Top junior motocross talent heads to Himatangi
The elite adults of New Zealand motocross have wrapped up their annual championship series and now it’s the turn of the sport’s rising young stars to reveal who’s ready to step up.
The future of Kiwi motocross will be on show in Manawatū this weekend when the New Zealand Junior Motocross Championships fire up at Himatangi, about halfway between Foxton and Sanson.
The three-day event will be run at the sandy Flipp’s Motocross Park circuit at Himatangi, until tomorrow.
Racing in sand can be energy sapping, so riders will need to be at their best.
The racing at the junior championships is expected to be fierce, as the cream of motocross talent aged between 8 and 16 battle to clinch a championship title before they turn 17 and join the senior ranks.
Former world-class riders such as Taranaki brothers Darryll, Shayne and Damien King, Motueka’s Josh Coppins, Bay of Plenty’s Ben Townley, Mangakino’s Maximus Purvis, Ōpōtiki’s Cody Cooper, Royal Heights rider Hamish Harwood, Mt Maunganui’s Josiah Natzke, Tauranga’s Brodie Connolly and Ōpārau’s James Scott can all trace the start of their winning careers back to their junior motocross days.
Some of the junior stars worth watching this weekend include Australia’s Bodie
Court, Tauranga’s Levi Townley, Auckland’s Jack Ellingham, Karaka’s Hayden Draper, Te Awamutu’s Nixon Parkes, Levin’s Phoenix van Dusschoten, Leeston’s Kase Thoms, Mangakino’s Maz Parkes, Cambridge’s Nico Verhoeven, Christchurch’s Levi McMaster, Taupō’s Connor Feather, Prebbleton’s Jesse Baird, Palmerston North’s Jaxx Hunter, Raetihi’s Karaitiana Horne, Helensville’s Ruby Leech, Morrinsville’s Breanna Rodgers, Auckland’s Thalia Heileson, Wainuiomata’s Ella Burns and Whangarei’s Hannah Perris.
With racing this weekend expected to be tight through all the grades, it is unlikely anything will be wrapped up until late tomorrow.