A podium finish in one of his races at the opening round of this year’s European 125cc Motocross Championships (EMX125) in Italy overnight has put Kiwi rider Josiah Natzke firmly on the leader-board.

Following in the tradition of former Kiwi Grand Prix stars such as Taranaki brothers Darryll and Shayne King, Motueka’s Josh Coppins and Taupo’s Ben Townley, the 16-year-old Waikato rider is on the way to putting New Zealand back on the European motocross map.

The two-time and current New Zealand senior 125cc champion battled through traffic in Italy at the weekend and finished seventh in the first of two races.

Vowing to “fix the mistakes”, the KTM rider then backed that up by finishing third in the next race, good enough for fifth overall for the GP.

“I qualified 16th in my group, and so I had 32nd gate pick, from way out on the outside. I pulled about a sixth place start and had a few little get-togethers with other riders and got knocked back some spots.

“Then I got back to seventh at the end of the race,” he explained.

His third placing in the second race demonstrated that he had eliminated his “mistakes” and he finished the day just two points off an overall podium position.

French rider Maxime Renaux leads the standings after this opening round with 44 points, while Danish rider Glen Meier (39 points), Spain’s Jorge Prado Garcia (36), Finland’s Miro Sihvonen (35) and Kiwi hero Natzke (34) are close behind.

Hamilton’s Natzke left for Europe immediately after taking his CMR Red Bull KTM 125 to successfully defend his national 125cc title in the 2015 New Zealand Motocross Championships in March, and he has been based in Belgium since then, taking up his position with the KTM Factory Juniors Team, led by Belgian 10-time world champion Stefan Everts.

Having acclimatised to his new winter home, Natzke was excited to be racing.

“It took me about a week, two weeks actually, to get back to going fast again and finding my feet,” Natzke said.

“Had a few little niggles that knocked me around a bit but got past those. I took a while to adapt to all the change over here, things like the different tracks, because there’s so much sand.

“There are lots of good contenders (for the EMX125 title) this year and I am one of them. Lots of good starters as well which makes my job harder but more exciting.”

Natzke isn’t one to really feel pressure, and with a motocross legend such as Everts running his team, everything is run smoothly and professionally.

“Stefan (Everts) is a good guy. He certainly knows his stuff and he doesn’t mess around,” Natzke said.

He definitely tells me if I am. I’ve been learning heaps off him, there’s always something new to learn.”

The next round of the EMX125 championships is set for Valkenswaard, in the Netherlands, on April 26.

The eight-round series then heads to Talavera, in Spain, on May 10, with rounds to follow in Great Britain (Matterley Basin, near Winchester, on May 24), France (Villars sous Ecot, May 31), Italy (Maggiora, June 14), Belgium (Lommel, August 2) and, finally, back in The Netherlands (at Assen on August 30).

© Words by Andy McGechan, www.BikesportNZ.com

© Photo by Ray Archer

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