Category: 2018

This weekend nearly everyone we know was down at Kapi Mana for the Mini Nationals so it was a quiet race day at Tokoroa. I rode in with the 85s and I always ride better against the bigger bikes. I jumped higher and further than I have before here and it felt really good to be competing with one of NZs fastest 85cc riders. My lap times are coming down and all the training I have been doing towards my goal of going to the Junior Nationals at MOMCC feels like it’s making a difference. I was going to go to the Mini Nats until Battle of the Clubs at Taupo when I dropped back to mini track and didn’t enjoy it as much as I thought I would. I really like big track racing, it’s faster, more technical and there’s more room to move. 1-1-1 for Pro65 today and 5-6-5 out of the whole Pro65/all in 85 group.

Since it was the last round of the Taupo Winter series we decided to head to Taupo early and hang out with some other moto families at the hot pools and go out for dinner since heaps of us have had September birthdays. It was a fun night and after a good sleep we were at the track ready for another great day of racing.We rode the full track today which is a lot longer than the other layouts we have done here and there was a big Pro65 class since a lot of 9-11 year old 65 mini track riders are getting ready to move up for MX Fest next month. I rode pretty good today. My starts on the metal gates have been very hit and miss this season but doing third gear starts today made a big difference and I didn’t highside once. I didn’t fully back myself on the step up as the top is lumpy and I don’t know if I can land on it without wobbling so I lost some time there each lap so finished fifth overall for the day. Prizegiving followed racing and I came out with third overall for the series. I know I could have done better as I had some awesome days and some terrible days so now I am going to work on my consistency.

We headed to Cambridge for some track time since Patetonga isn’t open yet and it was worth the trip. Even after all the wet over winter the track was dry and looked good. Practice was all in 65/85 and I tried the things I have been working on lately with Triple 8 Training about body position when jumping. It made a huge difference to my stability and I went into the races feeling confident. The races were 8-11 Pro65 and 8-10 85 combines and I kept up in the top 3 for each race. My average lap times dropped 10 seconds since Round 1 and my best time was 13 seconds better.  I finished the day first for the 65s and 3rd for the combines classes. Seeing the impact my jumping and strong braking into corners has on lap times has me feeling I can make some good gains at Taupo next week and for MX Fest.

As always, we arrived in Taupo to find the track looking awesome and with another new layout. There’s now a jump in the saw dust and a couple of double built up in the rhythm section. I really enjoy riding here because you never really know what you are going to get for race day. Practice went well and I got the fastest qualifying time which I am stoked about, not so much for gate pick but because I have a cold and didn’t feel like I was going to do well today. Races 1 and 2 were good, there’s some strong competition and lots of hard riding  happening, my starts weren’t great and I haven’t been on my bike since Sand Prix but it felt good to be out on the track. Race 3 was really hard, my energy levels were low and I had to work so much harder to keep up the front runners but I finished and I didn’t crash and I pushed myself coming away with 4-4-5 for 5th overall today. I think I am currently 3rd in points for the series with one round left so I am going to get fit and healthy again and come back ready.

This is the first weekend I have back to back raced at different events in different regions. I did Saturday and Sunday racing at Battle of the Clubs but we stayed in Taupo the whole time and had 2 or 6 of everything we needed. Yesterday after leaving Awakaponga at 5.30pm we had to drive back home, clean down, service, unpack, repack and get some sleep before getting up again in the dark. It was a nice surprise to get home and find some mates from the Mighty Manawatu staying over to do Sand Prix too. I was really tired when we got to the track this morning and a bit stiff after sleeping crooked in the car on our way home and it showed in practice. I came off at least twice every lap and dad did consider pulling me off the track as he was worried I was going to do some damage to myself as well as others around me. Mum gave me a bit of a pep talk and helped me get my focus back again and I took it one race at a time.  I finished race 1 in 8th with only one small fumble. I learnt a lot about the track conditions and watched the bigger riders choose their lines and how they rode the deep sand track and placed 4th in race 2. I had some really good battles in race 3 and even tough I was tired I rode smart and finished in 3rd. 8-4-3 got me 5th overall for the day and I got my second trophy in 2 days. This event is part of the North Island Champs along with Valley Champs and King of the Mountain so so far I’m 5th for North Island Pro65. Going in to the next two events I will not be as tired and will be ready to ride hard get a podium finish. I’m very proud of myself for not giving up because I was tired and sore, even when it got hard I kept fighting.

Today I took part in another schools moto event, this time in the Bay of Plenty at Awakaponga. I love how NZ schools have these events, it started with one and now there is about ten up and down the country. I wasn’t going to go but after my last ride here in December at Summercross we thought it would be a good idea to get over any bad track juju before taking on Summercross again. We drove down after school on Thursday and stayed at a friends house, which was awesome because we only had a short drive in the morning. I have been working hard on having a positive attitude and not carrying old results into new races so I went into today with goals and a good head space and rode really well. Race 1 and race 2 I stayed upright, worked on my corners and point to point acceleration after practise/qualifying showed a few places to improve on. I held my head high and didn’t think about anything but what was coming up behind my next corner. I came off two times in race 3 but got up and got my bike going again pretty quickly. I had a lot of track to make up and I rode hard but only managed to get back up to 6th. I was stoked to be presented 2nd place for Pro65 with 2-2-6 for the day. It was a really good experience being back here and straight after prize giving we were on the road to get home to unpack, clean down and repack for Sand Prix at Mercer tomorrow. This is my first time doing 2 events in one weekend and after today I think tomorrow will be just as awesome.

We stopped in at South Waikato MCC on the way to Taupo for a bit of track time and there were quite a few people who had the same idea, it was good to have some bigger bikes to battle with today. After a good nights sleep we got to the track and set up and it started to drizzle but not long after riders brief the skies cleared and racing started. I qualified 3rd in practice and finished race 1 in 5th, we rode a different track than what we have done previously here and it went around the outside of the MX park, up the big step up and cut out the rollers and sawdust section. I wasn’t very comfortable on the step up today and lost a bit of time there. I got caught up with another rider on the start straight of race 2 and finished 5th again. We had so much rain come down just before race 3. No one turned out for the senior open class and the vets weren’t keen on going out and getting muddy. The track was super wet when we lined up but stopped just as the gate dropped. I had a terrible start, I dropped the clutch, launched into another rider and ended up face down in the mud. I got back on and fought back to 10th for 7th overall. It’s been a while since I have finished out of the top 5 on a race day and today was just one of those days. No damage to myself or my bike but I have been a bit lazy with doing my foundation training drills properly and it showed today when I should have been much more in control. Now to focus and work a bit harder to reach my goals.

This weekend I finally got to ride at Flipps. I have been wanting to ride here since we first arrived as I was told it was a great place to go if we were down that way. Flipps hosted MOMCCs Mini & Junior Champs and it was the first time since riding in Aussie that double classing was encouraged. I rode in the Under 9 65cc and the Under 11 65-85cc classes and it was a huge day. The U9s rode part of the big track and part of the mini track, the U11s rode the full big track. The dirt in Manawatu is so different to anywhere else… it’s black and sandy and sticky and slippery when it’s wet. I rode well in U9s going 2-2-2 but was a bit untidy in the U11s coming off a few times, and losing my focus (and my goggles). I learned a lot about riding in these conditions, and that keeping yourself in the right head space is just as important as your riding skills. Once I stopped and thought about why I was here and what I wanted to do I felt better and rode better. Sometimes things feel really hard and I get angry and upset and myself because I want good results but weekends like this will help me later. This weekend was to ride Flipps, venue of the 2019 Junior Nationals, where I want to come and have a go at riding with top junior riders. It was almost a 6 hour drive to get here so I won’t be getting much practice here so made the most of it. I came away with a 2nd trophy for U9s and finished somewhere down by 16th overall in the U11 up to 85cc class but 4th overall out of the 65s. I have come away with so much stuff to work on but can’t wait to be back in this mud again.

After over 12 months of racing nearly every weekend I decided this winter to slow down and only ride Tokoroa and Taupo. It’s been nice to have chill out weekends especially when it has been cold and foggy. It’s also made me not mind the wet race days because I’m not always sick and snotty. There wasn’t a huge turnout at Toke this morning, probably because of the massive storms that were slowly creeping in on the weather radar but since it’s not too far from home to ride here it was worth the drive for some track time. The track was really well groomed and the rain overnight was just enough. I got to ride with some new people and had fun trying to beat my own times from last club day. I went 1-1-1 and took a solid 10 seconds off my personal best lap times here. The rain started during race 3 but since Pro65 were the last ones in the race order we had packed everything up before it got wet and then I just had to ride my bike straight into the trailer. Thanks to these rainy days I am getting much more comfortable with sliding in and out of the corners and staying on top of my bike.

There was a great turnout for Round 3 at Taupo after Battle of the Clubs with a lot of people sticking around for another day of riding. The Pro65 class was heaps bigger than usual with new riders to compete against. I ate sand in races 1 and 2 from pushing myself to try new lines and fought back to top 5 finishes and clocked the fastest lap time in each race. I had a great start out of the gates in Race 3, took the holeshot and kept on the gas until the flag. I feel like I am making some really good line choices when I ride, I am trusting myself and my bike more and I’m learning how to communicate with dad about the track conditions and how my bike is running. I finished 3 overall today with 5-4-1 which has put me back in the running for a podium finish at the end of the season which is awesome after a terrible Round 1.