The final round of the Victorian Junior Motocross Championships were held at ‘Monza Park’ Ballarat over the weekend in blustery, freezing cold conditions. Saturday’s racing got underway with a very muddy circuit after plenty of rain had fallen during the night prior! However the track quickly dried up and provided both riders and spectators alike the perfect platform to crown the State Champions for 2018.
In the Junior Women’s category it was BCP Pro Circuit Honda Development Team rider Tanesha Harnett who completed the perfect series campaign, winning her three races on Saturday by a substantial margin to take out the Championship for her third year straight. Her three race wins at Ballarat made it 12 wins from 12 starts throughout the four rounds.
“It’s great to get our third championship in a row down here in Victoria,” said Harnett.
“We’ve had a really good run down here but we’ve never been able to string together an unbeaten series so I’m really happy that we were able to do that for 2018.”
On Sunday the A grade 250cc class took centre stage and it was Harnett’s team mate Dante Hyam who came out on top. Coming from the back of the pack in moto one to finish third place, Hyam then backed it up with two comfortable wins in the final two motos. Dante managed to win 6 motos throughout the four rounds, but some untimely mistakes cost him any chance of the winning the championship, finishing a credible second place for 2018.
“It is great to finish the series off with a win,” said Hyam.
“I would have loved to have won the championship, but I’m happy with how I’m riding and I’m wrapped with the bike! We’re in a good position to hopefully get ourselves another National Junior Championship come October.”
BCP Pro Circuit Honda team mate Kipp Adams had his season highlight at Ballarat, finishing an incredible third place in the final moto of the day against the older boys, combined with a fifth place in moto one and a twelfth place in moto two after coming together mid race with another rider. The final round points tally placed Adams into fourth place overall in the championship against the older age group (second place to Ricky Chalmers in the younger age group)
“We’ve had a bit of an up and down season so far,” said Adams.
“But I’m so stoked with third place in that final moto, after having to come through the pack to get there. I know I can run with those guys now, I just need to do it week in week out.”
Team manager Lee Hogan is proud of his young junior team and their efforts throughout the four round Championship.
“The Victorian Titles are so important to our build up for the Nationals,” said Hogan.
“The fact that they join the age groups together mean that you quite often get tougher races at state level than you do at the National Junior Titles. Tanesha has been incredible this year and is firing on all cylinders. Dante has shown moments of brilliance and hasn’t been out of the top 2 in the last ten race meetings or so. And Kipp is starting to come good at the business end of the season and showing some real form. We’re all looking forward to the last part of the season.”
The team heads next to Coolum in Queensland for the final round of the ‘Rookies’ MX Nationals on the 11th and 12th August, and then it is full steam ahead for the biggest event of the year, the National Junior MX Titles at Penguin in Tasmania.
Photo credit- Automotive Event Images