Just Plain Awesome !

Summercross 2011

The track was awesome, the riding was awesome and both days were awesome agree the riders and spectators who attended the 40^th annual Summercross  at Awakaponga this week. The speed of the pro and semi pro riders was mind blowing - unbelievably fast – going over the rollers like rocket ships, the kids were fast too and the vintage bikes were fantastic. It was “wicked as”. With competitors from all over New Zealand, Summercross is a truly national event.

"We had great support form the community, from the 530 riders and, of course, from the spectators", says Club President and chief sponsor, Tony Rees from Tony Rees Motorcycles, "plus the weather was kind and there were no major accidents.

Seniors

Senior Day was sunburn day.  Ben Townley made a clean sweep in the crowd-pulling MX1 class.  He started out front and stayed there.  Cody Cooper and Josh Coppins were left battling for 2^nd and 3^rd position. Mason Phillips finished just off the podium in 4^th, Jesse Donnelly was 8^th and Tauranga’s non-pro Craig Ryder was 21^st overall.

Colin Smith has comments from Townley, Cooper and Coppins and others in his BOP Times article.

The MX2 races saw equally impressive riding with Cameron Dillon’s 2 wins and 3 seconds giving him first place overall ahead of Rhys Carter (5/4/1/1/4) and the ever young Darryll King (4/2/4/4/1).  Australian rider Geran Stapleton managed 6^th and Campbell King 9^th.  Young local riders Scott Barr-Smith and Danny Merriman finished 14^th and 18^th respectively. 

“It was the first time I had seen the track since the extensive changes”, says Scott. “It had a really good flow and was a lot of fun.  On my CR125, I was at a big disadvantage against the 250s in the starts. I couldn’t manage to get a good jump and seemed to be in the last quarter of riders at the first corner. The first lap I was trying to ride smart and not get caught up in any groups. From there I was just trying to catch up.  I caught guys round the corners but didn’t have the power on the straights and lost any ground I had made”.

Danny realized the importance of bike suspension. "Mine was shocking. The bike was bouncing around and if I did anything wrong, I'd pay for it.  Townley's was super mean. Wherever and however he landed, the bike would soak it up".

Peter Broxholme was in flying form, came 2^nd in race 1, but a hard crash in race 2 took him out of contention. “It looked like he hit a hole and catapulted into a corner at great speed” observed a spectator.

Roydon White was pleased with his lap times but still needs to stay on his bike. “I was running 12^th in race 1, but had a big crash and wrecked my bike a bit”, he laments, “so that was the end of two races. I got 15^th in race 3, missed race 4 because my engine overheated while waiting for the start and the radiator started spraying out coolant. I capped it all off with another crash.  Not exactly a good day.  Too many stupid mistakes.” 

In the MX3 results, Josh Tingey and Tory MacRae were 21st and 25^th and Te Puke’s Connor Becconsall and Thomas Williams were 20^th and 26^th respectively. Tory had an “endo” in the last race which left him wondering where he was for a while.

The MC2XS Youth MX class had Dion Picard and Peter Smit (Whakatane) on first equal points with Dion’s 2 wins placing him on top of the podium.   Logan Blackburn finished 6^thoverall bouncing back from a time-consuming first moto spill.  “I qualified 6^th”, Logan reports, “which was a good effort considering I was racing against 250ccs. I had mainly midpack starts, went down once but battled my way up to 9^th, 5^th and 7^th place finishes.

The competition was stiff in the Vets 35+ class.  Darryll King made a clean sweep of the 3 races with Nick Price 2nd and Darren Capill 3^rd.  Te Puke’s Dion Steiner(4^th) just missed the podium. “I was in 2^nd equal position at the start of race 3”, Dion says, “I only had to beat Darren, but I got a bad start, then got caught up with 2 guys who crashed. I managed to come back from 12^th to 4^th but it wasn’t quite enough. Still, it was an awesome day”.

Phil Singleton, also from Te Puke, was 11^th, Glyn Davis & Glenn Lange (Tauranga) were 6^th & 16^th and Scott Atchison from Papamoa was 25^th.

The Vets 45+ class was won by Tony Cooksley with Tauranga riders Ian Conway 6^th and Tim Peebles 7^th. Tim, who had been doing gym work, running up & down the Mount and doing laps at Maddix to get his fitness up, was rapt with his result.  “I was aiming for top 10”, he says, “so 7^th is pretty good. The track was brilliant but it was hard, especially when it got chewed out and rutted as the day went on”.  “I’m knackered now though”’ he adds.

Women

Jessie Waterhouse was the top local woman, happy to finish second behind Emma Davis, who races internationally. Her sister Casey Waterhouse (4^th) thought the track was “cool” and the third sister, Sam Waterhouse (15^th), having been away from tracks for quite some time, struggled a little  but had great fun and now just wants to get faster. Ashley Bond (11^th) was not at her most aggressive at the event.

Juniors

The Junior races were full of action and spectators were amazed at the speed and the jumping of certain young riders.  There was some “carnage” but it was mainly during the adrenalin pumping practice and qualifying rounds. Some juniors had issues with hitting the big rollers hard and jarring their bodies.

Josh Tredinnick was rapt with his 5^th equal but 6^th on count back placing in the 85cc 8-11 Years class. He thinks he needs more practice on the rhythm sections. Jordan Milsom  (Te Puke) was 7^th in the same group despite getting 2 fantastic holeshots. The roller section was tricky and he lost important time as he sussed it. He was running 3^rd overall and second in race three when he put the power on going into a corner,  hit a slippery bit, depowered and was hit by another rider. He got back up but, very sore, just putted to the finish line in last position.  The crash out cost him podium glory plus $65 in prize money!

In the same class, Connor Lucas improved his place with every race and finished 19^th, Trent Duggan was 21^st, Harrison Moore (Whakatane)24^th and Bradley Graham (North Shore) 26^th. Brad Cameron started off the day with a great performance in race 1, holding 4^th position for most of the race, but just getting pipped at the end. Race 2 was a disaster. He was third to the corner then lost it & crashed into another bike. He was last getting up but, 2 laps later, he crashes again, going over the whoops.  The result: a handle bar in the groin, a bang on his head and a night in Whakatane Hospital – but he’s out and all right now.

In the 85cc 12-13 Years age group, Tyler Steiner was absolutely flying and came third behind Travis Brown and Sean Kelly in this highly competitive 36 strong class. It was his first time on the Summercross podium and is a good gauge of his potential for the next Junior Nationals. In the same class, Sam Middleton finished 15^th, Reece Garrett, who really enjoyed his day, finished 19^th, and Thomas Forlong 24^th.  Jake Breingan, Harrison Still (bike problems) and Rhys & Logan Pittams didn’t complete all the races.  

In the 85cc 14-16 Years class, Cameron Forlong came 2^nd overall. He had the hole shot in race 1 but got taken out by Dylan Walsh (yes, by DW once again!), the eventual class winner from Christchurch. Lee Ormsby rode consistently with the top runners but was also consistently plagued by a tyre that kept going down. He finished 7^th overall. Simon Atkinson finished a creditable 13^th out of the 24 competitors.

In the Junior 125 races, both Max Emett (7^th) and Evan Hawkless (10^th) were pleased with their places in the 125cc 12-15 Years age group. Max had been aiming for the top 10 and this was his best result day. Evan didn’t like the new rollers. “I liked the back rollers”, he says but the ones in the new section just for Summercross rutted and formed holes quite quickly”. “The track was pretty rough in the last race”, he adds. Other local riders competing included Leo van Lierop (13^th), Seb Still (14^th=), Mark Callinan (17^th), Cole Atkinson (24^th) and Nick Heyblom 27^th.  It was Nick’s first time out of the novice class and he thoroughly enjoyed mixing it with some very impressive riders. For Seb, also, it was his first Summercross.  “I loved the whole thing”, says Seb, “in spite of braking my front brake cable in a crash and having to cruise at one point because of the dirt in my eyes”. Mark was a little disappointed with his day. He struggled with the rollers and was T-boned, knocked off and fell off. Ash Garrett didn’t complete the day.  He was too sore after being taken out in his second race.

Dion Picard and Logan Blackburn were back on the second day competing in the 125cc 16-17 Years class.  Dion won all three races with Logan 2^nd.  “The overcast weather was good as it was extremely hot the day before”, Logan reports. “In the practice the track was nice and smooth making it hard to try to find fast sneaky lines because they weren’t formed yet. I got good starts. Dion pulled a gap in race 1 when I made a mistake but in races 2 and 3 I got a bit closer to him, but not close enough”. Leum Briggs from Whakatane closed the top 10.

Dion Picard’s 3 wins in the 250cc 12-17 Years class gave him an amazing total of 8 wins out of 9 starts over the 2 day Summercross. Tauranga’s Cam McCaskie, in the same class, had his moments but finished 21^st, further down the scoreboard than his top 15 lap times might have suggested.  It was his first big race day on the 250 and he is still getting used to the four stroke. Some stalling in corners plus difficulties re starting were a problem but he was riding fast, loved it and now has a good benchmark for Woodville. Matt Atchison finished just behind Cam in 22^nd place.

Minis

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The minis this year had a track with boundaries and proper start gates.

Madoc Dixon from Whakatane had a good day, winning all three races in the 4-7 Years MX50cc class.

Madoc also won 2 out of 3 in the 4-8 Years 50cc Trail class. Unfortunately, one 11^th place left him in second spot on the podium.  Flynn Watts (9th) from Te Puke and Kristian Crane (10^th) from Papamoa made the top 10 in the 50cc Trail class and Georgia Waterhouse (13^th) thought her first Summercross was great fun. Kristian got a real buzz from lining up on the start for his first time too. He's really proud of race 2 and how, after dropping his bike while 5th and having problems getting going again, he pulled himself back from dead last to finish 8th.

In the  MX 50cc 6-8 Years class, Tauranga’s Sam Meredith rode fast & well to take 2^nd overall, just missing the top spot on the podium by 1 point.  His brother Wade was 11^th in the same group (& delighted to get a trophy) and Luke Fraser-Brown was 12^th. Rotorua’s Blake Pittams was 9^th.

Tauranga riders did well in the 65cc 7-8 Years class, Jontae Carroll was 5^th, Sean Callinan 7^th, Alex Fraser-Brown 9^th and Dylan Tredinnick just outside the top 10 in 11^th place. Sean went over the handle-bars in race 1 but improved his place with each race.

Chris Merriman competed in the MX 65cc 9-11 Years finishing  just off the podium in 4^th place. It wasn't a particularly great day. In race 1 he went over the handlebars in the first 100 yards, in race 2 he got tangled with the back markers and flipped over and in race 3 a flat tyre had him going excessively wide in the corners. "It felt real funny", he says. 

Jacob Hunt had his first time start on his 65 in this new for him age group and he now knows what it’s like racing with the big boys. Jacob had been aiming for the top 10 but a hurt arm in a crash with Chris in race 3 meant he finished 13^th overall. The very positive news is that from his average to bad starts, Jacob was able to work his way up through the field and that he was lapping only 3 seconds off the leader.

Bradley Jeffrey finished 7^th in the 7-8 Years Trail class with Te Puke riders Ethan Milsom and AJ Steiner 9^th and 18^th respectively. For Ethan, the race was a venture into the unknown but he has to be very happy with his lap times that improved by nearly 7 seconds between qualifying and his fastest lap. AJ’s JR70 was a little underpowered against the 110s and he had a good off in race 1. However, as for Ethan, it was AJ’s first big meeting and it’s now out of the way and he’s ready for more.

Full results are available on Mylaps and Andy McGechan has articles on Bikesportnz 

The next big rendez-vous for the riders is Woodville.