DIRT NEWS
in the world to have successfully stifled the virus
and the move to shut its borders to the rest of
the world is believed to be one of the reasons
why this has been possible.
“For our riders and support personnel to leave
the ‘New Zealand bubble’ at this time would
not be wise. There is also still some uncertainty
about events in Europe at the moment, with
the venue for the MXoN also being recently
changed,” said Broad.
New Zealand’s MXoN team manager, New
Plymouth’s former motocross world champion
Shayne King, said he “felt sad” that New
Zealand would not be competing this year.
“I totally understand it, however, and we
discussed this at length before coming to
our decision,” said King.
“We have some amazing depth of talent too
at the moment, with experienced riders such
as Cody Cooper (from Mount Maunganui)
and Hamish Harwood (from Auckland) still
available to race, along with young rising stars
such as Maximus Purvis (Mangakino) and
James Scott (Oparau).
“All I can say is that we are looking forward to
2021 and sending a strong team then. We have
some great talent here and it will be fantastic
when we can showcase this talent to the world
again next year.
“By taking a year’s break from this event, it will
enable us to devote more time to preparation
and build more resources for a solid campaign
in 2021.”
106 KIWI RIDER