Motocross: Clubs showdown looms for Taupo

Bay of Plenty's Ben Townley, the best-performed of the Kiwi riders in action at the Motocross of Nations in France last year. Photo / Andy McGechan, Bikesportnz

Rugby league has its State of Origin, and the motocross world has its own version of the "mate versus mate" showdown, the Battle of the Clubs.

This Saturday the Taupo Motorcycle Club will host the seventh annual Battle of the Clubs (BOTC) motocross, a fundraiser to assist New Zealand's three-rider national team to again enter the sport's "Olympic Games of motocross", the annual Motocross of Nations, this year being held in Italy, in September.

Team New Zealand finished a respectable eighth when the MXoN was staged in France last year, Bay of Plenty riders Ben Townley, Cody Cooper and Kayne Lamont impressing at the event at Ernee, near Rennes.

But it's expensive to send a team of three riders, their bikes, mechanics and everything they need to compete, to the other side of the world each year and, with this in mind, the Taupo club came up with a domestic equivalent of this great international event, the BOTC.

Racing this Saturday will be at the popular Digger McEwen Motorcycle Park, on the outskirts of Taupo.

The annual fundraiser initiative has provided a significant financial boost to the Team New Zealand campaign each year since the inaugural BOTC was held in 2010.

The BOTC fundraiser encourages some of the country's most talented motocross riders to put aside their traditional rivalries and brand allegiances and unite under provincial colours. The "State of Origin" format will be similar to what the Team New Zealand trio can expect when they line up in Italy against national teams from all around the world on the weekend of September 24-25.

Each of the national teams at the MXoN comprise just three riders - one on an MX2 (250cc) bike, one on an MX1 (450cc) bike and one on an open class bike - while the club-based teams at the BOTC will each comprise six competitors - three junior and three senior - who will race on 85cc, 125cc, 250cc and 450cc machines.

Each contestant rides twice, with the two worst results discarded so that only 10 of the results at the BOTC are counted in the final tally.