Purvis Gets the Most Out of His Racing

PURVIS GETS THE MOST OUT OF HIS RACING

DECEMBER 30, 2016: With four wins and two runner-up finishes from six starts, over two days of racing, you could say that Maximus Purvis gets the most out of his sport.

During the senior day of racing at the big annual Whakatane Summercross on Tuesday, the 16-year-old Mangakino rider lined up on his Yamaha YZ250F in the Youth MX class and he finished the day a close second overall to national junior 14-16 years' 250cc class champion Trent Collins, of Cambridge.

He then backed up to also race his Yamaha YZ125 in the junior phase of competition the following day, this time roaring to a hat-trick of wins, with Taihape's Hayden Smith and Oparau's James Scott rounding out the podium.

"I didn't holeshot every race (in the junior racing on Wednesday), but I was in the front pretty quickly, within the first lap each time," said Purvis.

"I love this track because you can attack the banked corners so aggressively.

"I was faster on day one when I was riding the YZ250F but I dropped the bike twice in the first race and that's what cost me the overall.

"Lapped riders got in the way and I tucked the front end of the bike under myself while I was leading the race and, the real shame was, it was the white flag (final) lap too. I was gutted because then I would have won both days."

Purvis had finished runner-up to fellow Yamaha rider Wyatt Chase, from Taupo, in the at the 15-16 years' 125cc class at the junior nationals in Hawke's Bay in April and, with Chase now racing overseas, Purvis will be heavily favoured to take the No.1 spot when the next junior nationals are staged in Taranaki in April 2017.

Meanwhile, fellow Yamaha rider Trent Duggan was unlucky not to win the 12-15 years' 125cc class, a bad start in the final race allowing Australian visitor Adam Smerdon to capitalise and snatch the trophy away.

Mount Maunganui's Duggan had led the class standings before that fateful final race, the 14-year-old enjoying a sensational comeback after being forced to the sidelines with a broken leg six months earlier.

"I didn't come here expecting to win but this has certainly been a confidence boost for me leading up to my next big event, the annual New Zealand Motocross Grand Prix at Woodville (on January 28-29)," said Duggan.

"This is my first time here at Summercross on a 125cc bike too and I'll be racing the 15-16 years' 125cc class at the junior nationals."

Sunshine Coast rider Smerdon was in New Zealand with his 11-year-old brother Noah and their parents for a 10-week visit and they will shortly head to the United States where the two siblings will attempt to break into the top level of the sport there.

Noah Smerdon scored a hat-trick of wins to dominate the 11-12 years' 85cc class at Summercross

© Scoop Media