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Words & photos: Andy McGechan
ay of Plenty’s Rhys Carter is the new
king of Taranaki. The 28-year-old
3Twenty3 Kawasaki Racing Team
rider was in dazzling form as he
completely dominated the Mach
1 Yamaha-sponsored annual King
of the Mountain motocross near
New Plymouth on January 20-21.
Mount Maunganui’s Carter took
his Kawasaki KX450F to convincingly win all three
of his races in the premier MX1 class and he then
left no doubt about his superiority when he
also led from start to finish in winning the all-in
feature final, the last race of the two-day event.
Following some distance behind Carter in that
all-important feature race were current national
cross-country champion Brad Groombridge, from
Taupo, and former national motocross champion
Daryl Hurley, from Hawera, both riding Suzukis.
It isn’t the first time that Carter has won the
iconic Taranaki event, having won the King of
the Mountain (KoM) trophy also in 2015, but
Sunday’s performance perhaps had more
significance for Carter because this is the same
venue at which he will kick off his national
championship campaign in just two weeks’ time.