuthbertson, Pukekohe’s Tyler Brown, Cambridge’s Jared Hannon, Dairy Flats rider Cole Davies, Kerikeri’s Logan Denize, Taupo’s Cody Griffiths, Nelson’s Wills Harvey, Christchurch’s Marshall Phillips, Levin’s Phoenix Van Dusschoten and New Plymouth brothers Curtis and Rian King are among the others worth watching out for at Balclutha.
The 2023 senior women’s motocross nationals will share the programme for the North Island rounds, enhancing even more the scale and importance of the racing this season.
It will be the first time that the senior women’s nationals will run in tandem with the corresponding men’s competition.
The track is in good nick and with no-one allowed on it the week before the event, there should be some exciting racing to be seen.
Gates are open from 10am.
By Andy McGechan