WHEN FASTEST DOES NOT ALWAYS MEAN FIRST
I
f a rider is only as good as his last race, then
Mangakino’s Kayne Lamont will be hoping
the momentum continues for him into 2018.
The Altherm JCR Yamaha Racing Team star
experienced mixed fortunes at the weekend’s
popular post-Christmas Whakatane
Summercross, at Matata, on December 29-
30, but he certainly finished it off with a bang,
winning the final MX1 class race of the weekend.
Unfortunately, that result was also coupled with a
non-finish in the fourth of the weekend’s five MX1
races – because of an incident for which he had
no control over – and so his final overall position
for the event was a disappointing fifth overall.
The event started brightly enough for the
24-year-old Yamaha star, Lamont finishing
3-3-2 in the first three MX1 races of the day.
But then disaster came in race four, Lamont
shunted from behind as he arrived at turn
one, just seconds after the start. His bike was
damaged and he was unable to unable to rejoin
the race. The points he lost at the moment
would prove crippling in the overall analysis.
“It was a tough track on which to
get through traffic,” said Lamont. “It
was single-line in a lot of places.
“I showed good speed all day and we have
learned a lot about setting up the bike,
so it’s not all bad news,” said Lamont.
“The new Yamaha computer app (application)
is awesome. We changed settings throughout
the day and it was great by race three. A couple
of clicks and it transformed the bike. Even a
novice could make good changes on their bike
and I’m sure that, if anyone wanted ‘Kayne
Lamont settings’, they could just contact us at
Altherm JCR Yamaha and we’d share them.”
On an encouraging note, Lamont recorded
the fastest lap time in all four races he
was able to finish, his best a blistering one
minute and 26.57 seconds coming as he
won race five ahead of Mount Maunganui
pair Rhys Carter and Cody Cooper.
That lap time was almost a full 10
seconds quicker than the fastest lap set
by Cooper in qualifying at the start of the
day, the track at that early stage possibly
the smoothest it would be all day.
Lamont had made his MX1 class debut a winning
one just two months earlier, celebrating at the
annual MX Fest event in Taupo in October when
he claimed the main trophy after a day-long
battle with reigning national MX1 Cooper.
With his MX1 class debut win at Taupo,
followed by his race win and impressive
lap times at Whakatane, Lamont could
feel confident as 2018 dawns.
Lamont hopes he can avoid trouble such
as the race four incident at Whakatane,
with the four-round 2018 senior New
Zealand Motocross Championships poised
to kick off in Taranaki in February.
Altherm JCR Yamaha Racing Team boss
Josh Coppins was philosophical about
Lamont’s performance, but also said there
was still “work that needs to be done”.
“Kayne showed good speed, but it’s frustrating
that we’re not getting the results we want,”
said Coppins. “A lot of promise is being shown,
but it hasn’t been fully delivered yet.”
Mangakino’s Kayne
Lamont (Altherm JCR
Yamaha YZ450F), on
his way to winning
the final race of
the weekend at the
annual Whakatane
Summercross
KIWI RIDER 85