Harrisville Club Day in Pictures

Some came from afar. To name a few .... Haki Waller was up from Rotorua, Mitch Hillhorst was up from Taupo and now on a KTM350, Jonathan Martelli from Reporoa, Michael Purdon from Whangarei and Kieran Leigh was up from Cambridge but he was spectating having broken a femur. He has a month to go, nasty break and was rod'ded and secured top and bottom.

Just before Riders Briefing I counted 130 Seniors & Juniors and 27 Minis signed on. It was going to be a brilliantly sunny day and the sprinklers were still going at riders briefing. Harrisville is arguably one of the best Motocross facilities in the country.

From the large tree lined pit area (shade) to the Club’s ‘recycled’ Clubhouse that includes a large viewing deck, kitchen and full Medic facility. The track itself has a full watering system plus an electronic safety system of lights and sirens that are also monitored by flaggies on Club Days. The wash bay facilities are the best in the country. It’s also the biggest Club in the country with 575 members.

Out front of the Clubhouse is the Supercross section which rarely changes due to the topography, consisting of uphill and downhill jumps. Out the south/west side Track Manager Doug Smith has a variety of options. The bigger jumps such as the step-up have excellent viewing areas.

The buzz for this meet was that Jump #1 and #1½ were included. These two jumps are huge and even some spectators have difficulty watching due to the vertigo effect. #1 travels east/west but only the down ramp was being used. Riders then had a new steep drop-off that was quite technical, then came back west to tackle #1½. Across the top is 120 paces, so it’s big. 25% of riders clear it but most land on top and accelerate down the long steep face. That’s the face where James Ainsworth came to grief last year in a sickening crash that he walked away from.

Blair Brook’s pics shows what happens when one rider jumps it and the other does not. Vet riders #81 Richard Furze and #2 Tony Cooksley - Tony normally clears it but not on this occasion.

This sequence of pics, also from Blair shows how long it is.

Obviously with getting soo much air time those that can, put on a show.  No use 'scrubbing it' as it's too long.  There were two exponents of the whip and that was 15 year old Haki Waller and 21 year old Blake Gillard (22 on Tuesday 25th) 

I was in the tower on alarm/flaggie duty for the 3rd round of the day and managed to get this pic of Haki Waller.

... and Blake Gillard.

Blair Brooks caught Haki dead flat.

... and this frontal one of Blake. 

I was thinking that Evan Hood was in big trouble here but he landed it safely.

I also thought Haki was in trouble - check his left leg ?  So did the guy with his hands on his as my photo sequence shows. It all happens in an instant and they are gone. 

On with the racing. First race on his KX250F for #703 Brandon Tipene and he takes the Junior 125/250 holeshot. Better still he went on to win every race. After being on a KTM144 he loved the power of the 4-stroke. It looked strange seeing his dad Troy in a green shirt !! - he got 'heaps' all day.

MX1 holeshot to #97 Ollie Sharp on the Kiwi Rider YZ450F.  #5 is Sean Fogarty on the CMR KTM's KTM350F.  #15 is Blake Gillard on the TMR Group KTM350F.  These three chased each other all day. In Race 1 Gillard won by 36 seconds but the next two races were much closer.  In Race 2 Sharp at the bottom of #1½ and he clipped one of the barriers.  It pivoted in the middle and just as Gillard arrived it swung around and blocked him.  Funny to watch but Gillard did not think so. Sharp won the day on 72, Gillard 69 and by my reckoning Fogarty was 3rd but was not using a transponder. #809 is 'privateer' Aaron Cooksley.

Holeshot to Haki Waller. #734 is Jonathan Martelli.

Vets and Richard Furze leads Tony Cooksley.  There was nothing between these two all day and Furze won the day. Winston Biblow was 3rd.

All results can be found at:  http://www.mylaps.com/results/showevent.jsp?id=622709