Auckland’s Ethan Martens likes being on the podium and that’s probably just as well because he twice ended up there at the weekend.

The Waitakere Yamaha ace won the MX2 class at the New Zealand TT Championships last season and he repeated the dose this time around as well, successfully defending his crown at the 2013 edition of the big two-day event, held on farmland near Kuratau, at the southern tip of Lake Taupo, on Saturday and Sunday.

TT racing is similar to motocross in that it’s run on a dirt track but, with the course set out on a flat paddock, without steep hills or jumps to slow the riders down, it also takes on some of the characteristics of road-racing and riders do reach some incredible speeds until the track cuts up rough.

No matter whether it was rough or smooth, Martens had the bikes to cope.

He raced a Yamaha YZ250 two-stroke to win the MX2 title and took a Yamaha YZ450F four-stroke to finish third overall in the MX1 class as well, behind former motocross world champion Ben Townley and former national TT champion Brad Groombridge, both men from nearby Taupo.

Martens’ MX2 victory wasn’t as straight-forward as he’d had liked, though, after he crashed in the first MX2 race of the weekend, although he fought back to salvage third place at the chequered flag.

However, it meant he’d dropped handful of points and was forced to play catch-up to fellow dual-class campaigner Groombridge in the races that followed.

But with a string of wins, Martens soon retook the points lead and eventually secured the title with a 3-1-1-1-1 score-line over his five MX2 races.

“I crashed in that first MX2 race because I underestimated how soft the berm in the corner was. But I battled back from fifth to end up third. Everything went well after that though and I won all the other races.

“This event is so much fun,” said the 21-year-old Martens.

“It’s wide open, fast and the track is so wide, there are plenty of opportunities to pass.

“The Yamaha YZ250 is such a great bike too. All you have to do is put gas in it.”

Martens said he will campaign the YZ450F in the MX1 class at the upcoming New Zealand Motocross Championships.

“I’m really looking forward to that too.”

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