Motorsport: Lamont has eyes on top world title

Mangakino's Kayne Lamont

Mangakino's Kayne Lamont is hoping it is third time lucky as he gears up for another Motocross of Nations campaign in Europe in a few weeks.

The 22-year-old former New Zealand MX2 (250cc) champion and multi-time former national junior motocross champion joins his two teammates - Mount Maunganui's Cody Cooper and Tauranga's Ben Townley - in north-western France on the weekend of September 26-27. The trio are there to represent New Zealand at the 69th annual Motocross of Nations (MXoN) at the hilly track at Ernee, just inland from the D-Day landing beaches of World War II.

This year will be the third time Lamont has represented his country at the MXoN and he is anticipating that his previous experience will stand him in good stead this time around.

"I'm proud and thrilled to be selected again for the Motocross Nations team," said Lamont, who raced for the national squad in Belgium in 2012 and again in Germany in 2013.

"I thought, perhaps, my recent wrist injury would have put the selectors off but, I suppose, I've shown in the past few weeks that I'm almost back to 100 per cent again now." Lamont is currently based in the United Kingdom, where he is racing selected national-level meetings in preparation for the MXoN weekend.

The New Zealand team, co-managed this time around by Karaka's Howard Lilly and Palmerston North's Neil Ritchie, has as good a chance as any of winning, or at least, perhaps, repeating the Kiwi successes of 1998, 2001 and 2006, when the Kiwis finished third.

Cooper and Townley have also previously raced for New Zealand at the MXoN, so this year's line-up is one of the strongest to have been sent in recent years.

With generous support for this year's campaign from Kiwi companies WIL Sport Management and Workshop Graphics, and with massive fundraising by the Taupo Motorcycle Club, with their Battle of the Clubs motocross event, the Kiwis leave for France in a confident mood.