Motocross: School MX riders prove their skill

Ticayla Manson of Rotokawa Primary School at the Schools MX Challenge. Photo / Danny Thompson/ DT Photography

About 450 young motocross riders from across the country have battled it out at a tournament in Rotorua.

The annual Schools MX Challenge took place at the Rotorua MX track, off State Highway 30, on Friday and Saturday.

Event organiser and host Mike Phillips said some of the riders came from the South Island.

The event had gone well.

"It went really smoothly. Everyone was really pleased.

"There was only one rider with a little injury, which is a good indicator," he said.

On Friday Feilding High School won the secondary schools competition, with Hauraki Plains College second and Te Puke High third.

Pukekawa Primary School claimed victory in the primary school event on Saturday, trailed by Te Kowhai Primary and Mangaroa Primary.

The tournament has been held at the track on the Phillips family farm under the Horohoro Bluffs near Ngakuru since 2004.

It grew out of the old Western Heights Schools MX Challenge, and has expanded over time. In the first year, held when Phillips, now 28, was in his last year of school, only about 70 riders took part.

A two-time former national champion, Phillips said his own early love of motocross meant his family had become accustomed to hundreds of young riders descending on the farm.

"They've got used to it since I started riding racing at 10 years old, and my younger brother is really into it as well. The farmhouse is on the other side of the road, so the rest of the family can keep their distance if they want."

There is still a working dairy farm on the land, but Phillips said the unusual bedfellows of motocross and milking did manage to co-exist.

"As long as I don't leave the gates open, it's okay."