Bay of Plenty riders in action at New Zealand Motocross Grand Prix

Taupō's Wyatt Chase is on target for a top finish in the nationals this season. Photo / Andy McGechan, BikesportNZ.com

If it's true that you're only as good as your last race, then Bay of Plenty's Wyatt Chase is very good indeed.

The 20-year-old from Taupō made his mark on the weekend's 59th New Zealand Motocross Grand Prix at Woodville, winning the final MX2 (250cc) class race and ending the weekend in second place, a perfect warm-up for the New Zealand Motocross Championships in Balclutha this Sunday.

Even while the track at Woodville was getting progressively rougher and more treacherous as the day wore on, Wyatt seemed to be getting faster with each excursion, taking his Honda CRF250 to register a 3-2-1 scorecard from his three outings on Sunday.

Those results were good enough to rank him overall runner-up in the class.

Wyatt was in spectacular form, particularly in winning his last race, and ended the weekend just three points behind the eventual class winner, Mangakino's Maximus Purvis, and a solid 11 points ahead of the man who had won the MX2 class at the Honda Whakatāne Summercross just after Christmas, Mount Maunganui's Josiah Natzke.

"I guess I saved my best until last at Woodville," Wyatt said.

"I had a pretty average start in the first race and had to fight through the pack. Second race wasn't so bad, but I had the lead straight away in the third race and was able to manage things from there.

"I've certainly showed that I have the pace to win races and now I just need to keep the ball rolling on to Balclutha. My fitness is great and the bike is fantastic, so there's no reason not to believe that I can win at Balclutha too."

His Honda teammate, defending Woodville champion and current national MX1 champion Cody Cooper, from Mount Maunganui, struggled to cope with his unsettling neck injury, sustained in a training session crash two weeks ago.

Cooper was frequently the fastest man out of the starting gate, but his best race result on Sunday was third and he had to settle for fourth overall in this premier grade, just ahead of fellow Honda star Hadleigh Knight, of Taupō.

Auckland's Hamish Harwood won the MX1 class, ahead of Australian Kirk Gibbs and Waitakere's Ethan Martens, although Cooper believes another week of recovery will see him line up at Balclutha in a much healthier condition.

Other class winners in the senior grades on Sunday were Tauranga's Brodie Connolly (senior 125cc class and Roddy Shirriffs Memorial Trophy winner); Australian Charli Cannon (women's class); New Plymouth's Mitch Rowe (Veterans); Palmerston North's James Galpin (River Race).

Class winners in the junior grades, raced on Saturday, were Auckland's Cobie Bourke (14-16 years' 250cc class); Tauranga's Brodie Connolly (15-16 years' 125cc class); Te Puke's Kyan Loomans (12-14 years' 125cc class); Invercargill's Jack Symon (14-16 years' 85cc class); Waitoki's Cole Davies (12-13 years' 85cc class); Invercargill's Seth Morrow (8-11 years' 85cc class); Tauranga's Levi Townley (8-11 years' 65cc class).