I am writing this article with a head of steam on.

Two things have happened that have really rubbed me up the wrong way recently. We have been lobbying the Government departments for funding for two really worthwhile projects.

The first was we were looking for $8K to go towards the printing of our new rule book. This book is our sporting bible that promotes safe and fair play for 6000 riders. We approached ACC to request support for this exercise and we were told they don’t have the budget to support this request. They are the first people to grandstand and say motorcyclists are causing unreasonable costs to the tax payer. Well here we are giving them an opportunity to do something really constructive to show they are serous about educating motorcyclists and we get a lame response.

Secondly, by now you are aware of the major challenges we face from local government to quieten down motorcycles in mainly rural settings. We are actively doing our best to achieve this as we run our noise education programs at tracks and we will be enforcing noise limits at the MX Champs coming up later this year. We approached the local Member of Parliament here in Huntly, National’s Lindsay Tisch, who I have to say, has worked and lobbied very hard on our behalf to get the $50K requested. The grant was going to be used to provide a noise meter and training for every MNZ affiliated club so that we could self-manage this major challenge.

After being passed around faster than a parcel in an Irish pub to all sorts of different government departments, seven months later we finally got the Dear John letter. Well I say it’s not good enough! Maybe we should have requested money for an overseas Hip Hop research study or asked for $10,000,000 for a boat race and we may have had more luck! So right now it’s back to the drawing board on funding.

On a positive note, the general feedback that I have received about the new motocross classes has been good. I think the 125 class is going to be incredible.

We have also employed professional journalist Andy McGechan to manage our website. We are really excited about this. I am sure Andy’s input will enhance our site, making it more up-to-date and interesting for you with local and international news. Take a look-see what you think, www.mnz.co.nz. We will also be loading our value adding partners on there as well shortly. So make the most of the generous offers they have given you.

Finally don’t miss your chance to receive some personal off road training from Darryll and Damien King. MNZ is heavily subsidising these events so hurry and register as there are limited spots.

Stay Safe

Paul Pavletich

CEO MNZ

www.mnz.co.nz
 
07 828 7852
021 556 416