DIRT NEWS
Enduro Championships – Scott ’ s best result was winning one of the two days outright at the Marlborough round of the series in April – and he eventually settled for fourth overall in the series after disaster struck for him when a rock bent his brake rotor and scored a nonfinish at the final round . Undeterred and the bike repaired , he then rode the same versatile 450cc dirt bike to win the opening round of the popular Dirt Guide Cross-country Series near Tokoroa in late June . And little did he know but , exactly a week later , he ’ d be boarding a flight to Bergamo , in Italy , freshly signed up to race world championship enduro events in Europe . The Off-road Manager for Honda Motor Europe , Northern Ireland former motocross GP world championship racer Gordon Crockard , had been keeping an eye on Scott ’ s career and , when one of its star Enduro World Championship riders went down with injury , he quickly picked up the phone and made a call to Scott ’ s home in New Zealand . Unfortunately for the high-profile Italianbased Honda RedMoto World Enduro Team , their French rider Theo Espinasse crashed during a training session and fractured his collarbone , sidelining him from the Enduro GP World Championships for the short-term at least . And it ’ s his position in the team that Kiwi hero Scott will now fill for at least two upcoming GPs . Scott already has experienced racing in Europe , tasting success in the Honda 150 Cup motocross competition in 2016 , and that ’ s where Crockard first got to know the young Kiwi . Scott also competed in the European 125cc Motocross Championships ( EMX125 ) in 2018 , his best result a fourth overall at the French Grand Prix , and he was the best-performing Kiwi at the annual Junior Motocross World Championships in Australia that same year , finishing the weekend with a world ranking of No . 7 . “ This Enduro World Championship deal is sort of a last-minute thing ,” said Scott . “ They called up dad and asked if I was available . Gordon [ Crockard ] knew about me from my previous time in Europe . “ I ’ m very excited . It ’ s a long way from Oparau to Italy . I ’ m a bit nervous , but I ’ ve done it before . “ I ’ m not too worried about the COVID-19 pandemic . I ’ ll be very careful over there . I hope I can get a quarantine spot to get back into the country when it ’ s all over .” Scott will ride in the Honda RedMoto World Enduro Team alongside experienced Finnish enduro rider Roni Kytonen , the pair of them competing on Honda CRF250RX bikes in the junior ( EJ1 ) class in the world championships . Kytonen finished fourth overall in his class at the most recent round in Italy . There is a short break following the Italian round , the competition resuming with backto-back rounds , beginning with the GP of Estonia on July 16-18 , and followed by the GP of Sweden on July 22-24 , both events hopefully a showcase for our Kiwi hero .
104 KIWI RIDER