Flying the Flag for Tauranga

Auckland Champs Results

maddix park mx

The Tauranga region had 3 podium finishes from four riders in the Junior races, plus 3 seniors on the podium as well, at the Auckland Champs on Saturday and Sunday.

Juniors

Aaron Wiltshier kept Josiah Natzke at bay in the 12-14 Years 125cc class clinching 1st place with 1/1/3 finishes. It was Aaron’s last race in this class.  He turned 15 on the Sunday so just scraped in by a day. “I went hard out for the first two races,” he tells us, “but felt like cruising in the last one.  I knew I only had to get third to take out the title. It’s pretty awesome finishing the age group with a great win”.

Matt Kenyon’s 3/3/4 results enabled him to take the third spot on the same dais. He was riding really well and thought the track was fast and the jumps huge. Like Aaron, Matt will soon be leaving this age group, but he will just squeeze in the King of the Mountain event before he turns 15.

Cameron Forlong raced in the 13-16 85cc class which was the 2nd group out onto the track, so conditions were difficult.  Practice was also qualifying and Cameron topped the group by 1.5 seconds, which gave him 1st pick of the gate all day. 

In the first race the track had already dried a bit and Cam was a little off the pace for the first 2 laps with the size of the jumps being done by the leaders, the big No.1 jump was included in this track.  As the race progressed he closed the gap but was unable to improve his position finishing 3rd but only 1.6 seconds behind the leader. (The 3 leading riders were jumping cleanly over the No.1-1½ which for an 85 on a windy day was a big achievement)

Cameron got a great jump out of the gate in race 2 to take the holeshot and lead by a small gap until the 2nd to last lap when he locked the front brake going into a corner. This brief off cost him the lead and he finished 2nd.  He made up for it in race 3 by getting another good holeshot and leading to the finish line. These results gave him 2nd place overall for the day.

The winner of the class, Cohen Chase, is a sponsored KTM rider who has just returned from racing overseas for the 2nd time this year and for Cam to be anywhere near him was a remarkable achievement.

Tauranga’s Trent Haywood was the unlucky one. He was totally on fire in race one of the 11-12 years 85cc class and, with half a lap, to go was coming 4th when he crashed so ended up 8th.  In race 2, he got the holeshot but then had another crash which unfortunately ended his efforts for the day. 

Jacob Kneebone who was spotted at Maddix this week training with Niki Urwin came 2nd behind Micah McGoldrick in the 14-16 years 250F class. 

Seniors on Sunday

MX 1:  As expected, Cody Cooper dominated this class but did so comprehensively with Hayden Clark, Nick Saunders, Luke Richmond and Campbell Bailey rounding out the top 5. For Andy McGechan's article on the top guys click here.

The MX2 saw Luke Burkhart clean sweep the class ahead of Darryl King in 2nd place and Peter Broxholme (Tauranga) in 3rd.   

Suzuki team rider, Rhys Carter (Mt Maunganui), came a disappointing 6th.  His starts weren’t going too well, in fact, he crashed in two of them.

Tauranga’s Roydon White struggled with starts all day as well.  A DNF with bike problems in race 1, a crash at the start of race 2 and another crash in race 3 when he was holding 6th position left him 17th for the day.  Roydon, however, is positive. “A good part of the fitness is there, the speed is almost there and it all felt good”, he says, “I just need to stay on”.

In the National 125 class Logan Blackburn (6/2/4) claimed the third podium spot behind Aidan Kiff 1st and Chase Smith 2nd.  This was a hotly contested class with 3 separate race winners and only one of these - Chase Smith - actually making the top 3.

Logan hadn’t ridden at Harrisville for at least 3 years – it wasn’t exactly his favourite track – but  he didn’t think it had changed at all. Just the same red clay, which is slippery and sticky when wet and a one line track when dry.  Thankfully the day was a dry one with a good strong wind. Things didn’t start so well for Logan.

“Two laps into the practice, my newly rebuilt race bike just stopped, nearly sending me face first into a berm! So it was back to the trusty practice bike for the day! Bugga!” he reports. “In race 1, I got pushed into the tyres on the hole shot corner and my bike was sluggish but I managed to work my way up to 7th.With a gearing and jet change the bike was feeling a lot better for race 2.  I was 3rd around the hole shot and challenged from there.  Chase Smith pulled a 2 sec lead on me and I was being pushed by Cameron Vaughan,  Cameron tried to block pass me and we ended up coming together. I had to change my line otherwise we were both headed for a big crash.  I managed to get past him again, until we came together again on the exit from a double berm and he fell.  I pushed on but couldn’t quite get Chase.  I finished 2nd. In race 3, I got a shocking start but I really wanted a place on the podium so I knew I had to push hard.  I worked my way through the field and got up to the top 3 but pushed just a little hard into a corner, clipped the bike in front of me and went down. Then I just ran out of race time to get back up there so finished 4th but third overall".

"The club put on a great day of racing and I think I broke my phobia of the Harrisville track! The unfortunate event of the day was being purple flag protested by Cameron Vaughan over the clash we had in the 2nd race.  The steward and the riders’ rep concluded it was a fair pass as I was on the inside berm and I was in front of him.  It was just good hard racing.  I was happy with my result, especially as I was on my practice bike".

Full results are available on mylaps

 
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