Phoenix flying as title beckons
Van Dusschoten seals junior win with room to spare
The gloves came off at the 2024 New Zealand Junior Motocross Championships at Himatangi with Honda star Phoenix Van Dusschoten landing most of the big punches.
While the boxing analogy might not be quite right, it was certainly the teenager from down the road at O¯ hau who stood tallest when the final rounds played out on Sunday afternoon.
Racing for the Motul Honda Racing Team, the just-turned-16-year-old initially set tongues wagging on Friday when he won the first two of five races in the premier 14-16 years 250cc class, setting a benchmark that only a few of his rivals might match.
Van Dusschoten took his immaculately prepared fire-engine-red Honda CRF250R to finish second, behind Karaka’s Dayden Draper, in the first of his two races the next day, before winning the fourth of five races in the championship later that afternoon.
All that was left was for him to finish among the top six rides in his fifth and final race on Sunday to clinch his first New Zealand title.
And that’s just what he did, settling for third in that race, behind Draper and Australian visitor Kayden Strode, more than enough for Van Dusschoten to prevail in the end.
“I’m still able to race the junior grades until I turn 17 early next year but it’s still good to win this title now,” he said.
“I’ve been trying to win a title for a few years but now I’ve got the job done.
“I had issues with my goggles in the third race and got passed by Hayden on the last lap. I wanted to win every race but getting those early wins gave me some breathing space.
“I knew what I had to do on Sunday. The pressure was off, but I still wanted to go for the win, just to make sure. Kayden is a good mate too, so to create a Honda 1-2 championship result with him is pretty special.
“We’re fierce rivals on the track but good mates off it.
“I want to thank all my friends and supporters who helped make this possible.”
The consistency also shown by fellow Honda star Strode was the key to his finishing the championship overall runner-up, making it a Honda 1-2 for the class.
Sixteen-year-old Strode, from Melbourne, achieved a 2-2-3-2-2 scoreline for the three-day event, enough to clinch the No 2 step on the final podium.
Meanwhile, it would be no stretch of the imagination to say Raetihi teenager Karaitiana Horne is on top of the world, the New Zealand motocross world at least.
The Kawasaki ace was virtually unstoppable, winning the junior women’s title at Himatangi to go with the senior women’s Taranaki crown she won a week earlier.
Timing suited Horne this season, with her 15th birthday falling just in time for her to be eligible to race in the senior championships. And because she’s still under 17, she was allowed to race in the junior competition too.
Gracious in victory, Horne paid tribute to a couple of traditional senior-grade contenders who were both absent, not entered to compete against her this season.
“I felt that if Roma Edwards [from Tauranga] and Amie Roberts [from Hamilton] had not been injured, that would definitely have made my job a lot harder in the senior championships,” she said.
“It was great to defend my junior title this weekend and, because I had just turned 15 in January, that made me eligible to race the senior championships for the first time this year too,” said Horne, a year 11 student at Ruapehu College.
“Hopefully, in a few years, I can race overseas and compete in the women’s world championships like [Otago’s four-time world champion] Courtney Duncan.”
As for her junior title chase at the weekend, Horne did still have to deal with some very speedy individuals, riders such as Taupo¯‘s Mikayla Griffiths (who finished overall runner-up), Helensville’s Ruby Leech (who finished third), Breanna Rodgers (Morrinsville), Bailey Newbould (Lower
Hutt) and Milla Dahlenburg (Nelson), to name just a few.
It is interesting to note that Horne also raced the 14-16 years 250cc class alongside the young men at Himatangi, settling for seventh overall among the 24 entrants.
Host Manawatu Orion Motorcycle Club president Brad Ritchie said: “It has been an awesome occasion. This club hosted the junior motocross championships back in 1982 and we also hosted in 2019, so to host again in 2024 is another great honour for the club.
“This is the most talent-laden paddock I think I’ve ever seen at the junior championships. The depth was remarkable and many future senior champions will emerge from this.”
Motorcycling New Zealand motocross cocommissioner Stu McCulloch, working alongside fellow commissioner Sonia Cloke, said the event showed that the sport at the grassroots level was “in an extraordinarily healthy state” in New Zealand.
“We must thank the club for their amazing efforts over the weekend. The track was pretty gnarly, but that’s motocross,” McCulloch said.
“Thanks also to those individuals who filled out our feedback sheet today, because that’s what guides us to make improvements and progress the sport even further.”
Coming up in the Taranaki region in October is the New Zealand Mini Motocross Championships for the even younger competitors.