New Zealand motocrosser Luke Burkhart reports in from America.

“Since my first race back here in America at Mt Morris (round four of the AMA nationals) things have been steadily improving for me as expected.

“The race at Mt Morris was a good learning day for me to just see how everything is done and get a bit of a gauge on where I need to be once I got my bike fitness back on track.

“Straight after that race we went to work with loads of riding and training. We decided not to ride the next round of the nationals as it was in Colorado on the other side of the country and we simply could not afford to trek all the way back across.

“This meant we had a three-week break before our next big race at Red Bud. For the last month we were lucky enough to get hooked up with a trainer named Chris Panella through another guy who we have been riding with a lot during the week in Ohio.

“The gym we have been training at is in a huge High School and it is a sweet facility considering it’s for school kids! We have been doing loads of new training stuff with strength training and lots of rubber band resistance workouts called Jump Stretch. I am definitely noticing the difference in my flexibility and recovery from training.

“I have also recently taken delivery of a set of TransformX handlebars which we use for everything from push ups and chin ups to hooking it onto a rowing machine. It is designed to convert all these types of training to be specifically like riding the bike. I have not been using it for long but I know for sure that it’s a must have piece of training equipment and I would recommend them to anyone, big thanks to John Appel from TransformX.co.nz for hooking that up for me.

“Since we had the past two weekend off with the nationals we decided to hunt around for some state races to do close to us. The first weekend off we did a race that was a lot like a Taupo Winter Series type race at a track call MapleShade. I had a really solid days racing and holeshot and won both motos comfortably, although the races were short it was great for my confidence and definitely showed the progress I am making since the injury.

“The following week was more of the same with training sessions and solid days riding with motos and sprints.

“The weekend just been was another race day for us but this one was quite a bit bigger, it was called the Ohio International. The track was super well prepared and there were a lot more riders there. Once again I gelled with the track really quickly against riders who had visibly ridden a lot of laps on that track.

“Again my starts were flawless all day and two holeshots from two races made my day a whole lot easier. The first moto went smoothly and I won pretty comfortably and steadily got faster. Before the second moto the rain bucketed down for about an hour and flooded the place, the organisers got stuck in once the rain stopped and ripped the whole track with the deep discs. By the time we raced our second moto the track was still a bit muddy but loads of fun.

“I pulled another holeshot and charged hard pulling a big gap over the race for another easy win. (Fellow Kiwi) Justin McDonald rode a good second race and finished second. So over the last two weekends I have won four motos from four starts, which is great.

“I have made a lot of progress since my return from injury and Red Bud is now just five days away, for me this feels like my first big race back because Mt Morris was definitely a race that no one expected me to be at.

“Red Bud is the one track in America that I have watched on TV my whole life and really wanted to ride. We are now scheduled to fly home to New Zealand on August 1. Between now and then we will race four more races. Red Bud this weekend then a big Ohio Pro Race the following week, we then head to Millville and Washougal for the final two National rounds of our trip.

“Wish me luck for the weekend and I will keep you all posted next week with how it all went for me.”

Photo by Andy McGechan, www.BikesportNZ.com