Oparau’s Altherm JCR Yamaha rider James Scott clinched the win for the one-day event near Masterton and in doing so sealed the deal on overall championship victory. Returning from a knee injury, PWR Yamaha’s Tommy Watts demonstrated the enforced break did him no harm and the Wairoa man finished second for the round on his Yamaha YZ450FX. While his teammate Wil Yeoman, of Taupo, continued his strong run of results to finish third for both the round and championship overall. He also claimed the E1 250 class victory as well.
After receiving a concussion about five weeks ago, Scott sat out Labour Weekend’s MX Fest in Taupo but he was declared fit to ride again this past weekend and went out and blitzed the tests. There were two separate loops used on Saturday - a 35-kilometre course and a 15-kilometre course - which the riders traversed twice each during the day, with separate TT sections as well, one in the forest and the other a motocross TT, close to the pit area.
Despite admitting he had only been out for one ride in five weeks, as part of his recovery process, Scott still dominated. He won the first and third tests and finished runner-up in the middle test.
“Winning the enduro champs was something I have wanted to tick off my bucket list and I was happy to finally do it. It felt good to finish off the championship with the overall and class [AA expert grade E3, over-300cc four-stroke bike class] win,” Scott says.
His achievement not only adds another trophy to his cabinet, it cements him as an extremely versatile rider, as this talented 23-year-old has now won national titles across three different motorcycle disciplines.
In 2022 he became the senior New Zealand Cross Country Champion, then earlier this year secured the MX2 motocross title with his Altherm JCR Yamaha team. He has now collected the 2024 New Zealand Enduro Championships title outright on his Yamaha YZ450FX, as well as winning the battle-within-a-battle for separate E3 class honours.
Scott will now switch his focus back to defending his national motocross title in the four-round motocross national series held in early 2025 and his next event is the Waikato Championships on November 30.
Yeoman described the Bideford-based final round as a “great day for me.”
It had been a quick turnaround for him after winning the Husqvarna Hard Adventure Enduro near Taupo over Labour Weekend on his Yamaha YZ250X. Switching to his YZ250F for Saturday’s enduro tests, Yeoman enjoyed the competitive spirit between his Yamaha counterparts.
“It was good to have Tommy Watts back and there was some tight racing between us three boys. We ended up being 4 seconds apart at the end of the day. It was really close,” Yeoman says.
“I ended up wrapping up the E1 250 class title and was stoked with that. I was really happy to finish off strong and really happy with how my 250F has been going. Thanks to the landowners and volunteers that put on the series and events throughout the year,” he wraps up.
PWR Yamaha Team Manager Paul Whibley was unable to attend the final enduro round as he was in Australia with his son Colton, who was racing in the Australian AUSX Championship YZ65 Cup. Colton was supported by AFC Motorcycles in Palmerston North and finished seventh in his first-ever supercross race. Another Kiwi kid Jaxon Goble, who has support from Agricentre South in Gore, also went over to race and finished 14th.
Whibley was pleased to see how well the team performed.
”Great results from the PWR Yamaha team at the final round and overall for the series. There was some extremely close racing and to have three teammates seperated by mere seconds after a full day’s racing is really special.”
“Up next for the PWR Yamaha team is the final two rounds of the GNCC Series. Round 3 is near Matata in late November and the final round is near Tauranga in early December. We are looking forward to some more top results to close out 2024,” Whibley concludes.
Words by Catherine Pattison.