Fewer jumps+more corners=faster track
School MX Taupo
15 schools marked present for last Friday’s School MX event at Taupo. Fewer jumps and more corners made a different and faster track that was “pretty cool” according to the riders.
Competition was fierce but, apart from Trent Collins (Cambridge High) in the Expert 85-150cc and Tyler Cushion (Hillcrest High) in the Women’s who clean swept their classes, the top spots in the races were shared amongst several motocrossers.
With no one group dominating, it was anyone’s guess who had won the overall. Quality won over quantity with the honour this time going to the 4 rider team from Te Puke High School made up of Tyler Steiner, Jordan Milsom, Nadia Salvidge and Georgia Edwards.
It was an awesome effort from all the team. Both Jordan and Nadia made the podium with 3rd place in
the 85-150cc and Women’s class respectively. Tyler’s 4/5/1 results and 5th
place overall in the 15-18 125cc class may not have put him on the podium ,
however, he achieved “bragging rights” for the fastest lap time of the day. Georgia
was the unlucky one. After an excellent 2nd place in race 1, Georgia
“did her knee in” which unfortunately put an end to a promising day.
Even more unfortunate was the 3 person Mount
Maunganui College team who lost two members from the same race class in their
first race. Brad Cameron’s brakes had jammed in the practice but that issue had
been fixed and he was dead keen to go.
He was third to the corner, had the holeshot coming out and led for one
and half laps before he crashed and K.O.ed himself, breaking his helmet in the
process. One lap later, in the same
race, his fellow team member, Josh Leopold, crashed and K.O.ed himself. A heavy burden for Raquel Leopold, the third
member. Click here to see Brad's crash.
The medics had a busy day with most teams affected. Leo van Lierop from the Tauranga Boys’ College suffered a broken bone but with 17 other team mates racing their hearts out, the college came third overall at the event.
Josh Tredinnick (4/8/3) brought some handy points to the team with his 4th place in the 13-15 125cc class, the 8th place in race 2 depriving him of a podium place. In the same class, Connor Hawkless rode well out of his comfort zone and secured 9th place, achieving his aim of a top 10 finish. Reece Garrett on only his 4th outing on his new 125 is still getting to grips with the different handling but was pretty happy to come 10th in his 15-18 year class.
Jovhann Phillips was the Boys’ College’s most successful rider with 2/3/1 results and a 2nd place overall in the 15-18 250cc class. After tangling in a gate at the start of race 2, he rode particularly brilliantly to get up to third and his win in race 3 was the culmination of a fantastic day.
Jovhann’s main competition on the day was Otumoetai College’s Matt Kenyon. Matt’s 1/1/3 results were near perfect and he had the 4th fastest time of the day.
A moving moment during the day was the impressive lap of honour in memory of Trent Haywood. Click here for the clip
School Results:
1st Te Puke High School
2nd Trident High School
3rd Tauranga Boys College
4th Wairoa College
5th Cambridge High School
11th Otumoetai
14th Mount
Individuals
15-18 125cc
1st Ben Broad (1/2/2), 2nd Jayden Turnwald (3/1/3), 3rd Aaron Manning (2/3/4) 4th Tyler Steiner (4/5/1) 1point off 3rd.
15-18 250cc
1st Matt Kenyon (1/1/3), 2nd Jovhann Phillips (2/3/1), 3rd Warren Bartlett (3/2/2)
Int 13-16 125cc/250cc
1st Adam Moss (2/1/1), 2nd Liam Reid (3/2/2), 3rd Xavier McBrydie (1/5/8), 4th Josh Tredinnick (4/8/3)
Int 13-16 85cc/150cc
1st Joshua Bourke-Palmer (11/2/2), 2nd Thomas Watts (1/2/2), 3rd Keegan Taylor (4/3/4)
Novice 125cc/250cc
1st John Cobb (2/2/2), 2nd Liam Uttinger (3/3/3), 3rd Rhys Pittams (11/1/1)
Novice 85cc/150cc
1st Daniel Looney (1/1/2), 2nd Adam Rini (2/2/1), 3rd Jack Rodgers (3/3/3)
Expert 85/150cc
1st Trent Collins (1/1/1), 2nd Xavier Dalziel (2/2/3), 3rd Jordan Milsom (3/3/2 )
Womens
1st Tyler Cushion ( 1/1/1 ), 2nd Emma Marshall (3/2/5 ), 3rd Nadia Salvidge (4/3/3 )
