Successful Series Start

Central MX Series Round 1

Just over 180 riders made for a successful start to the joint Rotorua and South Waikato Club Central MX Series.  The first round was held at Rotorua under a windless blue sky and those that weren’t there missed a great day’s racing. Rotorua had been relatively dry during the week prior but Saturday night rain made the track more technical than usual. The slight slushiness at the start disappeared and some lovely ruts plus a couple of deep ones soon formed. A well supported quad race class helped skim the track.

Chris Merriman made the most of great starts to forge the lead and gain three good wins in the Small Wheel 65-85cc class.  Xavier Anderson was 7^th with his best result being a 6^th place in race 3. Xavier enjoyed himself but found it a bit tough as he hasn't ridden for a couple of months.

In the Big Wheel 85-150cc, Brad Cameron had a series of 7ths to give him 7th overall for the day. Harrison Still followed him home in 8^th with Thomas Forlong 9^th. Thomas is another who hasn't been riding for a while so was really pleased to be getting back into it again.

The all ages in Junior 125-250cc class had one of the larger start lines. Cameron Forlong, in his first event back after time out with injury, and on a new bike, finished 8/10/5 for 6^th overall.

"This was the first time I had raced the 125" reports Cameron (below left), "and  I was racing in the junior 125cc class which had about 25 riders in it. In the practice it was still really wet and I got covered in mud, but had dried out a lot before my first race. I was about 12^th around the first corner and had made 3 passes after nearly 1 lap but followed someone into a rut and they fell off right in front of me, I went down as well but I got up got up quickly and didn’t lose too many places. I started moving through the field again and by the end of the race I had gotten up to 8^th. Race 2  I was again about mid field round the first corner and on the second lap I had the same accident as the first race and I had more trouble getting up this time and had a lot more work to do. I made lots of passes and finished in 10^th. Race 3  I got another 12^th round the first corner and made steady progress over the whole race and finished in 5^th.  My 6^th place in the overall points  was good considering everything that happened and I got much more comfortable over the day and my lap times actually got faster as the day went on. I really love riding the YZ 125 but still have to get to grips the extra size and power of it".

In the same class,  Lee Ormsby (6/11/11) showed skills in the wetter first race and came in 8^th overall with Ash Garrett (15/9/9) in 11^th and Seb Still (10/15/10) in 12^th. For Jovhann Phillips  it just wasn't a happening day, in spite of his 5th fastest qualifying time.  His " 0 points" in race one was due to confusion over flags.  He exited the track, along with several others, when both the white and chequered flag were displayed. In race 2, his good start was wasted when he got taken out and then his throttle jammed. He finished 17th.  He came back with a vengeance in race 3 and had a good battle with Ash  for 8^th, ending the day 15^th overall.

Danny Merriman (2/3/3), 3rd overall, initiated his new bike to the joys of racing but recognizes that he has some suspension problems to sort. Cameron Vaughn won the 3 MX2 races but Danny had some great battles with second place getter Jonathan Martelli (3/2/2). It was exciting racing with only half a wheel in it at one of the chequered flags.

The MX 1 was won by Mike Phillips on his home track with Campbell Bailey 3^rd.  Tauranga’s Keith Paterson won all three races in the Vets class and Rotorua's Melissa Patterson was the clean sweep winner in the Women’s class.

The ATV Open class was won by Rotorua local Jason Jepson(1/1/1) with Mark Goldstone(4/7/4) in 4^th and Emma Goldstone (8/8/9) in 8^th.  Junior Nathan Hunt finished 15^th overall in this class with all the big guns.

On the mini track, there were not a lot of Tauranga faces but for those who were there, the track and weather were mint. The track was a lot better than it use to be and the rain hadn't affected it either.

Tyler Wiremu was winning his first race when, unfortunately, his bike just stopped. Dad broke the kick start trying to get it going again, and the rest, including a melted spark plug cap, was history.

As Tyler himself said, "This is the worst day ever !" He’s feeling a lot happier now, however, having just picked up a new 2013 KTM 50SX!

Kristian Crane rode well in spite of a bike that was “running crap”. In the last race it stalled on him so he had to do a big catch up. He liked the track and enjoyed racing against some new hot shots that were there.  Great practice.  Kristian isn’t sure of his results but was definitely in the top 10 in the mixed first and second division 50cc class.

Full results for the minis should be on the Rotorua web site shortly. Junior and senior results are on Mylaps.  

Round 2 of the Central MX Series is on September 2nd at Tokoroa.