The New Zealand Mini Motocross Championships near Huntly at the weekend attracted the cream of young motocross talent from both sides of the Tasman but it was young Australian Hunter Lawrence (Kawasaki KX65) who stole the show.

Lawrence (pictured above) won three of his five races in the premier 9-11 years’ 65cc class and finished runner-up in the other two.

The only New Zealanders who came close to Queensland’s Lawrence at the Honda-sponsored two-day event were Mangakino’s Maximum Purvis, on an identical Kawasaki KX65, and Hawera’s Kieran Baker (KTM). Purvis finished 4-1-2-2-1 over the weekend and ended up just seven points short of equalling Lawrence.

While Baker came close to savouring a win in the first race of the weekend, coming home second to Lawrence, a couple of bad starts proved costly later on and he was never really able to challenge again, finishing 4-9-6-5 in his remaining races.

Top of the 7-8 years’ 65cc class was Pukekawa’s Jesse Te Kani (KTM), while Carterton’s Samuel Morison (Honda) easily won the 7-11 years’ Trail Bike category, Christchurch’s Marshall Phillips (KTM) dominated the 6-8 years’ 50cc class, Tauranga’s Jacob Hunt (KTM) was the dominant force in the Intro MX class and Napier’s Thomas Harrington (Honda) was the standout rider in the Intro Trail Bike class.

He number of entries at the event exceeded expectations, indicating that, despite the economy, the sport is in a very healthy state, and the weather played its part in adding to the drama at the weekend too, making for a variety of racing conditions for the riders as conditions went from dry and dusty on Saturday to damp, slick and slippery early on Sunday, finishing off with wind gusts near the end of the day.

© Words and photo by Andy McGechan, www.BikesportNZ.com

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