Coming into the round Alex Larwood had a good strangle hold on his title, Taj Gow Smith had one hand on both his and Thomas Larwood just wanted to show that everything is coming together for him.
Taj Gow Smith kicked off proceeding, he was extremely nervous having never won a state title before. He composed himself nicely after practice and went out and won all three moto’s onboard his YZ85SW in very convincing fashion and was never really challenged on the day. He claimed both the round and championship win in a memorable day for the young charger. He also managed to wrap up his 65cc title and his fairytale day was complete.
“Oh man, I can’t believe it! I’m the SA Champ,” Taj said. “It was my goal at the start of the year its awesome to make it happen and so many people have helped me that I don’t even know who to thank,” he said.
Alex Larwood came into the final round with one thing on his mind, winning and that spelt trouble for his competition. Alex dominated the days racing on his YZ85LW taking all three moto wins and in doing so claiming another title for his collection which is growing every year. His style and bike control was superb, slicing and dicing through the technical ruts with speeds unmatched in his field.
“I’m very happy to wrap up the title today and it’s been a great year. My bike was spot on today and I got great starts and it handled everything with ease. Now I have one more race to get ready for Junior Nats,” said young Larwood.
Thomas Larwood went away from round three with stitches in his arm and very disappointed. He went home and pushed himself to the limits and it showed with his riding this weekend. Saturday saw Thomas start the day very nervous with a sixth, then a holeshot in moto two saw him lead until the second last lap when he made a slight mistake which put him in second. He backed that up with another third in the final moto for third on the day and fourth in the 125cc Championship.
Sunday would see him continue his great riding onboard his YZ250F. Thomas finished with a 3-5-3 scorecard for another third for the round. Moto two saw him down on lap one while making a run for the lead, he remounted in last and charged his way back to fifth with his best ride of the series.
“I am happy to finish the year with two podiums. I haven’t had the best year this year but I’m working hard to turn it all around and charge into the Junior Nationals and next year.
“Thanks to everyone for supporting me,” said Thomas.
SAYJR Team Manager Shane Metcalfe was very happy with the boys over the weekends’ racing.
“I am so proud of these three kids. Alex and Taj were once again stand outs in their classes. It was awesome to see Taj shake off his nerves and claim his first ever title. He has been so close in the previous couple of years and always come up just short but not this year.
“Alex has been extremely focused this season. His riding has gone to another level and I’m excited to see where that puts him at the national championship in 6 weeks’ time.
“Thomas finally had a weekend where things started to happen for him. He rode strong and grew with confidence each race and got a podium on both bikes which was great to see. Bring on the Junior Nationals,” commented Metcalfe.
The next race for the SAYJR team will be at the Junior Nationals to be held in SA at the Renmark JMCC Track starting on the 24th of September.
