The podium is beckoning for Bay of Plenty pair Nick Saunders and Scott Canham this season.
After the dynamic Kawasaki duo's sensational performance at the Waikato Motocross Championships near Te Kuiti at the weekend, they are right on target to achieve podium results too when the New Zealand Motocross Championships kick off near Timaru in February.
Taupo's Saunders took his Fly Kawasaki New Zealand KX250F to the No.2 step on the podium at Te Kuiti, just behind former world and American champion Ben Townley (The Honda Shop Racing Team CRF250), also of Taupo, while Rotorua's Canham took his Patterson-O'Connor BikesportNZ.com Kawasaki KX250F to claim the No.3 step ... thus making it a Bay of Plenty clean sweep of the fiercely-fought MX2 (250cc) class.
Townley's ride was a rare one, since he officially retired from fulltime racing in March.
"I had heaps of fun today," said Canham. "It was very tight racing between first and sixth positions and a constant battle to finish in front. I even managed to put a pass on Townley in the day's second race but I couldn't hold him off and he got back past me again.