Hawke’s Bay motocross ace Kieran Scheele is growing stronger with each outing in the United Kingdom, the Kiwi DBG Suzuki Team rider earning solid points against some very stiff opposition.

His latest event was to race at round six of the British Motocross Championships at Foxhill, near Swindon, at the weekend.

His team boss, former Hawke’s Bay man Rex Michau, was wanting a big weekend from his riders since there were going to be four team riders in action, with coach Jason Morris racing the vets class too.

Scheele managed 26th, 12th and 15th in his three MX1 outings, good enough for 17th overall on the day. He is ranked 29th in the series after six rounds.

“Foxhills had a full DBG line up and the team was pumped with track looking perfect Sunday morning,” said Scheele, who knew he would be up against it with top talent assembled to race the event, including former GP stars Martin Barr, Brad Anderson, Tom Church and Stephen Sword, to name a few.

“I got out there for practise and came to grips with the track in the first couple of laps with doing a triple that not to many where doing. I was feeling good. I was too excited though and put my hot lap in too early, before qualifying, and was three seconds short before the clock started.

“That was a bad mistake because I didn’t get a clear lap from there on with yellow flags going out and I was also getting held up by riders. I  was happy with my qualifying because I knew I could do a lot better than 25th.

“The first race wasn’t too bad. Having a 25th gate pick it usually a huge disadvantage to the first corner but I was alright and got around the corner mid pack.

“I was in 16th and into the second lap when I stalled my bike in a tight rut letting a lot of people by while I was trying to get it started.

“I got it started and had a lot of work to do but managed to catch back up in 27th or thereabouts. Then I stalled my bike again. I had made hard work for myself and was getting really tired pushing through the pack to get into 26th.

“For the second race I was determined to improve. I got the start I wanted, getting a good jump and in the top 15 and worked my way into 12th which I was happy about, knowing I can get up in there.

“I felt strong in the jumps and could gain ground on riders through them all day.

“The third race I was feeling a bit tied from the first two races. I got a good jump out of the gate and was in 16th for most of the moto then made a pass for 15th with four laps to go and just about made another pass on 14th but couldn’t push it anymore.

“I was pumped to finish the race in 15th, which gave me 17th overall for the day. I’m looking forward to getting more race fit and trying to get inside that top 10.”

© Photo by Stefan Paetow, eons netmedia