Motocross elite turn out for King of the Mountain

Honda's Aaron Jane will be one of the top riders competing. Picture / Andy McGechan

Andy McGechan previews Taranaki's big weekend

Racing in the shadow of Mt Taranaki will be fierce this weekend as some of the nation's elite motocross riders challenge for the King of the Mountain title for 2015.

A slew of former and current national champions will arrive in the Taranaki region for the big annual Mach 1 Yamaha-sponsored King of the Mountain (KOM) motocross, all of them capable of challenging for the crown on Sunday.

What makes this year's KOM event even more significant is that the venue, the popular Barrett Rd Motorcycle Park on the outskirts of New Plymouth, will also be the setting for the opening round of the nationals on February 8.

With the big stand-alone New Zealand Motocross Grand Prix set for Woodville on January 24-25 and the start of the four-round national championship series less than a month away, Sunday's racing in Taranaki could be regarded as an ideal opportunity for the nation's elite to make a statement.

"With all these big events close together, the timing is perfect for riders this weekend. It will be a great opportunity for riders to establish a pecking order and to get a few sparks flying early in 2015," said Taranaki Motorcycle Club president Steve Holmes.

The entry list for Sunday's event reads like a Who's Who of New Zealand motocross, with riders coming from as far as Oamaru in the south, to Whangarei in the north, as well as from overseas, with British rider Rob Holyoake making the KOM his first hit-out on his 2015 tour.

Multiple former national motocross champion Darryll King, of Hamilton, returns to the region where he grew up and honed his skills before he headed overseas in the 1990s to tackle the world championship Grand Prix scene and he is entered in the MX1 (450cc) and veterans' classes.

The former Taranaki man will no doubt have his work cut out to match national MX1 champion Cody Cooper, fellow Kiwi internationals Rhys Carter (both of Mt Maunganui), Scott Columb (Queenstown), John Phillips (Rotorua) and Bjarne Frederiksen (Masterton), who are also primed to race in the premier MX1 class.

Former KOM winner and national MX1 No 3 Brad Groombridge has signalled his intention to make the trip down from his Taupo base and he will also rate among the favourites to win the MX1 class.

Hayden Kanters (Otorohanga), a previous winner of the junior King of the Mountain feature race, is now racing in the senior MX2 (250cc) ranks and he can expect a stern challenge from Hawkes Bay's Kieran Scheele - another rider with vast international experience - and a regular frontrunner in the class, Scott Canham (Rotorua).

The man who won the MX2 class at the annual Whakatane Summercross just after Christmas, Mike Phillips (Rotorua), heads the line-up but it should also be worth watching out for solid performances from local riders such as Stratford's Aaron Jane and New Plymouth brothers Blair and Callum Holdt.

Nick Hornby (Hawera) is another who could surprise, with Larry Blair (Inglewood), Joel Trappitt (New Plymouth), Ryan Gwynn and Bradley Cole of Patea, Hamish Oliver (Egmont Village) and Tayla Rampton (Opunake), to name just a few of the local heroes.

For the nation's motocross elite, the early weeks of summer can mean only one thing - lots of hard work. This is the time of year when national title contenders should start to see their weeks of training and testing begin to bear fruit, while, for others, lazy habits over winter may be starting to bite.

Questions are therefore now being asked.

Who has prepared best? Who is strongest? Who is fastest?

And who will rate among the favourites for a national title in 2015?

Perhaps those questions, and others, will be answered when the start gates drop at the KOM on Sunday.