ELITE KIWI MOTOCROSS JUNIORS HEADING TO PUKEKOHE
CAPTION: Expect fast and furious action such as this when the gates drop for the 2025 New Zealand Junior Motocross Championships near Pukekohe this coming weekend. Photo by Andy McGechan, BikesportNZ.com
The future of Kiwi motocross will be on show this coming weekend when the 2025 KTM New Zealand Junior Motocross Championships fire up near Pukekohe.
The KTM-sponsored three-day event (April 11-13) will be run at the popular MR Motorcycles Raceway on Geraghty Maber Road, Harrisville, on the outskirts of Pukekohe.
With young rising Kiwi stars such as Waitoki’s Cole Davies, Tauranga’s Brodie Connolly, Mangakino’s Maximus Purvis and Tauranga’s Levi Townley all now making waves overseas, it’s not hard to see why this domestic championship event draws such talent and in such great numbers, especially with such bright international futures possibly on the horizon for some of them.
The aforementioned riders, plus world championship-level or international-calibre riders from the past – individuals such as brothers Darryll, Shayne and Damien King, Josh Coppins, Ben Townley, Cody Cooper, Scott Columb, Daryl Hurley, Josiah Natzke, Hamish Harwood and James Scott, to name a few – can all trace the start of their winning careers back to their junior motocross days.
The racing at the junior championships is, as always, expected to be fierce, as the cream of motocross talent aged between eight and 16 years and the elder riders, in particular, battle to clinch a national title before they turn 17 and are obliged to join the senior ranks, where racing and winning gets that much tougher.
Motorcycling New Zealand motocross co-commissioner Stu McCulloch, working alongside fellow commissioner Sonia Cloke, said the event will show that the sport at grassroots level was “in an extraordinarily healthy state” in New Zealand.
With racing near Pukekohe this weekend expected to be tight right through all the grades, it’s a tough event to predict and it is unlikely anything will be wrapped up until late on Sunday afternoon.
However, it will be worth watching out this weekend for Karaka’s Hayden Draper, Swannanoa’s Levi McMaster, Palmerston North’s Colton Whibley, Cambridge’s Nico Verhoeven, Taupo’s Connor Feather, Karapiro’s Jack Hazelden, Auckland’s Jack Ellingham, Te Awamutu’s Nixon Parkes, Hastings rider Harry Daly and Raetihi’s Karaitiana Horne, among others.
The event is supported by KTM New Zealand, HGW Performance, Powerpartsdepot, Ogio, Ward Demolition, Bare, Mag & Turbo, O’Neal, Motomuck, Lucas Oil Products, Absolutely Gas, Ebbett Pukekohe, Coops Coaching, Holy Moly, MR Motorcycles, Chesters Plumbing & Bathroom, Adrenalin Forest, Scoops Icecream, Broxy Rider Coaching, Hype Creative, McDonalds and Whitaker’s chocolate.
Credit: Words and photo by Andy McGechan, www.BikesportNZ.com
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Code No. MNZ-AM1105
