MX1: CRF450R9

Tauranga’s Peter Broxholme showed a clean set of heals to the MX1 field in race one, pulling out a lead of up to seven seconds on his Honda CRF450R.

Broxholme battled for the whole of the twenty-five minute race with the youngest of the King brothers, Damien (Cambridge) on his Yamaha and Queenstown’s Scott Columb on his Suzuki. It looked pretty clear-cut half way through the race, but in normal King style, Damien put in a couple of hot laps after a settled start, to take some time back out of Broxy, but Broxholme responded posting his fastest lap on Lap 7 of the 11, to maintain the lead margin and still finished 5.631secs clear – an impressive performance.

Replacement ‘Opportunity rider’ Scotsman Barry Morris, stepped up via Motomart Honda in Wellington and brought Luke Burkhart’s Mx Team Honda Racing prepared CRF450R home 7th (in Luke’s injury absence).

MX2: CRF250R9

Reigning Champion Michael Phillips (Rotorua) lead race one of the MX2 class from start to finish on his Honda CRF250, ahead of Suzuki’s Daryl Hurley and Yamaha’s Darryll King. Fellow Team Honda Racing member Christchurch’s Justin McDonald had a tyre going flat from lap one, but still managed to lap within a second of the leaders. Unfortunately he stumbled on the penultimate lap, stalled his machine late in the race and ended up 25th, nursing home a dislocated jaw.

125cc & U21 125cc: CR125R7

In the New Under 21 class, racing combined with the 125cc-stroke class, we saw 16-year-old Cameron Dillon (Taupo) get the "holeshot" and lead for all but one lap (the last), when he was finally caught by reigning 125cc Champion, Damien King from Cambridge on his Yamaha. Having kept King at bay for 10 laps, trading a few rutts and overtakes in several corners over the last 3 laps with Dillon always coming out on top over the lap line each lap, Dillon finally succumbed to King in the last corner complex, but finishing second overall still meant first in the Under 21s, a fine performance among the muscle and experience of the seasoned adults.

"The boys have done well in leg one. As a team we’ve done the job today so far, perhaps caught a few by surprise – so let’s see how leg two goes," said Team manager Shayne King.

1,Peter Broxholme (Tauranga) Honda, 2 Damien King (Cambridge) Yamaha; 3 Scott Columb (Queenstown) Suzuki; 4, Darryll King (Hamilton) Yamaha; 5, Nick Saunders (Taupo) Kawasaki; 7, Barry Morris (Scotland) Honda.

1, Michael Phillips (Rotorua) Honda; 2, Daryl Hurly (Hawera) Suzuki; 3, Darryll King (Hamilton) Yamaha; 4, Mason Phillips (Te Puke) KTM; 5, Hamish Dobbyn (Warkworth) Yamaha; 25, Justin McDonald (Christchurch) Honda.

1,Damien King (Cambridge) Yamaha; 2, Cameron Dillon (Taupo) Honda; 3, Hayden McKay (Christchurch) Honda; 4 Matt Hunt (Gisborne) Suzuki; 5, Cameron Negus (Rotorua) Yamaha.