Hamish Harwood
concern himself with staying ahead of Bourke at this final round, and he did just that and it was enough to give him the title by nine points from Bourke. Smith finished third overall for the series in this MX2 class. Meanwhile, Watts was fourth for the series, but he did win the MX2 battle-within-a-battle for glory in the under-19 sub-category.
Madoc Dixon
125 & 85 / 150 In the chase for senior 125cc class honours, 15-year-old Draper notched a solid 3-3-2 scorecard at Rotorua to maintain his position at the top of the standings – although Auckland’ s Jack Ellingham( Yamaha) was on fire with a hat-trick of wins at Rotorua – and this was easily enough for Draper to clinch his first senior New Zealand crown. Ellingham settled for overall runner-up, while third best in the 125cc class was rising young star Delton Manson( KTM), from Rotorua. Draper had won the 12-13 years’ 85cc / 150cc class title in the 2022 Zealand junior motocross championships, before going on to win the younger of the two 200-250cc classes in Australia in September last year.
46 KIWI RIDER