Capill Weathers Storm

CAPILL WEATHERS STORM TO WIN ANOTHER NZ TITLE

CAPTION: Whakatane's Darren Capill (Yamaha YZ450F), on his way to winning the 45-49 years' over-300cc class crown at the weekend. Photo by Andy McGechan, BikesportNZ.com

OCTOBER 20, 2015: Bay of Plenty's Darren Capill pocketed another national motocross title at the weekend, but it was far from plain sailing for the 47-year-old.

He dominated his class at the first of two days of the Mach 1 Yamaha-sponsored 2015 New Zealand Veterans' and Women's Motocross Championships in Taranaki, winning all three races in his 45-49 years' over-300cc class, but rain and wind arrived overnight to render the track treacherous and this ensured racing on day two more of a lottery for the Yamaha ace.

"I had three good wins in the dry on Saturday, but I struggled on Sunday," the Whakatane man explained.

He took his Yamaha YZ450F to finish third and fourth in the two remaining races on Sunday, and "that was enough to get the job done".

Runner-up to Capill in the class was Blenheim's Steve Lange – who finished 3-3-3-2-2 in the five races – with Taranaki's Greg Ngeru rounding out the podium.

"I tried hard to win every race, but it simply didn't work out," said Capill.

"I decided not to go for broke, but to use some commonsense and just get the points I needed.

"The last time I raced at the veterans' nationals was in Feilding back in 2011 and I won two titles that year. I've had a change in jobs so it hasn't been possible for me to race this event for the past couple of seasons, so it was great to come here and catch up with old friends.

"It's great to ride on a natural terrain track. This is what I grew up on."

The next big event for Capill is to contest the 30th annual MX Fest at Taupo this coming labour Weekend.

"I've raced at every single one of those events, all 30 of them, and I'm the only rider who has done that. Depending on how I feel fitness-wise, I may race the MX3 support class as well as the veterans' class at Taupo."

The other title winners at the weekend were Pahiatua's Letitia Alabaster (senior women); Te Awamutu's Rachael Archer (junior women); Cambridge's Sandra Hannon (veteran women's class); Woodend's Ben Petrie (veterans' 30-24 years); New Plymouth's Lionel Crowe (veterans' 35-39 years under-200cc two-stroke and under-300cc four-stroke); Tairua's Nick Prescott (veterans' 35-39 years over-200cc two-stroke and over-300cc four-stroke); Nelson's Bryan Heaphy (veterans' 40-44 years under-200cc two-stroke and under-300cc four-stroke); New Plymouth's Tony Parker (veterans' 40-44 years over-200cc two-stroke and over-300cc four-stroke); Blenheim's Steve Lange (veterans' 45-49 years under-200cc two-stroke and under-300cc four-stroke); New Plymouth's Mitch Rowe (veterans' 50-54 years all-in); Blenheim's Moston Wadsworth (veterans' 55-59 years all-in); Te Awamutu's Graham Adams (veterans' over-60 years all-in).

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

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