Rotorua's Michael Phillips is on the move across the Tasman. The 19-year-old, a key member of Australian Teknik Racing Kawasaki, raced with the leaders at the seventh of 10 rounds in this year's Australian Motocross Championships, at Toowoomba, Queensland, on Sunday.
It was only bad luck that saw him slip
to seventh overall on the day, although it was still good enough to move him up to eighth overall in the Pro Lites class standings with three rounds remaining.
His Teknik Kawasaki team-mate, Nick Saunders, from Taupo, managed 14th overall and is now 13th in the series standings.
Phillips suffered an average start in the day's first Pro Lites race but pushed hard early on to quickly move up to third.
He held on to that spot, despite intense pressure from rivals in a class where the leading riders were all lapping three seconds off one another. He finished third, the first Kawasaki rider home.
Unfortunately for Saunders, he struck neutral out of the start gate but fought back to 12th by the finish.
Phillips was again looking strong in the second outing, in third position on lap three, but then disaster struck. He crashed heavily but quickly remounted his Kawasaki KX250F and recovered to engage in a thrilling chargeback. He finished 12th.
"I felt nice and strong on the bike. But I came out of a rut sideways as I went off a jump and it just flicked me over the bars," says Phillips.
"I got going again quickly and caught up a few places again but the main bunch had long gone. I was annoyed with myself."
Meanwhile, Saunders struggled in race two and managed just 15th place.
