They were Racing on Sunday

Rotorua - Patetonga

maddix park mx

Racing went ahead at both Rotorua and Patetonga on Sunday and, although numbers were down, those that competed had a thoroughly good day. You have to race when you can.  In winter, the next weekend could be worse.

Rotorua

At Rotorua, it was a close call with the weather – almost a cancellation. The fine mist and odd bits of drizzle at the beginning of the day created a muddy and slippery track but, because the club had removed most of the big jumps and step ups, it was still totally rideable. The arrival of the sun made it even better.

Once again a strong turnout of Tauranga riders lined up at the start gates.

Matt Kenyon had a bald tyre and fell off a couple of times but finished the day with a couple of thirds and a second in the Junior 125cc class.  Hayden Rumble and Evan Hawkless both found the mud and slippery surface challenging as they battled for 4th and 5th.  Hayden got some good starts but Evan pulled him in a couple of times and they ended with a 4/5/5 result for Hayden and a 5/4/4 for Evan.

Chris Merriman rode his 65 in with the 85ccs. He usually hates mud and did get stuck in the odd rut but ended up enjoying himself and his top 5 finishes.  Connor Lucas on his 85cc enjoyed the day too, in spite of his 3 crashes. His front end washed out down the straight in the mud, he stalled in a rut and he came off when he was trying to change ruts, but, even though he’s not sure of his results, he’s happy.

Trent Duggan had a good day on his 65 on the main track gaining 3 firsts in 3 starts with Xavier Anderson behind him in 2nd.

Casey Waterhouse won the 3 women’s races and had fun but was a little disappointed with the low number of riders, many having been put off, no doubt, by the previous few days of rain.

Bruce, Christina and Alex Cameron were not daunted by the weather. They made the effort to attend as they knew it would get better as the day progressed.  However, muddy days mean a lot of bike cleaning between races.  Bruce says he himself  “rode” rather than “raced” and pitted for Alex and Christina who was riding back to back women’s  and 85cc classes. She finished 4th,3rd and 2nd in the women’s.  Alex had an awesome day.  It was only his second outing on his two week old 85cc and his first time on the bike on a track.

The Steiner family from Te Puke was also there in force.  Dion admits he’s not a great fan of the mud but “you do have to ride the wet ones and with the “narky” stuff out, it wasn’t too bad”.  He won all 3 vets races.  Tyler rode really well.  He got the hole shot in race 1 for the 85ccs and was running 2nd until he unfortunately crashed in the last lap. In races two and three, he placed 2nd and 3rd. AJ had a tough but fun day on the mini track.  One particularly challenging hill had parents lined up ready to give a hand.

The mini track also saw Jacob Hunt in action. Out of the 4 races, he gained 3 first placings.  In the other race, his bike stopped and it took dad at least 60 kicks to get it going but Jacob still managed to fight his way back from last to 3rdAlex Fraser-Brown finished with 3 3rds and a 2nd place for the day.

Apologies if we have missed anyone out but do let us know. Full results will no doubt be up on the Rotorua club website www.rmcc.org.nz shortly.

Patetonga

At Patetonga, the motocross track was too wet but seeing as it was the prize-giving round, the club ran their race day at their maize paddock.  Keith Paterson reports that the ground there was incredibly dry and no-one went home with dirty bikes. Keith, who hadn’t been on a bike since February, rode his CR500 (the “modern” bike has broken down), got the hole shot in every race and brought home the trophy for the Vintage class and the MX1.  Garth Amrein from Katikati received the trophy for the Most Promising Junior Rider and Keith received a final trophy for the Most Promising Vintage Rider – yes, there was a lot of laughter at that one.

For full results go to www.patetongamx.co.nz

 
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