Batiste getting back up to speed at Pleinmont
Sam Batiste did not expect his return to motocross to go quite so smoothly.
Having not raced a full season since 2006, the winner of multiple past championships got back on track competitively last month and has already made his mark in clean-sweeping the B group over the last two fixtures.
Many of the A group riders were absent for Saturday’s championship round at Pleinmont, which led to all the adult classes being combined into the same races – and Batiste showed that class may well be permanent, being the only competitor to avoid being lapped by the flying George Symons.
‘I entered the B group because I wanted to take it easy going in,’ said a devoted motor sport fan whose background includes Superbike coaching.
‘The new bike has been brilliant. I have surpassed my expectations.
‘I had given myself a year to get some speed and move up to the A group, but I might be moving up sooner than that.’
Thankfully, motocross is also a family affair for the Batistes.
His wife Gemma – an Island basketball and netball star – is helping out and supporting at trackside, while his six-year-old son, Seth, has also started racing this season.
He in fact met Gemma at the track during his racing heyday.
Now he is helping to bring on the next generation, though he does not want to push Seth too much.
‘At this age, I just want him to enjoy it – which he is,’ Sam said.
The youngster gives a great endorsement of motocross as he rides solo on a shortened track, being unafraid to tackle the odd muddy puddle.
But the discipline has been struggling for numbers of late, which is partly why Sam returned in the first place.
‘I came up to watch a few and thought, “We can’t have these numbers”.
‘My brother Steve won the championship in 1994 and he will come back too. It would be nice to see more numbers, because there must be people who are interested in racing motocross.’
Batiste consistently took runner-up to Symons on Saturday, finishing within 1min. 30sec. of the star rider in all three heats and the grand final.
A-group rider Josh Ballard produced a run of third-place finishes in the championship heats, but the B group’s Paul Le Messurier edged him in the grand final.
The youth 125s class played host to some great duels between Tyla Cox and Oliver Crawford.
Cox won the match-up by just 1sec. in the opener, then picked up a more convincing victory in the second after a minor crash from Crawford.
Crawford came back with a vengeance, though, winning the third and the grand final. Zak Guymer had a great ride in the grand final, finishing within 2sec. of Cox.
Meanwhile, Cody Wallbridge produced an impressive unbeaten run in the big wheels 85s.
