Groombridge Warms Up By Tormenting MX Boys

Taupo's Brad Groombridge is a multi-talented dirt bike racer – a current top level motocross rider, a former national enduro champion and he is also the reigning national cross-country champion – so it's just as well his motorcycles are versatile machines too.

The 27-year-old Groombridge is using this year's motocross nationals to help him prepare for his New Zealand Cross-country Championships title defence and the calendar could not have suited him any better.

The four-round motocross nationals kicked off in Taranaki at the weekend and the four-round cross-country nationals begin in Huntly this coming Saturday, the racing in New Plymouth giving him the perfect final workout ahead of his trip to Huntly.

The Taupo locksmith set himself an incredible task in Taranaki on Sunday, entering the MX1 class on the same Suzuki RM-Z450 that he will use to campaign the cross-country nationals and taking a Suzuki RM-Z250 to tackle the MX2 (250cc) class as well.

Groombridge finished a creditable seventh overall in the MX1 class on Sunday and stunned his rivals in the MX2 class by finishing the weekend in second spot overall.

Both the 26-rider MX1 class and the 39-rider MX2 class were brimming with international motocross talent and, perhaps most remarkably, Groombridge finished his weekend's MX2 class assault as overall runner-up to Kiwi international and defending national MX2 champion Hamish Harwood, but ahead of Australian former Grand Prix racer Jay Wilson.

Wilson was New Zealand MX2 champion the last time he raced here, in 2015, and he has just returned from a season racing the world championships in Europe.

The motocross season continues with round two in Rotorua in two weeks' time, but Groombridge has already re-focussed his attention towards defending his cross-country crown, starting with round one of that series near Huntly this coming weekend.

"My aim is to get a reasonable start and move forward from there. I expect I'll be as fast, if not faster, than last year. My fitness is very good at the moment," said Groombridge.

"I want to put some good points in the bank this weekend, so that it takes some of the pressure off me for the rest of the cross-country series."

Meanwhile, riding an identical Suzuki RM-Z250, Opunake's 2017 national women's champion Taylar Rampton not-surprisingly dominated round one of the inaugural Women's Cup on Sunday, the cup competition being run in conjunction with the first two rounds of the senior men's nationals.

Rampton registered a 1-1-2 score-card and ended the day with a three-point advantage over former national women's champion Letitia Alabaster (KTM), of Rotorua, with and another Rotorua rider, Mel Patterson (KTM), nine points further back in third-equal overall. Motueka's Roma Edwards (Yamaha) is level in points with Patterson, but missed out on a podium place because of the count-back rule.

After Sunday's opener, the motocross series heads to Rotorua for round two on February 25. Round three is set for Hawke's Bay on March 11, with the fourth and final round in Taupo on March 24.

After the opening round of the New Zealand Cross-country Championships near Huntly this Saturday, the series heads to Ormondville, in Central Hawke's Bay, for round two on March 18; round three near Taupo on April 8 and finally it all wraps up near Mosgiel on May 12.

It looks like Groombridge is going to have a busy few months of racing.

Words and photo by Andy McGechan, BikesportNZ.com