2013 New Zealand Supercross Championship
Wednesday 20 November: The 2013 Championship will kick off this weekend with Round 1 at Timaru Backflips SX track on Sunday 24th November and Round 2 at Winton on the 28th. Sharon Cox reports.
Hosted by South Canterbury Motorcycle Club in
conjunction with Backflips, the
![](http://moto-media.webdesign.net.nz/i/images/nov2013/nzsxseries2013.jpg)
2-round series has attracted talent from both
sides of the Tasman.
NZ’s top talent of Cody Cooper (Honda Shop), Rhys
Carter (Moto-City Suzuki), Justin McDonald (Honda), Jesse Donnelly (Kawasaki),
Peter Broxholme (Honda), Kieran Scheele (Kawasaki) and Micah McGoldrinck
(Honda) will line-up against Australia’s talented and recently crowned
Australia SX U19 Champion Jay Wilson (Yamaha) along with Matty Hayworth, Nick
Sutherland, Sam Duncanson, Tyler Darby and Sam Noonan.
Having completed a full season racing Australia MX
Nationals U19’s finishing 2nd behind NZ’s Hamish Harwood then
clinching Australia’s SX U19’s Title, Wilson is looking forward to competing in
NZ’s SX Series.
Supported by Josh Coppins Altherm JCR Yamaha Jay agrees: "Definitely the highlight of the year was winning U19 Supercross Championship
as the start of the year didn’t go to plan. I proved to myself and a lot of
people that I could get out of a hole as I never gave up. Yes, I’m excited to race in NZ with the support of
Josh. I have a lot of respect for the guy I feel he has helped me a lot this
year and never stopped believing in me."
Rhys Carter (Moto-City Suzuki) is certainly keen to
race Supercross again: "It will be good with Jay coming over to race, it makes
it more exciting for everyone and helps raise the profile of the sport."
With many in the industry speculating that NZ SX was
and is a non-event, the championship series entries prove otherwise.
NZ SX organiser Noel May says the series has come
about through communications with brands, Team Managers, riders and the commitment
of long time advocates promoting SX in NZ - Josh Coppins, Ben Townley, Scott Wilkins,
Neil Ritchie and Jim Cooper.
Noel May: "There have been a number of meetings
to get quality riders to compete in the SX Series so the event is exciting and
entertaining to sell to the public. We are taking small steps to build NZ SX Series
for the future. Post this season I would aim for all manufacturers to support,
that riders must race SX to be a part of brand teams. Furthermore, to have
MNZ come on board and make it mandatory that riders must have current SX
experience to be eligible for either MXoN and/or Oceania," states Noel.
Certainly, NZ SX 2 Round Series looks set to move the discipline forward
with odds on how many SX Championship Titles stay in NZ
or go across the ditch.
Words: Sharon Cox