A large crowd turned out to watch a rare and thrilling display of freestyle motocross riding at the Kaitaia A&P Show on Saturday.
The two riders in action, 29-year-old Casey McManaway from Masterton and 20-year-old Aucklander Alex Bennett, put together a clinic of massive leaps and midair stuntwork before a packed grandstand and punters lining the fences of the main showground.
The two riders made around a dozen jumps during each of the three 10-minute sessions held throughout the afternoon, although the last run was cut short when a gentle drizzle made the re-entry ramp too greasy to risk continuing. The riders finished off their exhibition by perching atop the main ramp, saluting the crowd and disappearing in the smoke from a rowdy back-wheel burnout.
Public FMX displays have certainly been seen in the Far North in the past including the Peria rodeo, but this was surely the first time punters at the Kaitaia A&P Show had been treated to anything of the like and they came out in force to watch McManaway and Bennett perform in humid conditions, which were near overwhelming on Saturday.
The pair are team riders for Freestyle NZ, an outfit owned by Far North-born Trent Garton and Neil Dempsey. While Garton was, unfortunately, prevented from riding on the day due to injury, Dempsey proved an entertaining MC - to the extent he even sounded amazingly like the frontman for a certain rock band after yelling, "Scream for me, Kaitaia!" - as he incited the crowd to encourage the riders to even greater heights. Pointing to the tops of nearby trees, he reminded spectators that while it seemed 'still' at ground level, a slight breeze at the altitude the riders were reaching risked creating a potential for disaster.
During the show, Garton said he was as disappointed as anyone at being unable to perform before a home crowd, having dislocated his shoulder during a practice run last week: "Overcooked it, flat-landed and jarred my shoulder out."
He still managed to overlook the pain to help the team erect the impressive and innovative mobile ramp system he had designed. Of course he was pleased to be back on home ground and catch up with old friends and family, although the Northland visit meant the Freestyle NZ team riders could not take part in the major Farm Jam in Invercargill over the weekend.
The next gig for the Freestyle NZ crew will be the Northland Field Days at Dargaville this coming weekend before returning to their Palmerston North base, where Dempsey and Garton will continue their plans to host a major X Games-styled event this winter.
While inclement weather during a forgettable summer had interrupted several shows, some of the more memorable gigs included exhibitions at the 20th New Zealand Scout Jamboree in Fielding from late December to early January ("5000 kids going crazy," grinned Garton), as well as featuring on the major Monster Trucks circuit which toured the country earlier this year.
But back in Kaitaia, among those certainly happy to see the FMX riders in town were the organisers of the annual A&P show. One, Mac MacPherson, noted, "Haven't seen a crowd on the fence like that for five years."