Kiwi KTM Star Edges Closer to the Top

Kiwi KTM Star Edges Closer to the Top

JUNE 15, 2015: Kiwi motocross star Josiah Natzke continues to impress in Europe.

The Waikato teenager, who raced his CMR Red Bull KTM machine to back-to-back senior national 125cc titles at the 2015 senior New Zealand Motocross Championships earlier this year, celebrated another race win and shared the top step of the podium at the weekend's Italian Grand Prix at Maggiora, in the north-west of the country.

In his debut full-time season in Europe, the 16-year-old KTM rider from Hamilton has been somewhat of a sensation this season as he passes landmark after landmark in his bid to become a motocross world champion.

He had celebrated a career highlight after he won both his races at the fifth round of eight in this season's European 125cc Motocross Championships (EMX125) in France two weeks ago and he threatened to repeat the dose at round six in Italy, although his 1-3 results on the steep circuit at Maggiora were still good enough to elevate him one position overall, up to second place in the series standings.

With just two rounds remaining, he remains just 10 points behind French rider Maxime Renaux, both riders moving up the rankings at the weekend at the expense of 14-year-old Jorge Prado, from Spain, who had led the series from round one.

Prado, who is Natzke's team-mate in the KTM Factory Junior Team, finished second in the first of the two EMX125 races at the weekend but failed to finish the next and has therefore slipped from first to third in the championship chase.

“The first race was pretty good, but not a walk in the park because I had Jorge and Renaux on my tail for most of the moto," said Natzke.

"But I got the win and I wanted to do the same in race two. I want to win. I don’t want to be second. But I didn’t get a good start (in race two). I tried to weave around riders but I got slowed up and only finished third. A piece of the puzzle wasn’t there today but I can’t be too unhappy, I moved to second in the points.

Fellow KTM star Prado lamented his tough weekend.

“I had a really bad start in race two today, I didn’t find such good lines in the beginning and the second uphill somebody crashed and another rider pushed me out and I crashed.

"I could get the bike up really fast so I lost a lot of time, but I did my best. When we have the next round, I will try to do my best and win the championship. I’m going to train even more and go only for the win.”

The next round of the EMX125 Championship is set for the deep sand track of Lommel, in Belgium, on August 2, and, finally, the championship wraps up in The Netherlands (at Assen, on August 30).

Natzke became the youngest ever rider to win a senior motocross title in New Zealand, at age 15, when he dominated the senior 125cc championships in 2014, before successfully defending his title, with support from the CMR Red Bull KTM team, in Pukekohe in March of this year, just a week before heading to Europe.

ENDS

© Scoop Media