Motocross: Championship lead sealed for Kane Lamont

Mangakino's Kayne Lamont (Husqvarna Red Bull TC250), on his way to winning the day in the opening round at Timaru. Photo/Bikesportnz.com

South Waikato's Kayne Lamont came within centimetres of making it a hat-trick of wins at the opening round of this season's New Zealand Motocross Championships near Timaru.

But, while slightly disappointed not to make it a clean sweep, the 20-year-old Husqvarna rider from Mangakino was still satisfied to leave the South Island with a three-point championship lead on Saturday in the hot MX2 (250cc) class.

With backing from WIL Sport Management and BikesportNZ.com, the Husqvarna Red Bull TC250 rider convincingly won the first two of his three MX2 class races at the challenging Pleasant Point circuit, on the outskirts of Timaru, but a slight miscalculation saw him clip a trackside marker while he was leading the day's third and final race, handing the advantage to his nearest rival, defending national MX2 champion Scott Columb (Altherm JCR Yamaha Racing YZ250).

That small mistake was just the sniff of a chance that Queenstown's Columb needed to blast past and take the lead and he quickly opened up a gap of several bike lengths.

But Lamont regrouped and closed to within a bike-length of Columb as the two riders approached the finish, Columb holding on for the narrow win.

"The day started well and continued to look good, until I had that little slip-up," said Lamont.

"I hit a tyre and got out of shape, then hit a trackside barrier. I was three seconds clear of Columb before that. "I was hoping to go away from here with a nine-point lead ... I'll just have to be happy with three.

"I have been working hard on my starts and that certainly worked better for me than at the Woodville GP [an event he also won, a fortnight earlier].

"Norm Cobb has done a brilliant job with my suspension and with helping out in the pits. He's been a great support. Now I'm looking forward to racing on my home track at Tokoroa in a couple of weeks."

Visiting Australian rider Jay Wilson took the third step on the MX2 podium on Saturday, 14 points behind Columb.

The four-round series heads to Tokoroa for round two on February 23. Round three follows in Pukekohe on March 9 before the series wraps up in Taupo on March 22.