The 2025 New Zealand Motocross Championships were given a bit of a shake-up at the second round of four near Rotorua on Saturday.

All the championship favourites were each handed a loss at some stage of proceedings at the popular farmland track at Horohoro, south-west of Rotorua, as the national series reached the halfway point.

Mangakino’s Maximus Purvis (MX1 class), Tauranga’s Madoc Dixon (MX2, 250cc class), Tauranga’s Levi Townley (125cc class) and Australian visitor Taylah McCutcheon (women’s class) still have a firm grip at the top of their respective classes, but these individuals were knocked back at least once each on Saturday and forced to accept they’ve got a serious fight on their hands in the coming weeks.

The MX2 (250cc class) was again perhaps the most exciting, with Oparau’s defending national champion James Scott already on the back foot after being nudged off his perch at round only seven days earlier and now realising his title defence may be totally in tatters after he finished with a 2-1-dnf score-card at Rotorua, the recently-married man crashing out of the third and final MX2 class race of the day.

Dixon finished 1-2-3 over his three MX2 outings and has extended his lead at the top of the standings to 11 points over new runner-up man Cobie Bourke, from Tauranga, with Scott now back in third overall, another nine points further adrift.

Meanwhile, Purvis comfortably won the first two MX1 class races of the day at Rotorua, but an unaccustomed runner-up in race three – which was won in style by West Auckland’s defending MX1 champion Hamish Harwood – meant his perfect record had evaporated and Mount Maunganui’s Josiah Natzke was now just 19 points behind him in the series standings, although that’s still a huge buffer for Purvis.

With mixed results thus far, Harwood finds himself third in the MX1 standings, but just five points adrift of Natzke.

Townley was impressive in winning the first two 125cc class races of the day at Rotorua, but a surprise fourth result in race three handed the initiative to rival Hayden Draper, from Karaka.

Townley still leads the standings, but Draper is just 12 points behind in second, with Auckland’s Jack Ellingham third overall.

Raetihi’s Karaitiana Horne still features as the nearest threat to McCutcheon in the women’s class and she is now a meagre 12 points behind her trans-Tasman rival, with Taupo’s Mikayla Griffiths third overall.

Meanwhile, Pukehina’s Flynn Watts continues to lead the battle-within-a-battle in the MX2 class for glory in the under-19 sub-category. 

There’s a two-week break now before round three takes riders to Pukekohe on March 8 and, finally, it all wraps up with a second visit to Rotorua on March 15.

The national series attracts riders from the length and breadth of the country and this year has again drawn international competitors – several from Australia and Japan – with eventual winners, or runners-up in the various classes regularly going on to represent professional teams, or their country, in overseas competitions.

2025 New Zealand Senior Motocross Championships

Round 1, Saturday, Feb 15, 2025, Tauranga Motorcycle Club;

Round 2, Saturday Feb 22, 2025, Rotorua Motorcycle Club;

Round 3, Saturday, March 8, 2025, Pukekohe Motorcycle Club;

Round 4, Saturday, March 15, 2025, Rotorua Motorcycle Club.

Credit: Words and photo by Andy McGechan, www.BikesportNZ.com