Top Spots in a Slider's Heaven

Miniature TT Taumaranui

Happy faces and smiles from the Tauranga area riders who graced all three steps of the Senior 125 podium at the Kuratau TT this weekend. Logan Blackburn (Te Puke), in the middle, with 4 wins and a second, claimed top spot.

Katikati’s Garth Amrein, on the left had 4/2/1/3/4 results which gave him second place overall while Scott Barr-Smith (Tauranga) (3/3/4/2/3), on the  right, claimed 3^rd ahead of Jacob Kneebone. Logan had some good starts and pulled comfortable leads. “I got a good start in race 3 as well”,  he reports.  “ I was 1st around the holeshot corner  and stayed there for a few laps but then  I washed out in a corner and dropped back to 4th . I then found some fast lines to catch Scott Bar Smith and Jacob Kneebone and finished 2^nd”.

It was Scott’s first real race since Woodville and he was pretty happy with his 3^rd place and fairly consistent riding. “ Logan was just too fast and dominated the class”, he says, “but I had some really good battles with Garth throughout the weekend.  I had geared the bike up a bit but Garth and Logan could gear up a bit more because they’re smaller”, he adds. “It was my first TT but I liked the track. It was really fast and wide open. Next year I’ll be back on a 450”.

This year’s TT was back in the original paddock the Taumaranui Club had used when it started the event 13 years ago and it was a very successful move with rider numbers up nearly 50 on the previous year.

 

“The TTs are often called a “Slider's Heaven”,” says a club spokesman, Richard Neeson. “The terrain is smooth, there are no jumps but we have long straights that flow into sweeping corners that the guys just love sliding around. The back straight here at Kuratau is pretty fast. You can do 120km plus if you want too. Most riders gear their bikes up for the track to get more speed. The track on Saturday was in top condition. A little overnight rain didn’t make much of a difference but the Sunday midday downpour made conditions a bit slippery.  However, it was still a great day and a great weekend. It was good to see some 500cc 2 strokes competing. There aren’t many places where you can wind these bikes out.”

Logan Blackburn (at left) competed in 2 classes.  He thought the track was really good with some cool corners and some super long straights. “It took some time to learn the track and where the corners were and when to brake etc. but I got there in the end”.  Logan finished 2nd in this second class, the MX2,  behind Ethan Martens who won 4 of the 5 races.  Logan’s 4^th race in the MX2 was his worst. “After an alright start in midpack, I worked my way back to 4^th then came into a corner and dropped it in a rut. I was back in 16^th but worked my way up again to 7^th”.  In spite of the rain settling in and the track becoming a bog, Logan’s last race was a good one.  “I got a great start in first and stayed in first until the last lap when Ethan Martens got me”. A very successful day overall.

Campbell King’s 2^nd and 3^rd on day 2 boosted him up to 5^th overall in the same MX2 class.

Mason Wilkie defended his title with a clean sweep in the MX1 class. A couple of good seconds on day 2 brought Jesse Donnelly into 2^nd place with Brad Groombridge 3^rd and Campbell Bailey 4^th.

Mitch Rowe deserves a medal for effort as well as results.  He rode 3 classes gaining 3^rd in the Vets, 5^th in MX1 and 6^th in MX2.

Whakatane’s Darren Capill had a successful weekend with  two second  places in the Enduro Class and the Vets 35+.  The Enduro class was a first for an MX and TT event and was a great addition to the programme.

A second new addition was the UTV side by side class. This category of vehicle has been seen at a few off road club outings but the TT provided their first real race scenario and great entertainment for the spectators. It was billed as demonstration racing and 8 Polaris RZR 900s lined up ready to go. As they couldn’t quite fit on the start line, the drivers had a shotgun Le Mans start with a 50 metre run to their vehicles.  Tauranga’s Ben Thomasen won all the races, his MX racing and rally driving experience giving him a definite edge. “I had an absolute ball,” he says. “It was harder work than I expected  but it was great fun sliding and drifting all the way round.  I was hitting the limiter at around 130km on the back straight”. Please note: Ben still has number 202.

A sizable turnout of ATVs offered up more four wheel action.  Emma Goldstone was the most successful Bay ATV rider gaining first place, against the guys, in the 450 Production class. The racing was really close, there was one point in it, but one point is enough. Her partner, Jason Jepson (Rotorua) was 2nd in the ATV Open behind Christchurch’s Ian Ffitch whilst Tauranga’s Mark Goldstone’s  had a “bike issues” weekend which left him 14^th in this class.

Rob Hunt, also from Tauranga, raced to 9^th in the 40+ Vets category on day 1 but did not compete on day 2 thanks to the lingering effects of injury dating from the Taneatua Hillclimb a couple of weeks back. His 11 year old son, Nathan, was up against some pretty hot bikes and older riders. He had his best result, a third place, in race 4 and was stoked to finish 5^th overall in the Junior class.  

All the quad riders had fun, even in the wet conditions on the Sunday.

The $1000 prize for the highest point scorer was shared between MX1 winner Mason Wilkie and Josh Bartosh, who won all his races in the Junior 125/250 class. The 15 sets of riding gear donated by Ben Townley went to juniors and women.

For full results go to My Laps. 

Click here for heaps more pictures. 

Click here for Andy McGechan’s report.