DIRT NEWS
NZ MOTOCROSS SCENE GETS GREEN LIGHT
by Andy McGechan
Frantic first-turn action such as this, from the 2019 New Zealand Junior Motocross Championships,
will hail a return to some normality on the Kiwi bike scene. Photo by Andy McGechan, BikesportNZ.com
I
t will now go from a famine to a feast for the
New Zealand motorcycling community after
news that multiple major national events will
be resurrected.
Restrictions have eased nationwide, following
a difficult 10-week period of health controls
and counter-measures due to the Coronavirus
COVID-19 pandemic, and Motorcycling New
Zealand (MNZ) motocross commissioner Ray
Broad is able to announce a fresh and exciting
new calendar for the rest of 2020 and
stretching on into the early part of 2021 as well.
In addition to rescheduling events postponed
during the lock-down, several new events are
also being offered by MNZ, the sport’s
governing body in New Zealand.
The annual New Zealand Junior Motocross
Championships had been due to run near
Tauranga on the weekend of April 18-19, but
that was put on ice due to COVID-19, causing
riders, their parents and supporters, race teams
and sponsors to cancel travel plans and motel
bookings. The junior nationals won’t be staged
in 2020, but Tauranga will be hosting them in
February 5-7 next year.
This is the weekend immediately following the
annual New Zealand Motocross Grand Prix at
Woodville (January 30-31, 2021) and this will
give South Island riders the cost-effective
option of staying on in the North Island for just
one week to ‘piggyback’ the junior nationals
onto their journey north.
90 KIWI RIDER