Hard Fast Racing
King of the North 2014
Hard fast racing, a pretty tricky (sometimes scary) supercross section with 3 doubles, riders pushing themselves to the limits and beyond, this was the order of the day at the King of the North Mini MX. Close to 100 mini riders gathered at the Davies property in Waitoki for the annual event organized by the North Harbour Club. It was an awesome day with good fields and talent in bucket loads. The track was mint and held up well in the dry conditions.
Jakob Bourne was the most successful of the Tauranga contingent with a 4th place in the MX50 6-8 Years class. Jakob thoroughly enjoyed his day in spite of a big off in the last of his 3 races. He became airborne over the huge, slightly lipped SX jump, took his feet off the pegs and sailed over the bars, badly winding himself in the landing process. In true racing spirit he got back going but his 5th to last place negated the two seconds Jakob had earned through hard and feisty riding in the previous races. Jakob finished the day just off the podium in 4th position.
The rider who beat Jakob (#51) in his two races and who won the class was the true King of the North 2014, Cole Davies # 17, who rode brilliantly on his home track creating lap times faster than those of the 65s. Both are pictured above.
Most of the Tauranga riders were competing in the large 65cc 9-11 class. There were no podium finishes but all the riders commented on what a great day it was - hard and competitive but just the place to test your metal and push yourself that extra little bit further. Race positions are important but sometimes they are less important than the confidence gained, skills acquired and improvement achieved when faced with a challenge.
#318 Madoc Dixon achieved his aim of making the top 10 with two 10th places and an 8th. Tackling the supercross section with the big jumps into corners was scary and difficult at first but he loved it. Madoc had a great day. He improved with each race and, with his best lap time, managed to shave 10 seconds off his qualifying time.
#60 Logan Simmonds did okay for the day. He may have been a little tentative at first but the event was a great learning curve. He kept on improving and, on the jumps in particular, was getting greater height and distance and doing better each time. Logan definitely showed his grit and determination when, after 4 wipeouts in race 2, he put his bruises and swollen knee back on the line for the third and final race.
#441 Sam Cooper also had a bad race 2 which affected his 9th and 13th finishes and gave him a 14th overall. Sam found the supercross section with the 3 doubles to be the trickiest part of the track. If you could do them, you gained time, big time, but rolling over them was safer for the less confident.
For #661 Luke Fraser-Brown, the “bad race” was the first race when he had a fall. However, once that was out of the way, he set about improving his race finishing positions, successfully moving his way up the ranks.
#53 Kristian Crane and #101 Jontae Carroll also raced in the 65cc 9-11 years class.
#52 Travis Crane rode his Peewee 50 in the Intro Trail 4-5 Years class. His 3/2/2 finishes gave him second place overall..
Congratulations to both riders and organizers alike for a fantastic day's racing.
These photos and others are on/from the MX Antix Facebook Album
Full results are up now MyLaps under cars!
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