Taupo Comes Up Trumps

Labour Weekend Extravaganza Day 1

maddix park mx

Taupo once again came up trumps with its annual MX Extravaganza. Feisty riding, awesome spectator thrills,some spills, fun and socializing, new formats, the new Speedcross, highs , perhaps a few lows - all the ingredients that make for a fantastic Labour Weekend of MX. The new sawdust zone on the MX track was the great leveller, the softness catching out both experienced and not so experienced riders.

Day 1 saw the minis, juniors and the women in action and in action they were with, as usual, a large number of Tauranga area riders competing. A couple of riders made the podium, some nearly did, several achieved beyond their expectations and some were dogged by bad luck.

Juniors

14-16 Years 250cc

Jovhann Phillips (pictured left) had an “unreal” day in the 14-16 Years 250cc class that hasn’t really sunk in yet, winning two of the 3 class races in a display that, according to onlookers, was “amazing racing and sensational to watch”. His practice had been okay but some silly mistakes in race one meant he finished second behind Aaron King.  In the next two, he took Andrew Hardisty’s advice and “raced the track, not the people”, winning with panache and setting the second fastest lap time of the day.

Jovhann’s last race was the emotionally charged memorial race for his best mate Trent Haywood.  Jovhann was first out of the corner, led for 3 laps before hitting a rock and crashing and having to be satisfied with 3rd place.  He had done enough, however,  to top the podium and win the  Extravaganza title - a popular win for a rider who’s had his fair share of setbacks.

Matt Hobbis had a great day in the same class finishing in 10th, 11th and 10th position.  It was a tough class, he was coming off a broken shoulder and had never raced at Taupo before so Matt was rapt to finish 10th overall and pick up his first ever trophy.   10th meant he was in the Trent Haywood Memorial Race but, unfortunately, in that one he crashed. Matt now knows what he has to work on, and fitness is at the top of the list.

Tauranga rider Jesse Bussas (7/10/6) also rode really well to finish 6th.

Josh Leopold isn’t a great fan of the Taupo track but he had a fun day and finished 14th in spite of a DNF in race 1. “I went a bit far in the dam jump and hurt my wrist”, he says, “so I pulled off”.

Connor Hawkless was the big unlucky one.  He was ambulanced to hospital with a broken bone in his foot from a crash during practice. “I went over a jump and landed sideways,” he reports, “so didn’t even make it to the start line”.

12-14 Years 125cc

DNFs proved costly and frustrating for two local riders.

Connor Lucas hit a bump and got caught in the sawdust and his day ended with a big off and a final result of 19th. “I went too slow over the double and cross-rutted sideways and slammed onto my head and shoulder. The helmet cracked, the shoulder socket is pretty sore but I’m alright”, he reports.

Brad Cameron’s day began with a DNF after he crashed twice in race 1 and then his throttled jammed! He managed, however, to salvage a 15th place overall.

Josh Tredinnick (5/5/4/11), on the other hand, is one of the maturing riders who has been gaining speed all season, just missed the podium but is very happy with his 4th place.

The temperatures may have been nippy initially but for Josh “it was hot as, riding”. He stayed on his bike, almost got the holeshot in one race and is going to do more work on his speed and starts.

15-16 years 125cc

Tyler Steiner just didn’t fire on the Saturday. The suspension on his new bike just wasn’t set up so in race 2 he went back to his old bike. He was one of the several who binned it in the sawdust but was nevertheless sitting 2nd overall after 3 races until his bike decided to die going up the ramp in the Trent Haywood Memorial Race. He came away with 5th.  Not wanting to jeopardize a sore shoulder ahead of his November trip to the USA, Tyler didn’t race as intended on the Sunday.

It wasn’t a good day for Reece Garrett either.  “I got a bad start in race 1 and then made some dumb decisions because I wasn’t thinking straight”, he says. He also underestimated the effects a cold would have on his riding. “I thought I’d be alright”, he adds, “but after 3 laps I was knackered. In race 2 I had to pull off because I couldn’t breathe and because I couldn’t stop coughing. I didn’t go out for race 3”. Reece will now be focusing on and pushing hard for Summercross.

Jayden Turnwald won this class.

8-11 Years 65cc-85cc

Brodie Connolly from Matamata  was the runaway winner, cleansweeping the class.

Te Puke’s Kyan Loomans had a ball and finishing 12th out of 37 made him super happy.

Alex Fraser-Brown (13/14/13)  had a good day. He rode consistently to finish in 13th in top half of the pack. “I only fell off once,  I came into a corner and hit it wrong” says Alex.

Sam Cooper did really well on the big track in a truly massive class. He’s still getting in touch with his bike but gained a consistent 5 points in each race to also finish midpack in 16th overall.

Donovan Ward (Tauranga) rode well also achieving his best place in the first race.

Dylan Tredinnick lost his confidence a bit and was suffering some pain  after he crashed in race 1 and hurt his arm. Consequently he raced  very slowly in race 2 and had a DNS in race 3.

12-16 Years  85cc

Max Purvis won the 3 races in the class but was pipped for the top podium step by Trent Collins (3/2/2) who finished above him in the Trent Haywood Memorial.

Trent Duggan did half a lap of practice but was spotted later in the day walking around with his arm in a sling.

Click here for full Junior & Women’s results.

Mini MX

9-11 Years 65cc Champ Class 

The mini nationals at Jack's Invercargill home track had Jack Symon, Sam Meredith and Luca Freemantle on the podium, in that order.

In Taupo (Luca's home track), the podium was up for grabs once more with all three vying for position. This time Luca Freemantle came out on top followed by Jack Symon and with Sam down in 4th. The interloper was Madoc Dixon who took the 3rd podium spot with his 5-2-3 results.

This was the class for hard, fast, clean racing. At briefing, there had been mention of the double that was "not to be done" - a challenge too great to resist for the top riders - so, as soon as they had conquered the double, they were doing fantastic lap times.

Madoc Dixon had a smile on his face all day and was totally chuffed with his podium place in such elite 65cc company. He had his usual slow start to an event with a not-to-be-sneezed-at 5th. However, race 2 was a nail biter with Madoc finishing in 2nd place just 0.051 seconds ! behind the winner. It was the flick of the handlebars that decided it. Madoc's note to self states: "Next time, turn the right side of the handle bar towards the finish line, it's the one with the transponder unit on it".

Sam Meredith’s Extravaganza did not get off to a good start. “A kid fell off in front of me in the first race in the first corner”, he reports. “I went over the handlebars and got run over a couple of times.  I was way back in 27th but I worked my way back to 7th In the second race,  I was in 4th place but coming into a corner, I dug the front wheel into the sand and flipped. I dropped back to 6th but came back to finish 5th. In race 3, I got a good start and came third which meant 4th overall”.

Wade Meredith was pleased with his 9th overall in this his first year in the class. “I had a couple of bad starts  - in one, a guy jumped in front of me – but I didn’t crash the whole day”.

Kristian Crane finished 15th overall. He had a mixed bag day - a disconcerting pile-up in the first race, a bit better in the second and then a broken power valve in race 3 which saw him lose places each lap. But the Crane team is philosophical -that’s racing.

For Luke Fraser-Brown, it was his first time in A grade 65cc and a  big jump up. He finished 22nd out of 32 and is well happy with his results..

6-8 Years MX 50cc

Zane Beattie finished 9th, 9th and then 4th ! He definitely had a rough start to the day. There was no clutch oil in the bike - and Zane only realized when he had no clutch in race 1.  In race 2, he fell off but he was back in the form that gave him 2nd place in the Taupo Winter Series for race 3. He jumped several spots to 4th and so 7th overall.

4-7 Years Intro 50cc

Travis Crane gained 2 fourth places and one second for 4th overall. He’s just turned 5, has been racing a peewee this season but raced on his TTR. In the last race, he fell off but it took a while for Dad to realize. He just missed out on the podium. “Next time”, says this very determined young man.

Click here for detailed Mini Results

Women

Courtney Duncan was in a class of her own and almost lapped to second place.  Jessie Waterhouse (Tauranga) took 3rd place on the podium. Christina Cameron (Tauranga) had an enjoyable day and finished in  7th place at the top of the second tier riders. Te Puke’s Nadia Salvidge was 11th.

Congratulations and well done to all the riders.

Click here for some footage from Josh Leopold

Photos : Debbie Loomans

 
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