Kawasaki Rider Scott Proves He’s One Tough Cookie

Kawasaki Rider Scott Proves He’s One Tough Cookie

OCTOBER 6, 2014: The phrase “when the going gets tough; the tough get going” could have been created especially with Oparau youngster James Scott in mind.

Motocross can be a brutal sport, but, when rain fell on the two-day North Island Junior Motocross Championships near Te Kuiti at the weekend, turning the usually pristine circuit into a quagmire, it became twice as demanding.

Competitors and their support crews who had arrived from the length and breadth of New Zealand for the big annual event could have been forgiven if they’d not even bothered to unpack and simply driven away.

But, among the many individuals who stayed on to brave the treacherous conditions, there was even one who decided he’d do twice as much racing as anyone else and plough ahead with tackling two classes ... Team Green Kawasaki rider James Scott.

Scott was outright winner of the 11-12 years’ 85cc class – making it a Kawasaki 1-2 with Te Awamutu’s Daniel White finishing runner-up on his KX85 bike – and Scott also managed to mark his debut appearance in the 12-14 years’ 125cc class, albeit only on a 100cc Kawasaki, by finishing a remarkable sixth overall.

The 100cc bike is just a bored-out 85cc bike,” Scott explained. “It was tough being down on engine capacity and I’m a lot smaller than some of the other riders in that class too, but I enjoyed the challenge.

The 12-year-old Scott finished 2-1-1 in his three 85cc class races and managed to post a 6-5-7 score-card in the 125cc division – he had been running as high as second in the final 125cc race of the weekend until he crashed on the final lap and had to settle for seventh.

Scott had a real fight on his hands to win the 85cc class as White, from Korakonui, near Te Awamutu, was level on points with Scott as they lined up for the third and final race.

“I knew I had to get the holeshot (in the final race) and, thankfully, that’s what I did,” said Scott.

“It was important I then just concentrated on riding my own race, staying upright and avoiding any incidents with lapped riders.”

It was a good strategy because White was closing in ... very fast indeed. White had started poorly, back in about 10th spot coming out of turn one, but had made up seven places within just three corners.

The race finished with White in second spot, his 1-2-2 score-card for the weekend putting him just three points short of matching Scott.

“He’s a tough rival, but we’re actually pretty good friends off the track,” said Scott.

“Anyone who rides a Kawasaki is part of the team really. We’re just one big family under the green tent. We had other Kawasaki riders staying with us at Oparau over the weekend and even had a couple of senior Kawasaki riders (Rotorua’s Scotty Canham and Cambridge’s former national senior champion Michael Cotter) giving us a hand at the track over the weekend.”

The New Zealand Junior Motocross Championships will be staged at the same venue in six months’ time, in April 2015, and fingers will be firmly crossed for better weather.

The other various class winners were:

14-16 years, 250cc: Aaron King (Otorohanga)

15-16 years, 125cc: Camden Butler (Masterton)

12-14 years, 125cc: Tony Cvitanovich (Feilding)

13-16 years, 85cc: Maximus Purvis (Mangakino)

8-10 years, 85cc: Brodie Connolly (Matamata)

8-11 years, 65cc: Seth Henson (Rongotea)

by Andy McGechan, www.BikesportNZ.com

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