The entry list for Sunday's event is already reading like a "who's who" of New Zealand motocross, with riders coming from as far as Oamaru and Winton in the south, to Whangarei and Warkworth in the north, as well as from overseas, with British rider Rob Holyoak making the KOM his first hit-out on his 2015 tour.
Multi-time former national motocross champion Darryll King, of Hamilton, returns to the region where he grew up and honed his skills, before he headed overseas in the 1990s to tackle the world championship Grand Prix scene, and he is entered in the MX1 (450cc) and veterans' classes.
The former Taranaki man will have his work cut out to match national MX1 champion Cody Cooper, of Mount Maunganui, fellow Kiwi internationals Rhys Carter, of Mount Maunganui, Queenstown's Scott Columb, Rotorua's John Phillips and Masterton's Bjarne Frederiksen, who are also primed to race in the premier MX1 class.
Otorohanga's Hayden Kanters, a previous winner of the junior King of the Mountain feature race, is now racing in the senior MX2 (250cc) ranks and he can expect a stern challenge from Hawke's Bay's Kieran Scheele, another rider with vast international experience, and a regular frontrunner in the class, Rotorua's Canham.
The man who won the MX2 class at the annual Whakatane Summercross just after Christmas, Rotorua's Mike Phillips, heads the line-up but it should also be worth watching out for solid performances from local riders such as Stratford's Aaron Jane and New Plymouth brothers Blair and Callum Holdt.
Hawera's Nick Hornby is another who could surprise, along with Inglewood's Larry Blair, New Plymouth's Joel Trappitt, Patea pair Ryan Gwynn and Bradley Cole, Egmont Village rider Hamish Oliver and Opunake woman Taylar Rampton, to name just a few of the local heroes.
For the nation's motocross elite, the early weeks of summer can mean only one thing -- lots of hard work. This is the time of year when national title contenders should start to see their work begin to bear fruit.
Questions are therefore now being asked -- Who has prepared best? Who is strongest? Who is fastest?
Who will rate among the favourites for a national title in 2015?
Perhaps those questions, and others, will be answered after the start gates drop at the KOM on Sunday.
