Could Taupo teenager Cohen Chase be the next big thing in the road-racing world?
It's certainly a question that he intends to answer in the affirmative.
The young Bay of Plenty man has already made a name for himself in motocross racing - he and his brother Wyatt Chase havetaken their YZ85 Yamahas to the front end of the field at almost every dirt bike event they care to enter, but Cohen is one rider who wants to sample something more.
The 13-year-old was keen to jump codes and try his hand at road-racing.
And it was with little experience that the Year 8 student at Taupo Intermediate turned up at Manfeild recently to make his debut on tarmac, racing in the fourth round of six in the Victoria Motorcycle Club's Actrix Winter Series.
"After only two hours of practice at the Taupo [road-race] track just a month earlier, I was a little nervous about my first race start at Manfeild as I hadn't done a race start before," says Cohen.
"I had a fantastic time - I started the weekend with lap times of 1min 33sec and by the end of the race weekend I had improved by 10sec - clocking a best time of 1min 23.762sec."
He eventually finished 3-3-2 in his three 125GP class races, an outstanding debut performance.
"It's quite different from motocross - the body position in particular, corning and, of course, the surface we race on. The riders were all talking about how cold the track was in the morning and that there might not be much grip out there ... again very different from motocross, but I am looking forward to training in both disciplines.
"The people around the pits and track were very friendly and helping with advice for a first timer, especially Sloan Frost, who followed me around the track to give me some tips for later. He's a former motocross rider, so was stoked to know I rode motocross and that I was giving road-racing a try.
"I will do it again ... absolutely. It was awesome."
He now switches his focus back to motocross and the Yamaha YZ85 dirt bike as he crosses the Tasman this week to compete in the Australian Junior Motocross Championships next month in Murray Bridge, Adelaide (October 1-9).
