Hawke's Bay Suzuki riders cleaned up at the national motocross cross-country championships at the weekend.
Sixteen-year-old Briar Riddell and brother’s Lance (16) and John O'Dea (18) each won their respective classes at this year's Suzuki New Zealand Cross-country Championships, which wound up with the fourth and final round near Ashhurst on Saturday.
They each rode bikes bought from the same Five Star Suzuki shop in Waipukurau, but the links don't end there because these riders are also next-door neighbours, all from Hawkston Road in Patoka.
Riddell (Suzuki RM125) won the battle for junior women's glory at Ashhurst, easily beating Tauranga's Drisana Sheely, despite having a "nightmare" final lap.
"I was getting pretty tired on that last lap and made a few mistakes," said Riddell.
"I crashed heaps of times but didn't hurt myself and managed to hang on for the (class) win."
She finished 21st overall in the 90-minute junior race.
"This is the first time I've done the nationals … I've only been riding for 18 months," she said. "I get great encouragement from John and Lance and go riding with them all the time."
Meanwhile, it was mission accomplished for Pahiatua's Adam Reeves, who won the main senior prize on Saturday, although not without pressure coming from Te Awamutu Suzuki ace Mark Penny.
Unfortunately for Penny, always a contender for the title after winning the second round of the series near Waipukurau a month earlier, he was also battling a serious head cold on Saturday and he could not muster the strength to challenge Reeves at the end.
Penny threatened early on but then slumped to an unaccustomed fifth on Saturday and was forced to settle for the No.2 spot for the championship.
Runner-up on Saturday was Pukekohe's Luke Ramsey, while third best was Hawke's Bay's John O'Dea (Suzuki RM250), these two young men fast making names for themselves as rising stars in the sport.
By finishing third on Saturday, his best finish of the series, it enabled the 18-year-old O'Dea to lock up the over-200cc two-stroke class title and also rise up to fifth outright for the championship.
"I broke my front brake lever on the first lap and that dropped me back to about 30th, so I was kind of playing catch-up all day. I've had the flu all week too, so I am very surprised by this result," said John O'Dea.
Defending champion Cam Smith (Suzuki RM-Z450), of Marton, continued his disappointing roller-coaster season, finishing the day only 39th at Ashhurst as he suffered problems beyond his control.
"I had a flat tyre on the first lap and lost a lot of time getting that changed in the pits," said Smith. "It was just another one of those days where nothing goes right.
"I'll just have to come back stronger next year."
O'Dea's younger brother, Lance (Suzuki RM-Z250), won the junior championship outright and the over-200cc four-stroke class title as well when he led Saturday's junior race virtually from start to finish.
The best performed junior 85cc rider was Rotorua's Cameron Vaughan (Suzuki RM85), winning the title ahead of Hawke's Bay pair Stacy Smyth, of Dannevirke, and Scott Sowry, of Pahiatua.
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