What a great success the Tokoroa SX was. The South Waikato club and MNZ decided to review the path it was taking due to the fact that rider numbers had been dropping and the spectacle was not as good for the punters as it should be. Steve Holdem the South Waikato Club President discussed ways to get it back on track at a special meeting held with interested parties and we all agreed 3 things needed to happen.

First of all the event needed a promoter who could focus energy into making it a big success. Clubs are run by volunteers and often it’s really hard to dedicate the necessary time and resources to all that needs to be done especially for the big events. So Noel Gleeson was employed to oversee the event and by all accounts did a fabulous job.

Secondly the general acknowledgement is that unless you are an elite rider its high risk doing SX because it’s seriously tough.

 I know this first hand having broken an ankle in 14 places coming up short on a double and casing out.

At this point we decided to get some expert help from Darryll King on track design. The working party decided the best plan was to make the tracks a little easier and safer by shortening 3 of the bigger jumps by a couple of meters. We also filled in one of the bigger doubles and made it a table top. This is a trend in some countries in a bid to lessen the damage that can happen for riders like me who don’t quite make the jump distance for what ever reason. I want to acknowledge DK for his help in this area. Late in the piece he came back from a holiday with his family to do a track inspection which was outstanding.

The third part was to arrange some rider training days. DK offered his time free of charge to run training for budding SX riders. He enlisted Hamish Dobbyn and Brad Groombridge to support the cause which was really appreciated. Around 90 riders turned up to take advantage and by all accounts it was just what the doctor ordered (literally). The feed back was awesome as riders left feeling hugely more confident having been given a chance to ride the track and learn it at their pace with expert advice on hand. I’m conscience that some of our elite riders didn’t fully agree with making the tracks easier but in hind sight I’m positive we did the right thing. More riders will attend next year and I encourage other Clubs to follow the South Waikato model. In some ways it’s similar to what happened to Enduro many years ago. The tracks got so hard that only a few top riders finished and the masses said screw this as they lay “houreed out” in the bush. The powers that be back then said lets rebuild this to get more numbers attending and the skill level will rise and as we saw the great participation in the ISDE. One thing I want to mention before I sign of is how tough our riders are. Brad Groombridge did the biggest whip I have ever seen in my life. It was sick; unfortunately for him it ended in probably feeling sick. He didn’t get it back around far enough when he landed and got slammed into the ground with the force of a 200mm howitzer cannon. To my amazement he got up and within 3 minutes did another huge successful whip. Every time I see an international Soccer player rolling around a pitch fighting for his life after a tackle I will think of how tough our men and ladies are.

See you at the Auckland SX on the 16th Feb and Wanganui on the 1st March for the final.

Stay safe www.mnz.co.nz

Paul Pavletich

CEO MNZ

www.mnz.co.nz

07 828 7852
021 556 416