New Queen of the North

Mini MX

maddix park mx

Tauranga’s Shelby Catley is the new “Queen of the North”.  She convincingly won the Girls’ race at last weekend’s King of the North event organized by the North Harbour Mini MX Club.

It is Shelby’s first season racing. She had previously competed in some trail class events but this was her first foray into the highly competitive 65cc class and her first race with a clutch. Thanks to a training session with Greg Moss in February, Shelby  is “really rocking”.  As well as the Girls Only race, she also rode in the 65cc 9-11 class and qualified 16th out of 48 riders.

“The girls’ race wasn’t too hard,” says Shelby, “but in the 65s, I didn’t get good starts. In the first race, I dumped the clutch and flipped on the start line.  In the second race I was on the outside and got trapped.  The third race was OK, but the others were just faster” she adds philosophically, “and I ended up midfield overall.”

The others may be faster at the moment but they’d better watch out. When Shelby (# 6 in picture at left)  is pumping, she really flies. “She had no fear and was landing on the other side of the tabletop, she’s one to watch” observed one spectator.

Sean Callinan and Sam Cooper were also competing in the 65cc 9-11 class.

Sean (#105 in picture at left) had a great day in spite of it not being one of his best days. In race 1, he was shooting past a few riders when he got caught up in someone else’s crash. His best finish was 13th in race 3 and he ended the day in 17th overall.

Sam was pretty pleased with getting into the top group in qualifying and in his 30th place overall. He has only just moved up to this class and “rode out of his skin”, according to his proud dad. 

So did his sister Tori (pictured at left with Sam). She was competing in the 9-11 Years trail class and was delighted with her 8th place overall.  Tori also rode in the Girls’ Race but 4th place meant she just missed out on the podium.

Kristian Crane was racing his Husqvarna 50 in the MX 50cc class for only the second time.  He raced “really awesome” and was “totally cranking it” with 5th place lap times but his starts are still letting him down.The time he did get a good one, in second around the first corner, a rider attempted to go around the two front-runners and there was a massive crash. Kristian (pictured below) hurt his knee but managed to come back from last place to 15th out of 32.He finished 12th overall for the day and really enjoyed the event.

. Mini MX is definitely alive and well. The 2013 King of the North Mini MX event had its biggest turnout ever with 130 plus riders competing on a beautiful track over rolling farmland with added jumps. It was a safe track with no kickers so no accidents. Race finish positions determined the gate picks for the next race.

The event was well run and enjoyable, “even for the flag marshalls”, we are told.  

Full race results for King of the North are on My Laps.

 

And news from the South Island...

Former Tauranga mini rider, Tyler Wiremu, on right, just got 3rd at the South Canterbury Champs on his new 50SX! This was his 1st race on the bike.  Tyler is currently leading the Christchurch TT Series.

Well done to all the riders!

 
Bookmark and Share