Blackburn On Two Podiums   17 Jul 2012

Te Puke’s Logan Blackburn was one of very few riders to tackle two classes at this year’s New Zealand Motorcycle TT Championships, but he quickly proved he had plenty of strength, stamina, speed and the winning machinery to accept the challenge.

Racing on farmland at Kuratau, at the south-western tip of Lake Taupo, at the weekend, Blackburn certainly made the most of his time, dealing to 10 races over the two days.

The 18-year-old Blackburn (Bayride Motorcycles Yamaha YZ125) won four out of five races in the senior 125cc class, and was runner-up in the other, to finish the weekend a solid 19 points clear of eventual No.2 rider Garth Amrein (Bayride Motorcycles Yamaha YZ125), of Katikati.

Not content with that, BikesportNZ.com-supported Blackburn also rolled a Yamaha YZ250F four-stroke to the line to tackle the MX2 class as well.

But that’s where Blackburn met his match, Waitakere’s former national motocross champion Ethan Martens (Yamaha New Zealand YZ250F) proving himself to be similarly dominant, finishing his weekend 1-1-1-2-1 to take the title, leaving Blackburn to settle for the No.2 spot on the podium with 2-4-3-7-2 results.

“I’m pretty pleased with that .. first in one class and second in the other,” said Blackburn afterwards.

“I crashed in my second 125cc race and Garth (Amrein) won it.

“I have been training pretty hard and have a personal trainer now. I’m a lot fitter than ever before but I still have work to do,” said Blackburn, who won the New Zealand 125cc senior GP title at Woodville at the start of the year and followed that by finishing third in the 125cc senior motocross nationals.

“You could say it’s been a good 12 months for me,” he laughed.

Martens was beaten only once en route to winning the MX2 (250cc) class – shaded by fellow Yamaha rider Callum Moore (Maidstone Yamaha YZ250), of Featherston – when he uncharacteristically crashed.

Moore finished his weekend 6-3-2-1-10 in the MX2 division, eventually taking the third step on the podium and making it a Yamaha 1-2-3 in the class.

Meanwhile, Whakatane’s Darren Capill (Ocean Yamaha YZ450F and WR450F) was another to race more than one class and also feature on the podium more than once.

Capill finished runner-up to Te Awamutu’s Kevin Archer in the Enduro category and second to fellow Yamaha ace Toby Summers, of Auckland, in the veterans’ over-35 years’ class.

It was actually a Yamaha 1-2-3-4 at the top of this veterans’ grade, Summers and Capill doing enough to edge out Taranaki’s Mitch Rowe (Yamaha YZ450F) and Auckland’s John Penny (Yamaha YZ250F).

(Bikesport NZ)

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