Busy, Busy, Busy...It’s been a mental few weeks here at Chez DRD. Not that we’re complaining though, there’s nothing more we like than to be out and about around this beautiful country of ours riding and covering events, and September and October saw the DRD ute and van rack up a fair few kays.
First up, the Power Ranger went off to compete in the 12th annual Morley Six Hour, near Nelson. The big fella Iron-manned the race on a CRF450X (kindly supplied by the guys at Morley Motorcycle & Marine) and came back with a trophy (for third in class) while finishing a very creditable fifth overall. Not only was the young Mr Power blown away by the fast track (and the wild weather!) he got the full ‘rock star’ treatment from the Morley Massive. He’s now part Moo-Loo, part Southern Man and has taken to wearing his ug boots and Swannie around the office!
The first round of the National Motocross Champs at Pleasant Point near Timaru was next on the cards, and it was well worth the trip down. Chris Broadhead and his team from the South Canterbury club did a fantastic job of building a new track on the McKnight’s family farm. Race fans witnessed some great action and the jumps were spectacular. While the numbers in the new 125 class were a little down on expected, it was awesome to hear those two-strokes buzzin’ around tapped out to the max. Our MX Idol winner, Brady Thomson had some bike set-up issues in the afore mentioned class and missed qualifying by a fraction of a second, but he got it sorted enough to take the overall in the B support class and gain some valuable bike time for Round 2 at Rotorua.
While we were all at the nats, the news came through that Hamish Dobbyn had won the 125cc 13-15yrs class at the Aussie Junior nats and Cameron Dillion and Kieran Leigh did exceptionally well in the 85cc 14-16yrs class. Well done guys, it’s great to see the future of MX in New Zealand is looking bright.
The weekend before Round 2 of the motocross, myself and Chris headed to Hawkes Bay for the annual Suzuki Six Hour Challenge. The weather held out once again and another tough race ensued. The Power Ranger partnered up with Adrian Smith, and the pair got another solid result - unlike me and my riding partner Dondy! Chris and Adrian led the race on more than one occasion and were out in front by just under a minute at the start of the last lap. Alas the overall was not to be for Chris and Adrian, as Michael Phillips and Joel Burn took the win, but they still won their class and finished third overall. My race turned to custard at the start, when I stupidly knocked the Honda into gear on the start line and was left in a pile of roost trying to kick the two-fiddy into life. After a couple of consistently fast laps from Dondy and a reasonable second lap from me, on my third 36km loop I had a bit of an off just after the number 3 marker. Approaching a multi-rutted bog hole, I chose the far left option and nailed it, only to hit a steel culvert hidden in the depths of the mud and came to an abrupt halt. This stoppage saw me rubber manning it over the bars and head butting my mudguard before bouncing back on to my seat. The resulting bruises from the bars across my thighs made it real tough to stand up for any longer than a minute or two, which on the rough-as Raupunga track was a bit of a nightmare, as my woeful last lap time confirmed. But hey, it was another weekend’s riding and we had some fun, so be sure to check out next month’s issue for a full report.
Fast forward a week to Round 2 of the MX nats at Rotorua. The weather wasn’t on the side of motocross come race day and the track turned into a mud-fest, or rather rut fest! But full credit to the Rotorua club and the Phillips family, who not only got through the full race program, they actually finished early. Again, check out the December DRD for a full report.
The same weekend, also saw the Jinja Ninja and that boy Power race the first round of the AMPS GNCC series at Woodhill, which saw some good tracks and tight racing too, while our lovely designer Gemma took her man Chad to the most excellent Epic Events’ two-day Berm Buster trail ride near Taupo. So it was a fantastic (if busy) month for the DRD crew.
Finally, as we go print, the DRD Sprint Series is about to kick off at Maramarua, which we’re fizzing at the bung about! Hope to see you there….
Fraser
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