Willers, Walker to star on new track for RaboPlus BMX Nationals

Olympian Marc Willers makes a welcome return to the track for this weekend’s RaboPlus New Zealand BMX Championships presented by Southern Trust at Pukekohe, south of Auckland.

World champion Sarah Walker will join her Beijing teammate among hundreds of competitors for three days of racing at the exciting new track at Puni, just west of Pukekohe.

The track, which will be finally developed into a fully fledged supercross course, is the headquarters for the New Zealand BMX high performance squad with head coach Ken Cools excited about the facility and this weekend’s racing.

“There’s only the full eight metre start ramp to go in to make it a supercross track, so this weekend we will be racing on the rest of it, and it will produce some very exciting competition,” Cools said.

“It is a fantastic facility and will be an important asset for the development of our riders.”

Willers, who has been out of action for more than six months with surgery required for his shoulder, makes a welcome return. The Cambridge rider is close to full fitness and Cools is pleased with his progress.

“Mark has been fully focussed on doing whatever it takes to be fully right with his rehabilitation. He’s about 90 percent now and by the time we hit the big meets in Europe, he will be fizzing.”

Walker has also been training well and Cools said she has been leading the way.

“Sarah has been training really hard. She has helped lift the whole standard of our high performance group. The whole group has really stepped things up. For the first time they have had a coach on track every day and we have this marvellous facility here to train on.”

The other rider to impress recently is Tauranga’s Kurt Pickard, who was also forced out after a crash in Europe late last year. His troublesome wrist required surgery but he is back to full fitness.

“Kurt has taken the sport to another level. He will be riding elite for the first time this weekend and will definitely throw down a challenge to Willers. His start acceleration is amazing.

Cools said the weekend will be a celebration of BMX racing.

“It’s such a great family sport – a sport that mum, dad and the kids can all take part in.”

That will include the likes of Rico Bearman, who won the world title in Adelaide last year for 5-6 year olds, with racing for five years and under up to 40 plus.

Friday is the official trials for the upcoming Mighty 11 test series against Australia, with the age group titles decided on Saturday and Sunday and the elite championships on Sunday only. The elites will compete in the UCI points competition on Saturday.

Racing starts at 9.25am on Friday, 10.30am on Saturday and 10am on Sunday.