Rock Hopper Racing NZ is proud to report that 10-year-old rider Dylan Ball has just become the youngest Kiwi rider ever to win an Australian moto trials title.

He not only won the 7-13 year’s national title, but he also won round two of the New South Wales Moto Trials Championships in his class, without dropping any points.

A big future ahead looms for the youngster if he can maintain this sort of momentum into his senior career.

The Rock Hopper Racing NZ crew headed to Australia last month to tackle the high-profile Moto Trials events with Ball’s parents, Nick and Cheryl, and senior riders Carl Robson and Matt Foster.

They arrived in Sydney and then drove to Canberra to contest the NSW Championships and Masters Cup.

“The venue was situated in a huge motorcycle park. It was pretty much all man-made obstacles with rock tyres blocks,” said team boss Nick Ball.

“Dylan was itching to get on his bike after a good three-hour session, we parked up the bikes and checked out the section as the trial was at the same venue.

“The section looked good. Carl was in the Masters class, which was like our Intermediate line with the odd A Grade line. Matt was riding expert which was of a very high standard.

“Dylan was riding the junior line which is like a very easy clubmans’ line. He was a little disappointed, but, as he is only 10 years old, they wouldn’t let him ride a higher grade.

“The big day arrived and we headed out nice an early got the bikes prepped. There were close to 60 riders, I guess, nine in Dylan’s grade, nine in Carl’s and five in Matt’s.

“The section for Dylan was super easy which meant he had to really concentrate and not make any silly mistakes but he just smashed through them.”

Level on points with two other riders, a shoot-out was required to separate young Ball from his rivals, which the Kiwi won.

Meanwhile, further success came for Rock Hopper Racing NZ with Carl winning the NSW Masters title.

“Matt on the other hand was finding it a bit tricky, but still pulled of some of the best rides of the day coming away with a solid fifth.”

Then it was off to tackle the Australian Moto Trials Champs.

“We returned to Sydney and picked up Stef Downs, who was part of the Oceania Team and we headed to our next stop which was close to Pacific Park

“Saturday race day came and Dylan was a little nervous, but didn’t show it. There were 18 riders in Dylan’s grade (junior 7 to 13) and nine in Carl’s (masters), 10 in Matt’s (open solo) and 11 in the Stef’s (open women’s).

“Carl once again had a great ride, coming away with a solid second, 16 point behind the leader. The rest of the team rode well as well with Stef second, but Matt running towards the back of the pack as the section for him were big world round stuff.

“Day two, they made the section a bit tougher for Dylan’s grade, just to sort them out as they didn’t what another ride-off, which suited us.

On lap one Dylan went clean with some outstanding riding. By the time we got to section 10 on lap two we had caught up to the other riders still on their first lap.

“Dylan went on to become New Zealand’s youngest Australian title holder and the youngest to rider to be in an Oceania team. Carl also had a good result, coming third on count-back so third overall. Stef finished second and Matt eighth.”

Team Boss Rock Hopper Racing NZ is supported by Kapiti Beta, Dunlop, Valvoline, Tinakori Flooring, Autex Industry, Reid Flooring, Maycroft Construction and Clark and Co Realty.

© Photo by Andy McGechan, www.BikesportNZ.com

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