TAUPO STILL TOP CLUB | Bikesportnz

The Taupo Motorcycle Club has done it again, proven itself to be the top motocross club in New Zealand.

The Taupo Motorcycle Club’s B Team – “we’re called the B team … just because, no real reason” – repeated the victory they enjoyed at the same event last season with another solid set of performances right through the grades at the Battle of the Clubs Motocross (BoCMX) at Taupo’s Digger McEwen Motorcycle Park on Saturday.

Taupo welcomed back former home-town boy Ben Townley, who now lives in Tauranga, and that was enough to give them the edge in this fourth annual BoCMX, the event a fundraiser to help send a New Zealand squad to the “Olympic Games of motocross”, the Motocross of Nations, in Germany in September.

With fewest points to count – riders gaining a point for the position in which they finish, with first worth one point and 15th counting for 15, for example – the six-rider Taupo B team accumulated an impressive 51 points, 37 points better than the runners-up, the six-rider squad from the Tokoroa Motorcycle Club (88 points). The Patetonga Motorcycle club finished third overall with 99 points.

Townley finished 2-2 in his two MX1 class outings, while his team-mates finished 3-3 (Kayne Lamont, MX2), DNF-23 (Bevan Weal, veterans), 3-2 (Hadleigh Knight, junior 250cc), 1-4 (Aaron Wiltshire, junior 125cc) and 8-9 (Wyatt Chase, junior 85cc).

Each team was able to discard their two worst scores – one from the junior ranks and one from the seniors – so that only 10 of their 12 scores were eventually to be counted.

“I’m so rapt for the team. It has been an awesome day and another great result for us,” said Taupo B team spokesman Bevan Weal.

“It’s a huge honour to be selected to represent your region for an even t like the Battle of the Clubs and, from a personal point of view, I was pretty nervous last night, before the event. I wasn’t able to sleep.

“I’m pretty much the team’s lowest-rated rider and I didn’t want to let anybody down. But everybody did their job and, with Nikita Knight as our manager, everything happened that needed to.

“The club did a great job to host this event again too with a lot of work done by Grant and Vicki Townley, Murray Knight, Stu Groombridge and Bevan Bartlett, to name a few. I really hope to see this event grow and continue. It’s great to be able to support sending the New Zealand team overseas in September.”

While Taupo, Tokoroa and Patetonga were the top clubs outright, the best individuals at the event were Tauranga Motorcycle Club rider Cody Cooper and Patetonga Motorcycle Club rider Josiah Natzke.

Both Cooper and Natzke scored 1-1 results in their respective MX1 and junior 250cc outings.

Also impressive on Saturday were Jayden Turnwald (Pukekohe), Benjamin Broad (Tokoroa), Cohen Chase (Tokoroa), Nathan Henderson (Rotorua), Benedict Hahn (Pukekohe), Rhys Carter (Tokoroa), Ethan Martens (Whangarei), Michael Phillips (Rotorua), Darryll King (Patetonga), Darren Capill (Bay of Plenty), Daryl Hurley (Taranaki), Peter Broxholme (Tauranga) and Brad Groombridge (Taupo).

Full story and more photos in your next issue of KIWI RIDER magazine.

Full results from the event are HERE. Thanks to Nicole at MX Timing Ltd.

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