KIWI RIDER 10 2018 VOL.1 | Page 89

The 2018 New Zealand Mini Motocross Championships FUTURE HEROES WILL REVEAL THEMSELVES on't let the size of these racers fool you, their hearts are huge and their desire and determination perhaps even greater than that. Run by the Kapi-Mana Motorcycle Club and sponsored by Friday Homes and TSS Red Baron Motorcycles, the 2018 New Zealand Mini Motocross Championships will be held near the Kapiti Coast at the weekend, the tricky course inland on Bulls Run Road, Moonshine Valley, about halfway between Lower Hutt and Porirua, and it will test even the most talented of youngsters. The future of the sport will be on show with a packed programme to occupy riders throughout both Saturday and Sunday. Riders aged between four and 11 – and riding bikes with engine capacities anywhere between 50cc and 112cc – will bash handlebars in a series of high- intensity races and there is no doubt that some of the riders who feature will go on to carve national or even international careers for themselves in the future. Kapi Mana Motorcycle Club secretary Charles Colpman said he was impressed by the huge number of riders entered this year. "With 165 entries, it is the largest number lining up at a mini nationals in the past five years at least, certainly within my memory. It just shows what a healthy state the sport is in at the moment and I think the large numbers are due to the fact that a championship licence is no longer required and riders can race simply with club licences. “With 59 entries in the 9-11 years’ 65cc class, it means we will have to have qualifying sessions to whittle them down to 30 on the start gate. Riders that don’t make the cut will have their own support class races, so nobody misses out.” KIWI RIDER 89