MotoX: Race teams throw down the gauntlet

Rangiora's Dylan Walsh, a new member of the CMR Red Bull KTM team this season. Pictures / Andy McGechan, BikesportNZ.com

Suzuki gears up for new motocross season, writes Andy McGechan

The new motocross season is about to burst into life and, behind the scenes, the Bel-Ray Pro Rider Suzuki Team has been busy putting strategies in place to ensure it once again features at the top of the sport in this country.

The Suzuki crew will mount a two-pronged attack on the MX1 class and has strengthened its claim for MX2 class honours as well.

National MX1 No 3 Brad Groombridge (Taupo) returns to compete on the Suzuki RM-Z450. From the start of the 2014-15 season, which kicks off with the MX Fest at Taupo over Labour Weekend, he will be joined in the big bike class by former MX2 (250cc) frontrunner Rhys Carter.

Carter (Mt Maunganui) stepped up from the Suzuki RM-Z250 to race in Australia earlier this season on the RM-Z450, so he is now well-attuned to the techniques required to handle the extra weight and awesome horsepower of the bigger bike.

Carter first raced the RM-Z450 when he represented New Zealand at the Motocross of Nations in Germany last September and impressed with his MX1 class results across the Tasman this season. Campbell King is also returning to the team's enclosure and he will again battle in the MX2 class, although the young man from Brighton will have a surprising new team-mate to share the spotlight - Logan Blackburn (Te Puke).

National 125cc No 3 Blackburn switches to Suzuki to pilot one of its potent 250cc four-stroke machines.

"I'm really looking forward to being a part of the Suzuki team and to racing the MX2 class," said the 20-year-old Blackburn.

"I've very excited to be racing the RM-Z250. Andrew Hardisty (the team manager) has been awesome and, even before the deal was done and the season was due to start, he has been helping me a lot.

"I really want to start fresh and get some good results for him and the team," said the BikesportNZ.com-backed rider.

The rival CMR Red Bull KTM Team named its new season line-up a couple of weeks ago.

Taupo's Brad Groombridge (Suzuki) is ready to pick up where he left off last season.

The KTM team excelled earlier this season, finishing 1-2 in the senior national 125cc class with Josiah Natzke (Hamilton) and Hadleigh Knight (Atiamuri) taking the top two spots on the podium when the series wrapped up in March, while Hamish Dobbyn (Dargaville) finished runner-up in the MX2 (250cc) class, behind Husqvarna BikesportNZ.com rider Kayne Lamont (Mangakino).

The rider line-up for 2015 will comprise Maximus Purvis (Mangakino, 85cc), Dylan Walsh (Rangiora, 125cc), Natzke (MX2, 250cc) and Hamish Harwood (Takaka, MX1, 450cc).

Natzke and Harwood will step up a grade for 2015, Natzke moving from the 125cc division to tackle the MX2 class and Harwood moving off the MX2 bike to climb aboard the powerful 450cc KTM as he now tackles the MX1 class.

New team member Walsh was a revelation at the KTM-sponsored New Zealand Junior Motocross Championships, held near Greymouth in April, proving to be untouchable over the weekend.

Walsh took his BikesportNZ.com-backed KTM125 to win all five races in the 15-16 years' 125cc class, winning the national title ahead of Ben Broad (Ngatea, Yamaha) and Nick Hornby (Hawera, Yamaha).

He joins the CMR Red Bull KTM squad with high hopes of repeating the senior 125cc success that Natzke provided for the team last season, at the age of 15. Rider line-ups for Honda, Yamaha, Husqvarna and Kawasaki are to be announced in the next few weeks.