The 2024 National Junior Motocross Championships have been run this week in the deep sand of Bunbury, Western Australia!
After winning the 250cc 13-U15 years National Junior Title last year in Darwin, WA young gun BCP HAS Honda Junior Development Team rider Seth Shackleton came into the week red hot favorite to make it back to back Championships!
 
Shackleton started the week strong going fastest in Qualifying giving him first pick of the grid for the first of five finals spread out over 4 days.
Final 1 saw Shackleton charge from outside the top 15 and into the race lead by half race distance. Ending up with a solid 11 second win over Queenslander Jackson Fuller.
 
“It was good to get that first race win under our belt and start the week on the right foot,” said Shackleton.
Final 2 got underway the following day with a red flag causing a restart early in the race due to a gate malfunction! With a clean restart Shacks found himself in fourth place exiting turn one and quickly made his way into the lead. Another 11 second win would stretch the points lead from 3 to 6 points.
 
Overnight close to 30mm of rain fell in the Bunbury area giving us a deep, muddy sand track for Friday’s racing!
It was a case of survival of the fittest for both riders and bikes in these conditions as Shackleton made his way up to second place by race end behind NSW rider Max Compton, who later received an on-track infringement handing the win over to Shackleton!
 
“That was chaos out there! Riders were going everywhere and bikes were stopping all over the place,” said Shackleton.
“I was happy to take second place points finishing a couple of places ahead of Jackson Fuller who was second in points but then I found out that Max and Phoenix had both been docked 5 positions.”
 
Friday being the only day where the riders lined up for two points paying Finals, the 15 years boys 250cc class again lined up for Moto 4 late in the afternoon.
Shackleton would once again come from behind and make his way to the lead just past the halfway point of the Moto. Taking the win while bringing a 12 point lead into the final Moto of the week.
 
The sun was shining with perfect track conditions for Saturday’s final day of racing!
In what was one of the most impressive races of the week, Shackleton came out swinging in the fifth and final Moto coming from a fifth place start to first place in just over half a lap and pulled out quickly to a 10 second gap where he kept it for the remainder of the race! Stamping his authority in the class with a maximum of 125points for the week.
 
“It feels good to get back to back titles for myself, Honda and all of our sponsors and supporters,” said Shackleton.
“We made a bike swap after Final 1 and I ended up racing a box stock 2025 Works Edition CRF250R just with my suspension in it for the last 4 motos of the week. I can’t speak highly enough of the bike. It worked so well out there.”
 
With the National Junior MX Titles complete for 2024 Shackleton will now set his sights on the upcoming Fox Australian Supercross Championships!
 
“I’m so happy to see Seth go back to back in his last year of juniors,” said Team Manager Lee Hogan.
He’s such a talent and it’s been fantastic to have him on board the Honda Junior Team for the last two years running! His results really speak for themselves, going back to back State Champion and National Champion, along with finishing the highest placed junior in this year’s Pro MX MX3 class. We all wish him the best as he tackles his first year as a senior in 2025.”
 
Round 1 of the Fox Australian Supercross Championship kicks off in Queensland Saturday October 12th.