A Wicked Weekend
Taupo & Tokoroa
Wow, what a weekend ! The sun came out, spirits lifted and there were 2 full days of racing on the programme. What more could an MX rider want ?
First on the agenda, on the Saturday, was the Taupo Club’s final MX with full or near full gates throughout the day.
The mini track had puddles at first but dust by lunchtime. The riding was fast and hard on. The 6-8 years 50cc Division 2 class practically belongs to Tauranga. Luke McClymont recorded the fastest lap time in each race and finished top of the podium on the day with his 2nd in race 1 and 1st in races 2 & 3. He ended the series in second place behind Tauranga’s Trent Duggan, who had a bit of an off day, and ahead of another Tauranga rider, Jacob Hunt in 4th. The riding in this class was extremely close. Only 10 points separated the 1st and 4th riders Jacob has been racing in 2 classes throughout the series and took out the overall title in the 4-7 Years 50cc Division 1 class ahead of Jontae Carroll, also from Tauranga, who was the winner on the day.
It has been a busy season for the riders doing 2 classes and 6 races per event and Trent Duggan just missed the overall podium with a 4th place in the same 7-8 years 65cc class in which Josh McClymont took 3rd for the day and 2nd place overall. In the older 9-11 age group, Chris Merriman was really on fire and “cleaned up a few of the top guns from Wellington” with 3/2/5 finishes. He finished 7th overall. Two other Tauranga riders, Brad Cameron (pictured) and Jack McClymont joined him in the top 10, not bad considering the size of the fields and the calibre of the competition. However, Jack is definitely itching to move onto an 85cc and onto the big track.Connor Lucas had a good day in the 65cc B grade but finished one off the podium in 4th for the day. Issha Phillips had great fun in the 7-11 Trail class, fighting for points. Issha is lapping at the same speed as her rivals. “I like having battles”, she says.” There are boys in my group but heaps of girls as well.”
Amongst the juniors, the 85cc class is well represented by local riders. Tyler Steiner came 2nd for the day, Jordan Milsom 4th and Trent Haywood 7th, with Jordan’s consistency earning him a 3rd place overall. Jovhann Phillips maintained his top 15 status in the 11-12 year old age group.
As for the local 125cc riders, they went to Taupo to break records but two of them just broke bones, their collar bones to be precise. Garth Amrein broke his in the practice which destroyed his chance of taking out the overall title and Kurt Langford did his during the 3rd race but finished the race and gained enough points to win the 125cc overall title. Aaron Wiltshier was more fortunate. He earned first place for the day ahead of Kurt in 3rd and Cam McCaskie who rounded out the top 10. Cam was rapt with his 3rd in race 3 and for his 5th placing overall.
Full results for riders with transponders are on www.mylaps,com . However, as usual, there were many riders not using transponders, including Evan Hawkless, who was there trying out the track ready for the huge Taupo Extravaganza on Labour Weekend.
Because of its central position, Taupo captures a lot of the riders from the lower North Island. Because we are right in the middle of the school holidays, a lot of these riders stayed up north and competed in Tokoroa’s final round on the Sunday. Great for everyone. Numbers were nearly doubled in some grades. The weather was brilliant, the track really beautiful, and several local riders were there for their second day of racing in a row.
Chris Merriman thrived on the extra competition, was still on fire and cleaned up in his 65cc grade. His brother Danny was getting some bike time in the senior grade ready for the Taupo Extravaganza. He’s pretty pleased with his new KTM and his Tokoroa results. He came 4th behind some of the top guys – Jesse Wiki, Keiran Leigh etc – fell upside down in the loose stuff in race 2 then finished 2nd in the 3rd race.
Cameron Forlong had a good day at Taupo (full report here) but at Tokoroa wasn’t so lucky. "Sunday was Tokoroa’s final round and prizegiving for the club champs, I went into the day in 2nd on points in the 13-16 85cc class, then in practice I landed funny over a jump, my back got twisted, I was thankful to John Apel the physiotherapist at the track who treated me, but he wasn’t happy that everything was OK so I had to go and get my back xrayed, and I was too sore to race so that was my day over. Thankfully the xrays showed all OK, just ligament/muscle damage. Also I managed to retain 2nd place overall for the series which was pretty cool because I won most of the points while I was still 12", he says in his report.
Thomas Forlong really enjoyed his day. He finished mid field both at Taupo and at Tokoroa, good results considering the huge fields and the calibre of the riders.
All in all, it was a thoroughly successful weekend of racing.
Nicole Bol, the secretary of the Taupo Motorcycle Club told Alan Henderson from Moto Media that with most of their Committee in the USA at the Motocross des Nations and with the Vets/Women’s Nationals going on, they had decided to reschedule their final round and that they were running the event on the Saturday to work in with Tokoroa.
Alan's comment was "Nice one, Taupo".
Yes, congratulations to the Taupo Club for having the common sense to not clash with events organized by other clubs. The mid school holiday date would have helped but it is obvious that not clashing is a huge benefit to both clubs and riders and to motorcycling in general.
