“I managed to get great starts today and that
certainly helped. My neck feels fatigued, the
muscles tired, but I have three weeks now before
the next round and so I’m looking forward to
being even better for that event.
“We found some really good suspension settings
during the week and we just transferred the shock
absorber off my practice bike and onto my race
bike for Balclutha. That seemed to work really well.
“This has been a good start to my title defence. I
didn’t really expect to go so well,” he concluded.
It’s fair to say that it was a tough day of racing for
all the competitors and they were all standouts in
their own way.
Waitakere’s Ethan Martens (Kawasaki) backed up
his excellent third overall from Woodville to finish
the day fourth overall at Balclutha, the obvious
statement being “ignore this man at your peril”.
Hamilton’s Kayne Lamont (Yamaha) was a
revelation at Balclutha. He crashed heavily at
Woodville the week earlier and spent that night
in hospital with horrific bruising on his backside.
26 KIWI RIDER
That he even showed up at Balclutha was a
surprise, not to mention that he managed to
register a 5-4-16 score-card for the day. Lamont is
eighth overall after round one and those points
may prove extremely valuable as the series wears
on and his fitness improves.
Unfortunately, Cooper’s MX2 (250cc) class team-
mate, Taupo rider Wyatt Chase, had a mixed
weekend, finishing runner-up in the opening race
but also suffering a non-finish later in the day.
He is down in ninth overall position after round
one, but confident he will be able to move up
the rankings at the events that follow.
Meanwhile, it was 21-year-old Transdiesel Eni
Lubricants Kawasaki Racing Team rider Josiah
Natzke, from Mount Maunganui, who won the
day in the MX2 class.
He followed on from his post-Christmas win at
the big annual Whakatane Summercross by also
winning the overall at Balclutha.
Natzke won the first of three MX2 class races
at Balclutha, and then finished third, behind