The latest edition of the New Zealand Motocross Championships straddled two years, kicking off in November 2025 and winding up at Rotorua on the last day of February 2026.
This senior series ended up with three repeat winners this year – Mangakino’s Maximus Purvis winning the premier MX1 silverware for the second consecutive season, Karaka’s Hayden Draper winning the MX2 title for the first time, after collecting the 125cc title last season, and Raetihi’s Karaitiana Horne again collecting the women’s crown – and one first-time senior champion in Levin’s Phoenix Van Dusshoten, who captured the senior 125cc title this season.
Three different bike brands shared those championship-winning honours – Purvis again riding a Yamaha in the MX1 class, Draper now on a Yamaha after winning the senior 125cc class title last year on a Husqvarna, Van Dusshoten on a GASGAS and Horne staying loyal to Kawasaki.
As a matter of fact, Van Dusshoten is no stranger to winning national motocross titles either, having won the junior 14-16 years’ 250cc title on a Honda in 2024.
Mangakino’s Maximus Purvis (Yamaha), who almost made it a clean sweep of wins this season until visiting Australian champion Kyle Webster (Honda) won the opening MX1 race at Rotorua. Photo by Andy McGechan, BikesportNZ.com
There were plenty of standouts throughout the series, with the winners obviously hogging the headlines, but there were others too who deserved recognition, with 125cc class No.2 Carson Carroll (Waipukurau), No.3 Arama Te Whetu (Tauranga) and No.4 Ben Costello (Rakaia), to name a few, and showing plenty of talent that will no doubt make them title favourites in years to come.
Bay of Plenty’s Madoc Dixon won the MX2 title last year on a KTM and switched to Kawasaki for the 2025-26 season.
The Tauranga man finished fourth overall this time around, behind fellow former New Zealand MX2 champion James Scott, the Yamaha man from Oparau rising to the runner-up position at the final round, and visiting Australian Caleb Ward (Husqvarna), who slipped back at Rotorua, had to settle for the final podium spot.
Purvis was challenged early on by fellow Kiwi international Josiah Natzke (Honda), but Purvis managed to string together a nine-race unbeaten run before the grand finale at Rotorua on Saturday.
That’s when visiting Australian MX1 class champion Kyle Webster (Honda) showed up.
The Honda man won the first of three MX1 races at Rotorua and there was a hint that an upset was on the cards, until Purvis restored his air of invincibility by winning the next two races and wrapped up the title with a race to spare.
Webster was never going to be a threat for the title anyway, despite his fabulous Motocross of Nations team winning honours, because the Rotorua event was only his second appearance in the domestic Kiwi competition.
He wasn’t at rounds one and two, which leads us to our next observation.
A clean sweep of three wins at Rotorua marked Courtney Duncan’s return to racing following a health scare. She’s planning on a return to Europe this coming women’s world championship season. Photo by Andy McGechan, BikesportNZ.com
The four-round series produced some great racing, even if few riders actually contested all four rounds.
Of 19 point-scorers in the MX1 class, just 11 of these riders showed up for all four rounds and this begs the question, is the calendar or the format working for the sport?
The MX2 class was slightly better, but still only 16 riders contested all rounds.
Only seven riders in the 125cc class were at all four rounds.
If a rider is “factory” supported and is assisted in travelling to Invercargill in November with his bike, spare parts and mechanic, show up with the same resources a week later at Balclutha, then rest up and prepare for back-to-back weekends three months later in Tauranga and Rotorua, it might be achievable.
But for the average amateur rider, it is financially very tough indeed to take time off work, then pay for the Cook Strait ferry, fuel, meals, accommodation, etc.
Meanwhile, the women lost their opening round when the New Zealand Motocross Grand Prix at Woodville was rained out back in late January, thus reducing it to a two-round affair for them (Tauranga and Rotorua only) this season.
The series was, however, spiced up for the women with four-time former world champion Courtney Duncan (Kawasaki) making a surprise racing appearance at Rotorua’s finale on Saturday.
The Otago racer, sidelined with a case of pericarditis until just a few weeks earlier, used the Rotorua event to continue her fight back to full health.
While Raetihi’s defending women’s champion Horne (Kawasaki) enjoyed a hat-trick of wins at Tauranga a week earlier, she was forced to settle for runner-up each time when unbeatable Duncan was on track at Rotorua.
With the Rotorua event being Duncan’s only appearance in the series, it meant Horne’s 1-1-1 scoreline at Tauranga, followed by her 2-2-2 scoreline at Rotorua, was easily enough for Horne to defend her title.
© Words and photos by Andy McGechan, BikesportNZ.com
Find BikesportNZ.com on FACEBOOK here
Karaka’s Hayden Draper (Yamaha) found himself in a close fight with visiting Australian Caleb Ward (Husqvarna) this season, but a 1-2-2 scoreline at Rotorua’s final round gave him the edge he needed to win the MX2 crown this time around. Photo by Andy McGechan, BikesportNZ.com
2025-26 NZMX CHAMPIONSHIP OVERALL STANDINGS:
MX1:
1st Maximus Purvis (Mangakino, Yamaha) 297 points
2nd Josiah Natzke (Hamilton, Honda) 249
3rd Jack Symon (Invercargill, Honda) 216
MX2:
1st Hayden Draper (Karaka, Yamaha) 253 points
2nd James Scott (Oparau, Yamaha) 245
3rd Caleb Ward (Australia, Husqvarna) 229
MX125:
1st Phoenix Van Dusshoten (Levin, GASGAS) 291 points
2nd Carson Carroll (Waipukurau, Yamaha) 265
3rd Arama Te Whetu (Tauranga, KTM) 221
Women:
1st Karaitiana Horne (Raetihi, Kawasaki) 141 points
2nd Amie Roberts (Hamilton, Yamaha) 117
3rd Hannah Perris (Whangarei, Husqvarna) 105
Levin’s Phoenix Van Dusshoten (GASGAS) this year added the senior 125cc title to the junior 250cc title he won in 2024. Photo by Andy McGechan, BikesportNZ.com