Motocross test faces Grinter

Marlborough's young motocross riders are busy gearing up for next month's New Zealand Junior Championships, but few are working harder than Myles Grinter.

Boarding at St Bede's College in Christchurch means the Blenheim 14-year-old has to spend the week separated from his motorcycle.

However, that absence of his trusty Kawasaki KX85 2009 Big Wheel hasn't slowed down Grinter's training.

Three or four times a week he is up at first light to run seven to 10 kilometres and has also been hitting the school's weight room.

The training has already paid plenty of dividends, and not just on the bike, with Grinter selected in the St Bede's athletics team to run the 3000m at the Canterbury champs, where he placed eighth.

While raising his fitness has been Grinter's midweek concern, the weekends, when he travels back to Blenheim to ride with his dad, Peter, and older brother, Alister, are devoted to making up lost time on the bike.

Grinter has some clear goals for the New Zealand juniors – to qualify for the top-40 main field of the 13-16 years 85cc class, then a top 15 finish.

Six weeks ago he received an early indication of where he is at when he placed 22nd in the class at the New Zealand Motocross Grand Prix at Woodville, though Grinter is certain he would have cracked the top 20 if not for a fall that left him 30th in one race.

However, for the teenager who has been riding since he was three years old, the chance to race for a national title in his own backyard will also be the chance to have some fun.

"Meetings are pretty much all the same for me. I just want to go out and enjoy myself every time. There's really no bad moments, just all good ones, unless you have a bad crash," Grinter said.

The New Zealand Junior Motocross Championships will attract most of New Zealand's top young riders from 8 to 16 years old as well as some of Australia's best to Wadsworths' Bartletts Creek track on the Northbank Rd for three days of racing from April 16 to 18.

- The Marlborough Express