have plenty of international racing experience.
Purvis raced his way to overall runner-up in the
MX Development (under-19) class in Australia
earlier this year and Walsh has been racing the
MX2 class on the Grand Prix scene in Europe.
Chase raced several rounds of the European
125cc Championships in 2016, in the United
Kingdom, Italy and Belgium.
Chase confirms his build-up to the MXoN has
been going well. He represented the North
King Country Motorcycle Club when the annual
MXoN fundraiser event – The Battle of the Clubs
Motocross – was held at Taupo in June and he
won the MX1 class battles that day. And there
was talk that day that perhaps Chase might
be the ideal replacement for national MX1
motocross champion Cody Cooper, a Team New
Zealand regular for the MXoN, with the Mount
Maunganui-based Honda rider unavailable for
the MXoN event this season, and that’s exactly as
it’s panned out.
Chase proved unbeatable in two classes at
the annual Mercer Sand Prix, north of Huntly,
a few weeks ago, taking his Honda CRF250R
to dominate the MX2 class, finishing ahead of
Tauranga’s Brodie Connolly, and he then also
took a Honda CRF450R to clean sweep the MX1
class, finishing ahead of Hamilton’s three-time
former MXoN team rider Kayne Lamont.
“I rode both classes at Mercer just to give myself
more of a work-out,” Chase explained. “The more
time I spend on a bike at the moment, the better
for my fitness. I’ve been putting in the hard work
and I’m feeling confident. I have been riding in
sand as much as I can and I will be heading down
to Taikorea (near Himatangi) for some sand
training sessions soon too.
“I feel the experience I have had racing in sand
over the years, plus my overseas experience too
will certainly help, but I’m not underestimating
how tough it will be at the MXoN.”
New Plymouth’s Shayne King will again co-
manage Team New Zealand at the MXoN, sharing
the managerial duties with Taupo’s Bevan Weal.
King was the 1996 500cc motocross world
champion and a rider for New Zealand at the
MXoN many times in the past. He said the race
track at Assen would be “brutal” and Kiwi riders
should be under no illusions about how tough it
will be.
“Every year it’s the toughest motocross event
in the world, but the circuit at Assen will be
particularly challenging. It’s very deep sand,
like nothing New Zealand riders will have
encountered before.”
New Zealand has a remarkable record at this
most prestigious of motocross events, which
typically attracts three-rider teams from 40
countries, the Kiwis having finished third on the
podium three separate times – in England in
1998, in Belgium in 2001 and in England again in
2006 – as well as finishing fourth in Belgium in
2003, fourth in France in 2005 and fifth in Austria
in 1993.
In all, a Team New Zealand trio has finished
among the top 10 on 14 memorable occasions.
New Zealand finished 17th overall when the
MXoN was held in the United States last year.
All three of the 2018 New Zealand team – Cody
Cooper, Rhys Carter and Hamish Harwood –
were unavailable this year because of injuries or
for personal reasons.
KIWI RIDER 93