Waikato’s Ashton Grey is a young man of many talents.

The 15-year-old from Cambridge has taken his new Blackwood BikesportNZ.com Yamaha YZ250F to race recently at national cross-country and enduro championship events and, in Taranaki on Saturday, he arrived to represent his St Peters’ College team at the North Island Secondary Schools Motocross Championships.

Grey finished 1-1-4 on Saturday and easily won the year 11 grade, making it a Yamaha 1-2 with Opunake High School’s Liam Read the runner-up.

Hawera High School motocross riders took the schools’ title overall at the weekend, the South Taranaki school winning ahead of Opunake High School, with Cambridge High School and St Peter’s College Cambridge having to settle for third equal.

“It was a pretty good day for me,” said Grey afterwards.

“I crashed in practice because the ground was pretty slippery. I used too much throttle. But I learned from that mistake and it didn’t happen again.

“I’ve only had the Yamaha YZ250F four-stroke bike for three months now, so I’ m still getting used to it, but I do love it. It seems so easy to ride.

“This weekend was only my fourth ride on the bike.

“It’s a versatile machine and I’ve raced it at enduro and cross-country events too. My next major event will be the first round of the new NZXC Cross-country Championships (which kick off near Tokoroa on June 14).”

Meanwhile, Hawera High School rider Ryan Gwynn dominated the year 13 competition in Taranaki on Saturday, with schoolmate Bradley Cole finishing third, just behind Grey’s elder brother Taylor Grey.

In the year 10 competition, Cambridge High Schools’ national junior No.2 Trent Collins, scored a hat-trick of wins while, in the year nine competition, Te Awamutu College rider Daniel White was dominant.

Dylan Ryan, from Matamata College, won the year 12 division and Opunake’s Taylar Rampton won the girls’ grade.

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

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