A father’s wise words seemed to be the key to success for Pukekohe’s Kurtis Lilly on Sunday.

The 19-year-old Lilly led a Husqvarna 1-2 to the top of the senior 125cc class at the annual two-day Waikato Motocross Championships, on the outskirts of Te Kuiti at the weekend, heading off multi-talented moto trials, motocross and enduro exponent Liam Draper (Husqvarna TC125), of Auckland.

Lilly (Husqvarna TC125) won the first of three senior 125cc races when the race leader Sean Kelly (Yamaha YZ125), of Te Kuiti, dropped his bike within sight of the finish, but then it was Lilly’s turn for a bit of misfortune.

Bad luck with the random start gate selection process meant he drew out wide positions for the next two races.

“I was on the far outside both times and that didn’t make things easy,” he shrugged.

Hawera racer Nick Hornby (Yamaha YZ125) won the next race ahead of Draper while Lilly battled his way through traffic to claim third position at the end.

This was enough to place Lilly at the top of the standings, three points ahead of Draper, with just one race to go.

Local rider Aaron King (Honda CR125), of Otorohanga, won the day’s final 125cc race while Lilly was locked in a fierce battle for second with Onewhereo’s Jayden Turnwald (BikesportNZ.com KTM) – and the final finish order was King, Turnwald and Lilly when the chequered flag came out.

With Draper finishing back in fifth, this was enough to give Lilly the outright class victory by a flattering seven points.

And, it was revealed afterwards, that Lilly was able to clinch the outright win was probably as much due to words of advice from his father, Howard, as it was to his own undoubted riding talent.

“Dad put out a message on my pit board that said ‘settle down’. I was trying pretty hard to put a pass on Turnwald and he just wanted me to back off, settle for third, take the points and the overall win. So that’s what I did.

“He’d seen where the other riders were on the track and knew that third place in my final race was good enough. I could have crashed trying too hard to get past Jayden and that would have ruined the day.”

Lilly’s performance on Sunday revealed him as a serious contender for 125cc class honours when the nationals kick off in Taranaki early next year and, he vows, he’ll be even faster and stronger by then.

“I’ve only had the Husqvarna for about three months now, but already I love it.

“I’ve been doing a lot of training lately and working a lot on my technique. My speed has picked up but there’s more to come.”

The next major event for Lilly is the annual Auckland Motocross Championships next month.

Lilly is supported Husqvarna New Zealand, Motomuck, Cycle Spot Group, Michael Vining Contractors and Workshop Graphics.

© Words and photo by Andy McGechan, www.BikesportNZ.com

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