Brothers battle for team spot

SHORTLIST: Rotorua brothers Mike (left) and John Phillips are on the shortlist for selection for the New Zealand team to head to the Motocross of Nations in France in September. PHOTO/BEN FRASER

Rotorua brothers Mike and John Phillips have been shortlisted for a New Zealand team to race at the Motocross of Nations - widely regarded as the "Olympic Games of motocross".

A three-rider Kiwi team will again be sent to compete at the annual Motocross of Nations (MXoN), this year set for north-western France on the weekend of September 26-27.

An initial shortlist of half a dozen leading candidates to form that team was recently named.

Motorcycling New Zealand has whittled down the flood of applicants to a shortlist of six riders: national MX1 champion Cody Cooper (Mount Maunganui), former national MX2 champion Kayne Lamont (Mangakino), national 125cc champion Josiah Natzke (Hamilton), former world and national champion Ben Townley (Tauranga) and talented Rotorua brothers Mike and John Phillips.

The final selection of the three riders who will eventually make the trip will be announced in the coming weeks.

Motorcycling New Zealand motocross commissioner Howard Lilly commented: "While three of these six men won't make the final cut, they remain just an injury away from being drafted in".

Lilly, motorcycle sports commentator Neil Ritchie, and Wellington motorcycle businessman Mike McLeodmade up the selection panel. McLeod will also be manager for New Zealand's team in France.

Cooper, Lamont, Townley and both Phillips brothers have previously raced for New Zealand at the MXoN. New Zealand has a proud tradition of featuring prominently at the MXoN.

New Zealand's representatives made it on to the podium in England in 1998, in Belgium in 2001 and in England again in 2006.

Team New Zealand failed to qualify among the top 20 countries at the MXoN when it was staged in Latvia last September and that means no travel assistance funds are being offered by the world's governing body for the Kiwis to attend this year's event in France.

The Taupo Motorcycle Club will again stage its popular Battle of the Clubs motocross event in two weeks' time (on June 27) which will help with fund-raising.

So involved are the Phillips brothers with motocross in Rotorua, the city's top track is based on their family farm near Ngakuru.