Motorsport: Aces rev up for dirty business

Camo Keegan (front) and Scott Keegan, brothers from Stratford, should be among the leading riders this weekend. Photo / Bikesportnz.com

All roads lead to the southern tip of Lake Taupo this weekend.

A combination of icy grass, deep ruts and high speed should produce close and exciting dirt-bike racing near Turangi on Saturday and Sunday.

It was edge-of-the-seat racing at the New Zealand Motorcycle TT Championships near Turangi last season and it is expected to be more of the same when the bike racers hit a fresh new venue for the 2015 edition of the TT nationals.

TT racing is like superbike racing on soil instead of tarmac - the racing is off-road and the competitors use dirt bikes but unlike motocross there are no steep hills or jumps to slow things. So there should be close, exciting action on the flat, natural terrain course near Kuratau, at the southern tip of Lake Taupo.

The entry list includes the stars of motocross, cross-country, enduro, even road-racing, all-terrain vehicles (ATV) and super motard. They will hit eye-watering speeds as they chase glory at the 16th Bike Torque Yamaha New Zealand TT Championships.

The racing in the premier motorcycle category - the open class bikes - went right down to the wire last season before Taupo racer Brad Groombridge (Suzuki) finally won ahead of Waitakere's Ethan Martens (Yamaha).

Groombridge celebrated a double win by also taking the enduro class trophy last year. Motocross ace Groombridge is no stranger to winning in the flat-track environment and is looking forward to racing this weekend.

"It was an awesome weekend of racing last year, with some mixed track conditions and there was some heavy rain at times," Groombridge said.

"It was great fun riding in the enduro-bikes class, which was something a little bit different for me because I was coming up against riders I don't usually face.

"I was stoked to come away with two class wins."

Organised by the Taumarunui Motorcycle Club, the venue is on State Highway 41 and will be sign posted from the Kuratau Junction at SH41 and SH32. It is just seven kilometres away from the Kuratau School.