MINIMOTO: Last ones in but Bay newcomers lapping it up

ANENDRA SINGH
Shirtless men armed with spanners and sprockets worked away on their miniature bikes like bees on a sticky day at Roy's Hill, Fernhill, yesterday.
At the height of the hive-like activity during round two of the New Zealand MiniMoto Racing Club Championship Mark Tipping and his daughter, Dakoda, coolly sat on the bench munching sandwiches during the lunch break.
That wasn't the only reason the Tippings stood out in the pitstop of the home of the Hawke's Bay Karting Club track when SportToday approached them for an interview.
Nine-year-old Dakota was the only girl in the junior class of riders and the pair were first timers in the meeting.
A motorbike rider since he was 15 years old, Tipping scored a MiniMoto on an auction website just before Christmas.
"I had bought a pair of bike gloves so miniature bikes caught my interest. For $300 it's cheap and it can only get as expensive as you want it to be," said Tipping, who wanted to enjoy riding with his daughter but not on the road. They share the standard production machine.
When considering that he has lost a right index finger and has a "hole in his knee" from bike crashes on the road, it's easy to understand why the 35-year-old maintenance fitter engineer from Flaxmere prefers his Irongate pupil daughter to play it safe.
"It's a more controlled atmosphere here and the other riders are very considerate. I was young and very inexperienced when I had my injuries," he said.
As an 18-year-old, Tipping was oiling the chain on his trail bike when a mate opened throttle, creating a wave on the chain that hit his hand and pulled his finger into the back sprocket.
"It crushed my finger and they had to amputate it but all that hasn't put me off bikes," said Tipping, emphasising that since then he uses spray can to oil the chains. Dakoda, who loves the thrill of riding, has only spent little time riding in the carpark of Heretaunga Park Motor Inn.
For the record, she came a distant last in the field in her three outings yesterday but was unfazed and is determined to carry on.
"She was all keen and was the first one to put her helmet on but she's a little conservative this first time. She'll get better with time," Tippings said.
Dakoda agreed the fear of falling - and she hasn't had one yet- held her back although, like her confidence, she got faster with every race.
Elder sister Santana, 12, doesn't want a bar of it. Mum Trephine said: "She's like me. She doesn't mind watching it but that's as good as it gets for us."
In yesterday's junior classes, Mike and Liam Gibbons were the winners of the respective A and B sections.
Hastings rider James Baker slipped from second place to fourth in the B section, behind Mike Gibbons, Alex Norris and Alex Bowers.