DIRT NEWS
KIWI RIDER HEAD-HUNTED BY EUROPEAN FACTORY TEAM
“
It
’ s crazy how things work out ” – those words from the mouth of Waikato ’ s James Scott as he hung up the telephone from Europe . He ’ d just been headhunted by an Italianbased factory Honda team to take up a role as fill-in rider for one of their Junior Enduro World Championship riders . Oparau ’ s 19-year-old Scott clinched the No . 2 spot in the MX2 ( 250cc ) class in the 2021 motocross nationals that wrapped up in Taupo in late March . Motocross is his forte , having won junior national titles in past years and also having made a name for himself racing major 150cc and 125cc motocross events in Europe ... so what ’ s with this enduro malarkey ? It all came about almost by accident – Scott wanted to maintain his fitness and bike sharpness during the off-season , so he entered the five-round 2021 NZ Enduro
Champs . That series kicked off in April , just two weeks after his NZ motocross campaign had wrapped up . And straight away he served notice that he should be taken seriously . His “ dabbling ” in enduro racing the year before , where he raced bikes that had been loan , for testing by one of his sponsors , Kiwi Rider magazine . It ’ s true , therefore , to say that 2021 was not really his debut year in enduro , but it was certainly his first proper , organised campaign . He possibly baffled everyone in 2021 by suddenly switching from 250cc motocross – albeit planning for that to be a short stint only – and then he set tongues wagging even more when he climbed on board an unfamiliar 450cc enduro bike and started notching up unexpected and unheralded success in both the enduro and cross-country racing codes . He took a Honda CRF450X to finish among the nation ’ s elite in the 2021 New Zealand
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