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MARCH 6, 2007: A veteran and a youngster together showed age was no barrier when the North Island Cross-country Series kicked off near Pahiatua on Sunday.
Although 35-year-old Jason Moorfield (Kawasaki KXF250) may qualify as a veteran motorcycle rider these days, it didn’t stop him challenging for the lead and eventually coming within three minutes of winning the season opener.
Instead the winner was a 21-year-old from New Plymouth, Suzuki rider Renny Johnston, but Moorfield could feel well satisfied at his performance in the gruelling three-hour race – he was one of only two riders to complete seven of the 23-kilometre laps over the steep, rock-hard farmland course.
He finished second overall and looked as if he still had energy to burn while others had dropped by the wayside with cramp and fatigue, claiming the top spot in both the under-300 four-stroke and veteran’s categories.
Meanwhile, fellow Te Kauwhata teenager Luke Ramsey (Kawasaki KX125) finished fifth overall to head both the under-21 division and the under-200cc two-stroke category.
The 18-year-old Ramsey is now well on target to clinch both titles that so frustratingly eluded him last season.
Ramsey was winning the under-21 class last year but a slow pit stop cost him at the final round and he ended up third. He also finished fourth in the under-200cc two-stroke class last year, that title won by fellow Kawasaki man Scott Bregman.
Bregman (Maramarua) is sidelined with injury but expects to make a comeback to racing later in the three-round series.
Dannevirke’s Chris Smyth (Kawasaki KXF250) finished fourth overall in the veteran’s class at round one and Bombay’s Aaron Hodge (Kawasaki KX125) was third overall in the under-200cc two-stroke class at Pahiatua.
The two-hour junior cross-country race, staged earlier in the day was won by Pukekohe fifth-former Jason Price (Honda), the 15-year-old beating Raetihi’s Charles Alabaster (Yamaha) and Raglan’s Jason Dickey (Kawasaki) to the finish.
The 12-year-old Dickey, a year-eight (fourth form) pupil at Te Uku Primary School, easily won the 12-16 years’ 85cc class.
“I only crashed once,” he exclaimed afterwards. “I got cross-rutted and hit a fence, but I stayed up and just kept on going.”
