NZ Insider No.28: Auckland MX Champs

Welcome to our weekly web-exclusive column, Transmoto‘s NZ Insider. Penned each week by Kiwi, Chris Ritchie, the NZ Insider will present the story-behind-the-stories on NZ-related dirt bike happenings across the globe. 

The annual Auckland MX Championship was held over the weekend at the famous Harrisville circuit, near the south Auckland metropolis of Pukekohe. The December sun baked the Harrisville circuit to a crisp, with the hardpack soil turning into a solid blue groove track surface, with even hardpack tyres struggling for grip in places, bringing back memories of past events run in similar conditions back in the ’90s.

Suzuki’s chief all-rounder, Brad Groombridge, continued his solid 2014 form, unbeaten with three wins from three starts in an emphatic display in MX1. Groombridge dictated the pace all day long, showing he will be a strong contender for the 2015 NZ MX1 title fight starting in February.

Honda’s defending NZ MX1 champ, Cody Cooper (in his first competitive outing since his devastating knee injury sustained at the opening round of this year’s Oz MX Nationals) chose not to risk another potentially season ending injury, playing it safe after a solid third in moto two, pulling out mid-way through moto three. Coops just wasn’t comfortable pushing the limits on a track that resembled more of a highway than a motocross track late in the day, for little reward, with his focus firmly on defending his MX1 crown in merely two months’ time.

After a stellar MX1 debut with two seconds from the first two motos behind Groombridge, KTM’s Hamish Harwood went down hard in the third moto, taking a big hit to his chest, later diagnosed as a punctured bowel requiring surgery late on Sunday night. We wish Hamish all the best with his recovery, and hope to see him back on the track soon!

Yamaha’s Ethan Martens’ consistency paid off, with his two fourths and a second in the final moto putting him second Overall for the day, with Honda’s Johny Phillips continuing to impress in his rookie 450 season, rounding out the podium in third.

In the MX2 class, defending champ Kayne Lamont (in his racing debut aboard the new YZ250F) finished second to KTM’s Josiah Natzke in the opening moto, and then followed it up with two convincing victories to claim the Overall win. Natzke’s 1-2-5 results from the three motos earned him second Overall, and fellow KTM rider, visiting Australian Caleb Ward, finished third, debuting his new racing number #17 on his 250SX-F, saying goodbye to the old faithful #485.

With Motorcycling New Zealand following the lead of MA and the MX Nationals in Oz restricting modifications permitted to the 250 two-strokes making them a less attractive proposition for MX2, a number of riders have already made the switch to the four-stroke in preparation for the summer moto season, with the number of premixers significantly lower than we saw earlier this year at the 2014 nationals – most notably Kayne Lamont, who has also switched brands from Husqvarna, and KTM’s Jesse Wiki, recently making the switch from the 250SX to the SX-F, impressive with fourth Overall on Sunday. Meanwhile, the two-stroke debate will no doubt roll on across both sides of the Tasman for a while yet…