Hat-trick of wins gives cross-country newbie Scott NZ title
O¯pa¯rau’s James Scott can now scratch another item off his “to do” list and this time it involves winning a New Zealand motorcycling title in a slightly different environment to what he’s used to.
The young Honda star, the current New Zealand motocross No 2 in the MX2 (250cc) class, has raced motocross internationally and raced enduro world championship events too, but it was alien territory to him when he lined up to tackle the New Zealand Cross-country Championships for the first time this season.
Oh sure, the 20-year-old South Waikato sheep and beef farm worker has dabbled at cross-country racing before, a branch of dirt bike racing not too dissimilar from the parallel motocross or enduro codes, and he won the only round of the popular Dirt Guide Cross-country Series that he tackled near Tokoroa in June 2021.
But this still makes him a “virtual rookie” at national cross-country championships level.
So much for his newbie status . . . he put aside his trusted Honda CRF250 motocross bike to instead climb aboard the bigger Honda CRF450RX enduro bike and make his cross-country nationals debut at round one of the 2022 series near Marton in late February.
He stunned everyone when he beat defending New Zealand champion Tommy Watts that day.
Then it was all quiet on the racing front, with a seven-week break before rounds two and three scheduled for the long Easter weekend, but Scott simply picked up where he had left off in February. He won both the backto-back rounds two and three, near Pahiatua on Saturday and near Dannevirke on Easter Monday, proving comprehensively that his first-round win was certainly no fluke.
It was the same podium that formed up at the end of racing on both days over the Easter break, Scott winning both three-hour senior races ahead of Watts, with Taupo¯’s Wil Yeoman crossing the line in third place both times.
With only three of the four rounds to be counted, it means that Scott’s win at round one, followed by his pair of wins over the weekend, put him in an unbeatable position and the national cross-country champs firsttimer therefore wrapped up the New Zealand title with a round to spare.
“There was a little bit of pressure about a quarter of the way through the race today (Monday) and I could see that Tommy (Watts) was reeling me in,” said Scott afterwards.
The venue for the fourth and final “dead rubber” round is still yet to be confirmed. Ironically, next up for Scott is for him to team up with his cross-country champs rivals Watts and Yeoman to form the three-man New Zealand Junior Team at this year’s International Six Days Enduro, to be held near the town of Le Puy en Velay, in southern France, in late August and early September.
Scott is supported by Honda New Zealand, Motul, Best Build Construction, Parkes Contracting, Alpinestars, 100% goggles, Bell helmets, Crown Kiwi, Pirelli tyres, MotoSR, Renthal handlebars, Twin Air, Dr Trim and Un4seen Decals.