PHOTO
Three of the five Otago riders who contested the 53rd annual New Zealand Motocross Grand Prix at Woodville at the weekend have been left nursing injuries.
Scott Columb (Queenstown), Joel Meikle (Oamaru) and Campbell King (Dunedin) all agreed it was not ideal to be concussed, punctured and torn respectively, just two weeks before the start of the four-round New Zealand championships, near Timaru on February 8.
The good news is all three will be able to contest their classes, albeit with gritted teeth.
Columb sustained arguably the most spectacular injury. After qualifying second, he was only 75m into the first MX2 race on his Yamaha two-stroke YZ250, when a rider on his outside cut him off, clipping his handlebars and jamming them on to full lock.
As Columb went down, a rider behind ''rear-ended'' his bike, sending him into the air and somersaulting 10m off the track.
He landed on his back and despite suffering minor concussion and ''severe whiplash'', he ''wobbled around that race'' to finish 16th, after his mechanic straightened his handlebars out.
The silver lining was Columb managed to convey a clear message to his rivals.
''All the competition has seen me go down massive and get up fighting,'' he said.
In the following 10-minute sprint race, with his head ''still a little bit shaky'', he finished fourth, before claiming a win in the final moto.
Mangakino's Kayne Lamont won the MX2 (250cc) category, while Mount Maunganui's Cody Cooper (Honda) won the MX1 class and invitation feature race.
When he spoke to the Otago Daily Times, Columb was combining resting with chiropractor, acupuncture, physio and massage appointments, to help him get back into the right shape to defend his MX2 crown at the nationals.
King (19) was also on a physio's table after catching his foot in a rut during the last MX2 moto. It twisted his leg and blew the ligaments in his foot. Despite the injury, he finished 10th overall for the weekend on his new Suzuki RMZ 250.
Now in a ''moon boot'' and forgoing the eight to 10-week healing period, the damaged foot will be back in action in less than a fortnight's time.
King planned to ''strap it up and see how it goes.''
Meikle (16) was also planning on playing the pain threshold by ear, after he punctured his biceps in his first 14-16 years 250cc class race at Woodville.
He was passing a ''lapper'' when his wheel slid out and the lapped rider ''had nowhere to go and slid into me''.
He was taken to Palmerston North Hospital with a suspected broken arm but was diagnosed with a muscle puncture.
Although he was unable to continue riding, Meikle had proved his speed earlier in the meeting by notching a second in the first race of the 15 to 16 years 125cc category.
He did not expect to be in top form at the Timaru opener in less than two weeks but was ''hoping to be 100 for the second'' round on February 23 in Waikato.
Grason Veitch (11) and Regan Turner (10), both from Dunedin, emerged unscathed at Woodville, with third overall in their classes - 11 to 12 years, 85cc and eight to 10 years, 85cc, respectively.