It is never easy when you’re racing so far from home and up against some of the best riders in the world, but Mangakino’s Kayne Lamont is enjoying the experience nonetheless.

The BikesportNZ.com Suzuki rider was up against it at round five of the British Motocross Championships at Desertmartin, in Northern Ireland, at the weekend, with a tough qualifying session putting him on the back foot before the day had really started.

A flat tyre in race two and a big crash in race three only made thing worst for Lamont, the Bay of Plenty rider having his first outing in the British Motocross Championships after delays with his visa application had kept him back in New Zealand for the early part of the season.

In the end, he took his Maxxis Apico Suzuki RM-Z250 to 29-18-26, finishing the day 26th overall in a high-quality field of riders.

“The track was sand and quite deep in places,” said Lamont.

“They had groomed it so perfect but it didn’t stay like that for long. The weather was a bit off and on, raining, then sunny, then raining again.

“In practice and qualifying the track started to rough up and was very wet and heavy which drained the power from the bike.  It took me a while to get the track dialled in and, when I went to do a few fast laps for a qualifying time, I just couldn’t get a clear run.  I ended up qualifying in 25th which was not very good really; that meant 25th gate pick for the day so once again on the back foot a bit.

“For moto one I got a bad start getting around the corner in about 20th place; I started making my way up the field and then about five laps in I cross-rutted the sand berm through a sweeper and high-sided big time.

“When I got up I was in 32nd place and I rode the rest of the race with my bars bent and no goggles, I managed to get myself up to 29th.

“In race two I got another real bad start but snuck up the inside of quite a few riders to put myself in the top 20 after the first lap. I got up to 17th place and, at about 15 minutes through the race I got a flat rear tyre.  I carried on riding and managed to hang in there to finish in 18th.

“In race three the track was extremely rough. I have never ridden anything near this rough before. I got yet another bad start but after a couple of laps I was in 12th position.

“I passed two more riders, which put me in 10th and I was catching the group in front of me with five minutes plus two laps to go.  Then I hit a big hole, which kicked me over the bars; I got back up and finished the race in 26th place.

“It was another tough weekend and I ended it with a sore body, so it’s a quick recovery for round four of the British Masters this weekend at Silverstone.

“After Silverstone, I have two weeks off and we are going to do some serious start practice as I am having some real problems in this area and a bad start makes it very difficult to compete at this level.

“I am happy with my speed I just need more bike time to get stronger and gel with the bike better.  My fitness is not too bad although the third race was very tough due to the track getting so rough.”

Meanwhile, the crew from the Kiwi DBG race team sent us this report from the weekend … click HERE Team NZ DBG

© Main photo above by Stefan Paetow, eons netmedia