A motocross maelstrom will arrive on the outskirts of Hastings, New Zealand, on Saturday morning and the atmosphere is not expected to settle until late Sunday afternoon.
The climate of this season‰Ûªs New Zealand Motocross Championships has been extraordinarily hot and it is likely to be a scorcher when the third round of four in the series strikes the ZM Valley Motocross Park circuit on Valley Road, just off State Highway 50, this weekend.
The temperature seems balmy in the 125cc and women‰Ûªs standings, with Cambridge‰Ûªs Damien King (Yamaha) and Auckland‰Ûªs Katherine Prumm (Kawasaki) well in command of their respective classes, but it is squally and unpredictable in the 500cc and 250cc classes with any of half a dozen men capable of causing a meltdown.
In the 125cc class, former GP star and defending champion King (31) is 26 points clear of his nearest challenger, Christchurch Honda rider Justin McDonald. With 25 points on offer for a race win it means King already has an entire race up his sleeve and there are only six races remaining in the series, three of them at Hastings on Sunday.
Women‰Ûªs world champion Prumm (19) is not surprisingly too good for her rivals at home. She is unbeaten in the six women‰Ûªs races thus far and is 24 points ahead of Auckland‰Ûªs Nikki Scott (KTM).
In contrast, the 500cc and 250cc classes are wide open.
Mount Maunganui‰Ûªs Cody Cooper (Honda) leads the 500cc class by just six points from fellow Kiwi international Daryl Hurley (Suzuki) after Cooper won the series opener in Timaru in September and Hurley responded by winning the day at Rotorua‰Ûªs round two last month.
The 250cc class is the tightest of all with just 13 points between the top three riders ‰ÛÒ Hawera‰Ûªs Luke Burkhart (Suzuki), Rotorua‰Ûªs Michael Phillips (Kawasaki) and two-class ironman King.
The racing is expected to be particularly fierce in Hastings this weekend with time running out for some of the title hopefuls.
Qualifying sessions and one of the three women‰Ûªs class races will run Saturday, with the bulk of the programme reserved for Sunday.
Main Photo By: Andy McGechan
