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Kawasaki Press Release
Photo: Pukekohe's Katherine Prumm (left) with Kawasaki Team Green manager Mike Ramsey.
A great pic taken by NZ's top MX scribe.
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Kawasaki on the rise
SEPTEMBER 12, 2005: Kawasaki is on the way up.
After a series of disappointments at the opening round of the New Zealand Motocross Championships in Taupo last month, Team Green riders were itching to get their respective campaigns back on track at round two near Timaru on Sunday.
And that's exactly what happened as, across all the ranks, Kawasaki riders moved up.
Cambridge's Mike Cotter, Pukekohe's Katherine Prumm, Rotorua's Michael Phillips, Hamilton's Jesse Wiki and Tuakau’s Nathan Daly each sharpened their campaigns to a very sharp point on Sunday.
Perhaps best performed of the Team Green contingent was Prumm, the 17-year-old schoolgirl proving untouchable in the women's division as she raced to a hat-trick of convincing wins.
It was probably just business as usual for Kawasaki ace Prumm at the Timaru event, doubling as the opening round of the national women's championships as well as being round two for the men.
Prumm has been the dominant force in the women's side of the sport for the past two seasons and her three race wins on Sunday came as no real surprise.
But, just to add spice to her season and to find some stiffer competition, Prumm is also tackling the men in their grade too, although her campaign there has been blighted with a series of mishaps.
It was a tough day for her in the men's 125cc class on Sunday with Prumm ensnared in a first-turn pileup in race one, wiping her out of the points.
She was also caught in a bike tangle in race two, for another no-points result, but bounced back to finished 18th in her third men's race.
However, while Prumm was struggling, her Kawasaki team-mate Mike Cotter was thriving at the head of the field. Cotter snatched the lead from the start of the first two races and kept up the hot pace to finish fourth and sixth respectively. His next race was more difficult with the former national champion forced to fight back from a bad start before claiming eighth spot. Cotter has rocketed up the series standings to eighth overall, now just 18 points away from a podium finish.
In the 250cc class, Phillips and Wiki also savoured a change in luck. After a difficult afternoon in the sand of Taupo, Phillips and Wiki both came good on the rolling grassland of Timaru.
With three top-five finishes in Timaru, Phillips (Kawasaki KX250) made amends for his horror outing at Taupo. Phillips finished third overall on the day at Timaru, the teenager impressing as he traded blows with some of the sport's legends -- men such as Kiwi internationals Shayne King, Cody Cooper and Peter Broxholme.
Phillips' performance at Timaru has lifted him to eighth in the series standings.
Meanwhile, Hamilton youngster Wiki also got his 250cc campaign back on track at Timaru. The Kawasaki man finished 7-5-16 in his three 250cc class outings, good enough to lift him to 13th in the series standings.
Kawasaki Team Green manager Mike Ramsey said Wiki had been heading for another seventh placing in that third race but a crash put paid to that.
“Still, he picked himself up and clawed back a few placings. It showed great courage,” said Ramsey.
In the support class, the MNZ Cup competition, Kawasaki's Nathan Daly was again a strong performer, finishing 3-1-4 at Timaru to cement himself in at third in the series standings.
“A lot of hard work paid off today,” said Ramsey.
“Of course, I'm thrilled to bits. It is very inspiring stuff and we're all looking forward to the Taranaki event now.”
After Timaru, the national motocross series heads to New Plymouth on October 16 and wraps up at Rotorua on November 20.
