A young Mangamaire boy is burning up the tracks in Australia, running up a commanding lead in the Australian Offroad Motorcycle Series going into rounds five and six.
Scott Sowry, son of dairy farmers Stu Sowry and Cindy Tyacke, is a Tararua College Year 11 student but crosses the Tasman topursue the sport he loves.
Sowry recently contested the third and fourth rounds of the series, which consists of 10 rounds on low-lying coastal farmland east of Melbourne.
Two weeks of rain had turned the grass sections into a swamp but that didn't worry him - "it was just like riding at home in winter".
Sowry's 85cc class started Saturday's two-hour cross-country only a minute behind the 125cc/250cc classes. Going into the first sweeping corner, he was in third place but took the lead on the next bend and never looked like losing it. Organisers cut the race to five laps and, by the end, he had a six-minute lead and had battled through the 125cc/250cc pack to finish third outright.
Sowry said he was "a little surprised to win by such a big margin".
The track was enclosed within a 50ha paddock and wound in and out of trees, with ruts and berms forming. On Sunday the track was cut in two for the sprints, with three sprints on each loop.
The 85cc bikes started on the B loop behind the Masters and Women Class.
Because Sowry had recorded the fastest lap time in his class the previous day his was the first 85cc bike to start.
"I was-sixth fastest outright and leading my class after the first three sprints. Then we changed to the A loop, which suited me as the [B] loop was getting really rough, and I set the third, second and then fastest lap time for the Masters/Clubman/Junior 85cc group."
With four wins from four rounds Sowry has a 20-point lead going into a two-day Enduro at Dungog.
