BMX North Island titles held
Labour Weekend brought the 2018 BMX New Zealand North Island Titles with just over 600 riders taking part at the Mountain Raiders BMX Club in Pakuranga, Auckland. Racing was hard and fast with plenty of spills on the tight track.
Rider of the weekend went to Kylie Sargison who took out the top spot in the 35+ Cruiser Female class. Other riders on the podium were Angus Thompson in the 11 Boys and Kevin Tamepo in the 40-44 Cruiser Male class.
In total 21 riders competed from the Taupo¯ BMX Club. Carter Ludlam raced in the first-ever participation age group for the 5 and Under Mixed Sprockets. Liam Dunbar continued to show experience from other big race meets, just missing out on the final of the 6 Boys with a North Island ranking of 12. Older brother Finn proved unlucky ending up in a tangle of handlebars in the semi final of the 7 Boys.
Cohen Ludlam just missed out on the semifinal by one spot in a field of highly ranked riders in the 8 Boys. Fellow rider Reon Hayter showed great determination and improvement but couldn’t progress past the moto stages. In the 8 Girls Briar Gambrill competed against another strong group and showed some determined riding, finishing 10th overall.
Kahlia Evans claimed fourth spot in the 9 Girls and displayed consistent riding against top class Australian and New Zealand riders. Riley Burley raced in the largest field of the weekend in the 9 Boys age group. He continues to improve at the top level, racing competing in a field that featured 7 of the 8 top ranked riders in the country.
Toby Gambrill’s ability and determination was rewarded with a finals spot in the 10 Boys age group. Toby showed some great skill as he progressed through but unfortunately slid out in the last corner of his final to eventually finish in seventh.
In another competitive age group, the 11 Boys saw Brock Harvey suffer a terrible crash in the Mighty 11s Open Class which saw him unable to see out his racing. Angus Thompson was Mr Consistent all weekend, progressing to a carnage-filled final where he finished in second.
Zara Ranford competed in the 12 Girls class where eight of the 12 riders had either a North Island, New Zealand or world ranking. This made for tough racing but the highly skilled rider claimed seventh place.
Brothers Joseph and Bryan Tane competed in the 12 and 13 Boys respectively. Joseph rode with determination all weekend in a large field, made it through to the semifinals but missed out on finals spot.
Jono Sargison, a member of cycling New Zealand’s National Performance Hub team, competed in the 16 Boys class but unfortunately got caught up in traffic in his final after demonstrating some polished skills in his earlier motos to finish in fourth place.
In the Cruiser fields Tyler Fleury claimed his first North Island ranking, finishing in sixth spot in 17-29 Male. Ray Dunbar in 30-34 Male had a tough class but managed to finish in fifth place. Matt Harvey shook off some early nerves in the 35-39 Cruiser Male class to finish in seventh place.
Kevin Tamepo was his consistent best in the 40-44 Cruiser Male class and claimed second place. Unfortunately clubmate Matt Collins suffered a crash in his first moto and missed out on the final by 1 point, finishing North Island 9.
Rider of the weekend was Kylie Sargison claiming firsts in all her motos in the 35+ Cruiser Female and going on to win the final in convincing fashion. She exhibited great talent and was the strongest competitor in her field doing the Taupo¯ club proud with her skill.
Riders now return to club night racing and those seeking to do the nationals at Easter must attend four national qualifying meets before the end of December. The Taupo¯ BMX Club will host its own race meet on December 8 and the Central Region Champs on December 9 which is a national qualifying meet.