 |
| Ivan Miller leads Steve Harrison and Peter Ploen |
The 1970s really took off with more over the counter moto-cross bikes becoming available , riders making names for themselves included Peter Ploen , Moss Smith , Gary Goodfellow , Ross Horsborough , Peter Boyle , Phil Turnbull , Greg Brinck , Craig Coleman to name a few.
International riders continued to come to New Zealand in the 1970s, including Paul and Steve Harrison from the UK who were regular top performers . World 125cc Champion Gaston Rahier came out to New Zealand for a selected events as did World 1978 125cc Champion Akira Watanabe .
The North vs South Moto-Cross was started in 1956 by Mr Ernie Pink and Tom McCleary Senior and was raced for many years before being confined to the history books.
With a view to the future in the late 1970s Junior Moto-cross started , and eventually after rules were put in place the New Zealand Junior Moto-cross Championship came in to exsistance. This would be the start for a number of riders who would eventually make International names for themselves in the senior ranks. Three riders can be pointed out as marking the pathway to International success . Darryl Atkins , Darryll King and Shayne King would all make their mark in Junior competition and then in the international arena and all three would have success in Australia , USA and especially Europe.
Other notable New Zealand racers in the 1980s were names like Graeme Allan , Bryan Patterson , Murray Anderson , Frank White , Ashley Major , Warren Timpson to name a few. They came up against many overseas racers , Perry Leask , Jonathan Wright , Greg Hanson from the UK and from Australia Jeff Leask , Dave Armstrong , Ray Vandenberg , Glen Bell Craig Dack and Steven Gall among others . They all came and raced in New Zealand.
