Whakatane Final Round

Awakaponga

maddix park mx

Whakatane held its final round and prize-giving on last week’s windy and sunny Sunday with sprinklers keeping the dust at bay.

Ethan Milsom (pictured) is totally over the moon about winning the 9-11 Years Trail class on the mini track. The two wins he needed to secure the title nearly didn’t happen.  His bike had problems initially; it was only turning at idling speed. Dad & co did a pits strip down but it took the odd ball suggestion “why don’t you take the muffler out the back” to set them on the right track and the bike up and fighting again. In other mini track action, Sean Callinan competed in the 7-11 Years 65cc MX class, gaining 3rd place for the day despite a crash.

The Expert 65cc class rode the main track.  Chris Merriman had a highly successful day winning on the day, the series and the trophy for Junior Champion of Champions.  Congratulations Chris.  Trent Duggan was 3rd in the series overall, Xavier Anderson 4th, Harrison Moore 5th and Josh McClymont, who missed a round, was 8th.

In the Junior Novice 85cc class, Connor Lucas came a creditable 2nd on the day but just missed out on the podium for the series.  One missed round meant he finished 4th overall.

The Junior B 85cc series has Jordan Milsom 6th, Brad Cameron 7th, Jack McClymont 9th, Trent Haywood 11th and Callum Ranger 19th in this popular class.  However, most of these riders missed one or more rounds so the results do not reflect their true skills.  On the day, Jack had some good races, Callum also rode really well to finish 5th  with Brad just behind in 6th and Jordan ahead in second.  Jordan was pretty pleased with how he improved his lap times -in one, he was 4 seconds up.  He is really enjoying the new track layout.  For him, the small changes have opened the track up a bit and made it longer and faster and not quite so technical.

Lee Ormsby added to his Tokoroa series success by winning the Whakatane Junior A 85cc title. A great finish to a great year for Lee who’s looking forward to getting out there soon on his new 125.  Jovhann Phillips came third overall. He had a disaster of a first race but his rhythm is coming back.  Jovhann didn’t seem to quite pull it off in his own grade so he is more than rapt with his 4th place/ fastest 85 in the Junior Open class overall. Cameron Forlong was there on Sunday too, but not for points. He had already raced successfully at Harrisville the day before but felt he needed the extra riding to help build his confidence and fitness.  Cam used his technique and fitness to finish 6th and 4th in the 2 Junior Open races. This class is for up to 16years and includes 125s and 250Fs, so a very strong result for a 14 year old on an 85cc.

The Junior B 125 races were hotly contested with once again Evan Hawkless and Hayden Rumble battling to be first across the line. “I got a pretty bad start in race 1”, Hayden reports. “I was second to last but I made my way up to the front. The second race was better but I got a flat tyre at the end of it”. Their results were very close -only 0.056 seconds in race 1 and 0.001 seconds in race 2. Evan finished with two firsts and Hayden with two seconds on the day but the overall title went to Matthew Atchison who had 2 thirds on the day.  Leum Briggs rode well for 7th overall.

In the women’s races Nikki Atchison finished 1st equal on the day and second overall.  Julie Managh hobbled up to take her 3rd place on the podium in spite of not riding in this last round. Jeggs Ryder was 6th overall with Jessie Waterhouse 8th, Casey Waterhouse 9th and Heather Campbell 10th.  However, all these riders missed rounds.

Amongst the seniors, there were a lot of riders doing double classes.  Ian Conway won the Vets 45+ on the day finishing 2nd overall as well as taking the 3rd podium spot in the Senior B Open class. Craig Ryder confirmed he was the right person for the top step by winning both the Senior B Open races.  He was also 4th in the Open Senior.  Overall, Robbie Stewart finished 5th in the Senior A Lites and 8th in the Open Senior and Jeggs Ryder proved that consistency and other riders not having transponders can get you on the podium with her 3rd overall in the Senior B Lights.  Joel Dorrington was third in the Senior Novice.

Danny Merriman also competed in two classes but as it was his first ride all year at Whakatane, he was doing it for fitness and to get race ready for Summercross rather than for points.  The day wasn’t perfect but it was fun. “I was ahead in the first Open race and then I fell off”, he laughs. “In the second Senior Lites race, I was running second when my brake lever bolt came loose but I still finished 2nd in the Lites and 3rd in the Open”. 

Others had a few crashes as well. Steve Milsom hurt his hip, James Russell had a big crash into the tyres and the McClymont “Dad”did a couple of races so his “body is now a bit sore”.

Click for full results for the day (Round 5)  and for the series .

The Whakatane club will once again be hosting the much awaited Summercross on 27th and 28th December at the Awakaponga track. This is always a superb event. Note the date if you want to spectate.  Get your entry in by 5pm Monday 12th December if you want to ride.

 
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