Investigations are underway into the tragic death of rising Tauranga motocross rider Trent Haywood as messages of support for the family continue flooding in on social media.

The 14-year-old Tauranga Boys' College student was killed on Saturday after launching off a 30-metre jump at the Godfrey Memorial Motocross event at a farm in Waipara, North Canterbury.

Trent Haywood died while competing in a motocross event in the South Island at the weekend.

Motorcycling New Zealand spokesperson Jim Tuckerman confirms a full inquiry into the crash is underway into the incident that has rocked the motocross community.

'To lose somebody so young, with so much potential is really devastating for the motocross community all the way around,” says Jim.

'It's a reasonably lengthy process [the inquiry], so it' not something that will happen overnight.”

The Suzuki sponsored rider, part of the Team Moto City Bel-Ray Junior Development, is believed to have incorrectly hit a jump at up to 90km/h going over the front of the bike and cartwheeling down the hill.

Local police attended, along with the police serious crash unit, and health and safety investigators. Police were unable to say what caused the crash.

Trent's father Derek and friends were at the event while his mother Deanna Haywood, in Tauranga at the time, has made her way to Canterbury with friends in the past 24 hours, says Jim.

He says the support for Trent and his family is overwhelming with friends and members of the motocross community paying tribute to the Tauranga Boys' College student on Facebook.

Posts include 'a fast rider with a lot of talent and a super smooth style”, and 'gone way to young, you will not be forgotten”.

Tauranga Boys' College principal Robert Mangan says the Year 10 student was a very popular student among his peers and teachers, but his first love was motocross.

He was part of the school's 30-strong motocross team.

'He lived for that and trained really hard and had a huge amount of potential,” says Robert.

'He had a Suzuki contract so was already recognised as a rising star. So they saw him as a future champion.”

This morning the school is offering counselling and support to Trent's class mates, team mates and friends with plans to acknowledge Trent in an assembly on Friday.

The Haywood family could not be reached for comment.

Trent was in second in the race and was first overall going into the event in his Junior 14-16 250cc class. The event was cancelled after the incident, leaving Trent to win the title posthumously.