It probably stuck in the throat a little bit when the Australians announced New Zealand’s Kayne Lamont as the country’s” Rookie of the Year” for 2012 and fellow Kiwi Josh Coppins was named “National Rider of the Year” for 2012.

Mangakino’s Lamont annihilated the Under-19 category at this season’s Australian Motocross Championships – winning the title by a massive 21 points over fellow KTM star Dylan Long and finishing 59 points ahead of third-ranked rider Dylan Leary, who was also riding a KTM.

Then, in addition to winning the main trophy after the final round in Queensland in August, he was surprised to just last week receive further recognition when he was named the Australian Moto-online Rookie of the Year as well.

In 27 races over nine rounds, BikesportNZ.com star Lamont took his CMR Red Bull KTM SX250 two-stroke bike to an impressive string of wins and he never finished below 10th position all season.

In a season full of highlights, Lamont was also chosen as the youngest one of the three riders to represent New Zealand at the big annual Motocross of Nations in Belgium in September.

Described at the Australian awards as “the next big thing to come out of New Zealand”, Lamont said he was “very surprised, but also very honoured” to accept the award.

“I was pretty sure I wouldn’t get one of the top awards in Australia. I hoped, but I would never presume.

“I’m pretty stoked to win, of course, and it’s a great reward for the hard work I put in.

“I want to thank so many people, my parents, the Cachia family in Australia, my mechanic Georgie Yeo, CMR’s Cannon Smith and Martin Collins, Jeff Leisk of KTM in Australia, Patrick Stafford of KTM in New Zealand, BikesportNZ.com, SockMasters, Philip Parry Contracting and Karl Mason Builder.”

In recent weeks, Lamont has won the MX1 class at the Auckland Motocross Championships and won the MX2 class at the Valley Motocross Championships at Patetonga, in the Thames Valley.

Meanwhile, Motueka’s Coppins was named National Rider of the Year in the same Australian Moto-online awards.

In what was his final season of professional racing, Kiwi GP veteran Coppins scraped through to the Australian MX1 Motocross Championship by just 11 points after a hard-fought season with Aussie rising star Todd Waters.

It was a fitting finale for the CDR Yamaha rider, snapping Jay Marmont’s national title string at four in a row.

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