A bolt of lightning might have been the only way to stop Waikato rider Josiah Natzke in his tracks at the weekend.
It's almost certain that only a freak of nature could have slowed down the national MX2 (250cc class) number two from Hamilton as he registered five wins from five starts at the annual Whakatāne Summercross event near Matata on Sunday.
With Natzke finishing unbeaten at this traditional post-Christmas spectacular, it has surely rung a few warning bells for his MX2 class rivals ahead of the 2021 national championships due to start early in the new year.
The Bridgestone Kawasaki Racing Team star was a standout performer at Summercross this time around, although also impressive was his MX1 teammate Ethan Martens, who hole shot three of the big bike races, giving the green team an incredible total of eight hole shots from 10 races in the two premier classes.
However, Auckland's Martens had to settle for fourth overall in the MX1 class, as Hamilton's Kayne Lamont and Mount Maunganui's Cody Cooper shared all five MX1 race wins between them – Lamont winning the class narrowly from Cooper, with Mount Maunganui's Rhys Carter, Martens and Wairoa's Tommy Watts rounding out the top five.