'Luke Burkhart off to Auckland Champs fresh after Honda Victory' Valley Champs on Sunday 8th February turned out to be an almost perfect days racing for Burkhart. He headed out for practice and the club had laid down a lot of water in anticipation of a super hot day ahead. Patetonga is hardpack so the mud in practice also helped to develop some nice ruts and bumps. "The CRF450R felt great in practice and my lap times were clearly faster" said Burkhart.

In the first moto Burkhart and his red zebra CRF450R got the holeshot and immediately went to work. Pushing hard for the first ten minutes he built up almost a 20 second lead on Darryl King and Groombridge taking the win.

Moto two and the sun was out with temperatures around 35 degrees. A second solid holeshot with Groombridge in tow, he stayed close for about a lap before Burkhart began to open up the gap every lap. The track was now starting to get slippery and hard. Almost a carbon copy of the first moto the CRF450R rider settled in and cruised to the finish winning with another big gap to second placed Groombridge.

The final moto of the day was another holeshot but drifting wide letting Groombridge up the inside. Not keen to stay behind him too long Burkhart took the lead before the end of the first lap and settled back into the rhythm. Luke adds, "All the moisture was gone from the track but my Pirellis were still hooking up. Again I sat comfortably ahead for the whole moto". Darryl King took second off Groombridge late in the race making it three wins for Burkhart and Honda with seconds and thirds split evenly between DK and Groombidge, the three sharing a clear gap to the rest of the field.

"My Honda is working amazing right now. The Ohlins suspension was bang on so I couldn't be happier. I have high hopes for the Auckland Champs" said Burkhart.

The Team Honda Red Riders will be at the Auckland Champs this weekend where the MX1 , MX2 and Juniors will be hotly contested by Burkhart, Broxholme, Macdonald and Campbell King on his CRF150R.