The winning Cambridge Motorcycle Club team (from left) Jacob Steel, Cohen Chase, Daniel White, Dylan Westgate, Damien King and Brodie Connolly. Photo by Andy McGechan / BikesportNZ.com.
The Cambridge Motorcycle Club created history last weekend, becoming the first three-time winner of the annual Battle of the Clubs motocross event in Taupo.
It was the Cambridge riders’ third year in a row on the winner’s podium at the event, which is into its ninth running since the inaugural Battle of the Clubs (BOTC) in 2010.
The winning Cambridge Motorcycle Club team riders this year were Dylan Westgate (junior 85cc class), Brodie Connolly (junior 125cc), Daniel White (junior 250cc), Jacob Steel (MX2 class), Cohen Chase (MX1 class) and Damien King (veterans’ class).
Runners-up on Saturday were the six-rider squad representing the Mosgiel District Motorcycle Club, with the Tauranga Motorcycle Club team claiming the third podium spot.
The manager of the BOTC winning club team, Cambridge’s Loren Stockley, was naturally thrilled to see her team succeed again on Saturday.
“We knew we’d be among the frontrunners, but we certainly didn’t think that we could make it a three-peat like this. We produced consistent performances across all of the squad and that was the secret to our success,” she said.
The BOTC event is staged primarily to raise funds to assist in sending a New Zealand team to the annual Motocross of Nations (MXoN) event – the Olympic Games of motocross – this year to be held in the United States in October.
Six-rider teams representing 27 clubs from the length and breadth of New Zealand travelled to Taupo for Saturday’s BOTC event and, at the pre-race briefing, the naming rights sponsor for this year’s MXoN campaign was revealed, along with the naming of a squad of riders who are on the short-list to contest the MXoN in Buchanan, Michigan, on October 6-7.
Innovative building company Penny Homes was revealed as the MXoN team’s main sponsor this year and the six riders named in the short-list for Team New Zealand were: Mount Maunganui pair Cody Cooper and Rhys Carter, Massey’s Hamish Harwood, Christchurch’s Dylan Walsh and Taupo bothers Cohen and Wyatt Chase.
Motorcycling New Zealand general manager Virginia Henderson thanked the participating clubs and the host Taupo Motorcycle Club, for their support and also appreciated that event commentator Neil Ritchie and results and timing co-ordinator Nicole Bol had donated their time to the event.
