EXTRA KIWI PRESENCE | Bikesportnz

Husqvarna’s factory and support riders are poised to attack in the Australian Motocross Championships, with New Zealand MX1 No.3 Brad Groombridge joining in as a fresh member of the squad for this weekend’s 9th and penultimate round at Gladstone in Central Queensland.

Impressive MX1 rookie Brock Winston has mutually parted ways with the Husqvarna factory team and will continue as a Husqvarna support rider for the final phase of the Monster Energy MX series.

Kiwi hero Groombridge, from Taupo, will step on to the factory team’s FC 450 to make it a dual Husqvarna presence in the premier class.

In the MX2 category, last-start a winner Luke Arbon is firmly establishing himself as one of the form riders of the series, but unfortunately he won’t be joined by multiple race winner Kayne Lamont, of New Zealand, who is out with a broken collarbone.

In the MXD class, Husqvarna factory team rider Egan Mastin posted a perfect scorecard last time out, but there’s no doubt he will have fellow Husqvarna TC 250 rider Nathan Crawford fighting him for the championship as it draws to a close.

“It’s already clear that Brad is just a normal easy-going Kiwi guy who goes with the flow, but he seems really pumped to be here,” said Husqvarna Motocross Racing Team manager Craig Anderson.

“Egan is ready to go, and between Raymond Terrace and here we’ve refined a few things and kept ticking over the things that we’ve always done. But he’s got to continue going there with the mindset to win races and not settle for less.”

Groombridge, who races for Suzuki in New Zealand, joins the Husqvarna effort this weekend with the blessing of Suzuki New Zealand.

“It’s always good to be able to come over to Australia and have a crack at racing over here. I rode the first two rounds, just taking it one round at a time, but I didn’t really get any good results at the second round so I went back home for our off-season and only got back into some motos and things like that in the last month or so. To get an opportunity to come over here and ride for Ando and Husqvarna is awesome.”

2014 standings after 8 of 10 rounds:

MX1 CLASS:

1. Matt Moss 653, 2. Kirk Gibbs 613, 3. Billy Mackenzie 571, 4. Adam Monea 552, 5. Jake Moss 479, 6. Kade Mosig 468, 7. Jacob Wright 460, 8. Hayden Mellross 426, 9. Sam Martin 391, 10. Brock Winston 375.

MX2 CLASS:

1. Luke Clout 548, 2. Hamish Harwood 520, 3. Luke Arbon 509, 4. Kale Makeham 485, 5. Jay Wilson 478, 6. Brenden Harrison 464, 7. Caleb Ward 441, 8. Kayne Lamont 395, 9. Errol Willis 372, 10. Riley Graham 281.

MXD (Under-19) CLASS:

1. Jed Beaton 459, 2. Egan Mastin 451, 3. Nathan Crawford 436, 4. Jack Simpson 431, 5. Wilson Todd 374, 6. Aaron Tanti 342, 7. Jayden Rykers 337, 8. Brock McLeary 309, 9. Kyle Webster 302, 10. Jett Anderson 220.

Find BikesportNZ.com on Facebook HERE

Comments are closed.