KEY POINTS:
It's not often the father and trainer of a 10-time world champion comes knocking on your door bearing gifts. But if you're as good as 15-year-old motocross star Hamish Dobbyn, who rode at Mercer last weekend and won all the junior 250F races, people will come knocking.
Harry Everts, father of current and retired multiple world motocross champion from Belgium, Stefan Everts, has invited Dobbyn to attend the 2007 World Junior Motocross Championships at Sevlievo, Bulgaria, on August 12.
Dobbyn leaves mid-July and will spend a month before the event with Everts senior, who will train him leading up to the championships.
Everts was in New Zealand for the international meeting in Taupo, with his son Stefan, when he decided to hold a week-long coaching season which Dobbyn attended. Everts went back to Europe, only to return for another coaching season, and it was then the plan to take Dobbyn to Europe was hatched.
"Harry coached and trained Stefan to all his titles, so it's good to have him training and helping me," said Dobbyn.
Dobbyn has risen quickly in the junior ranks as he is a relatively late starter, going straight into juniors as a 10-year-old.
Sevlievo is the same track that hosted round eight of the MX1 world championships last week where fellow Kiwi Josh Coppins won his fifth Grand Prix of the year.
Motorcycling New Zealand are not sending an official New Zealand team, but they have been allocated eight places by the world governing body for riders to enter as privateers.
Dobbyn's class, 125/250cc, allows riders aged 15-18 to compete. If he gets through qualifying to make it as one of the 40 riders to compete for the championship, he's likely to be racing against riders who are also on the senior MX2 circuit.
"There's loads of riders trying to qualify on the Saturday, and after 30 minutes, the fastest 40 go through to the final on Sunday. My main goal is to qualify for the final. Last year the top New Zealand juniors went over and nobody qualified," said Dobbyn.
Dobbyn is proving he's getting faster with each race and occasionally is unbeatable across three classes, 85cc, 125cc, and 250cc. At the Auckland champs, Dobbyn was running in two classes and Darryll King was racing in the vets.
King bet Dobbyn he would wash his bike if Dobbyn got within four seconds of his lap times. In race one Dobbyn was two and a half seconds slower. By race two he was less than a second slower than King. In race three Dobbyn was nearly three seconds quicker than King.
He has also proven his pace across the ditch when he beat multiple 85cc, 125cc and 250cc Australian champion Tye Symonds.
Auckland firm SportsPro are no strangers to spotting talent as shown with their involvement over the years with Shane King, Ben Townley and Katherine Prumm, and have offered their support to Dobbyn.
Dobbyn's manager, Paul Williams, confirms that Dobbyn has been invited to travel to the US, in early 2008, to attend the famous Loretta Lynn's training ranch, where the AMA Amateur National Championships are held. The event is the shop window for the best up-and-coming riders, and Europe's top motocross teams send their scouts.
Before Dobbyn's European adventure, he has his sights set on clinching the Australian Rookies Championship, which he leads by 23 points going into the final round in July.
