August 4th 2026: Moto

The water temperature on the Gold Coast right now is around 21°C – and that's in the middle of winter. Even the locals are finding it unseasonably warm. They really love surfing here – the breaks are packed with all types of people, and each morning a selection of groms who are destined for greatness run surf drills with their coaches filming every move. The council even pumps sand onto a barge from the Tweed River and redistributes it to build surf banks in front of Surfers Paradise. I saw one getting made this week. How cool is that?

But as much as the surf culture is buzzing here, I was actually here to cover 11 Kiwi motocross riders as they took on the Australian ProMX Championships. New Zealand has an uncanny ability to produce incredible motocross riders, and this group were no exception. Hayden Draper is 17 and won the MX3 championship on Sunday with a race to spare. He's on his way to great things in the sport. 

Another Kiwi, Seth Morrow, from Invercargill but now living in Queensland, found his form late in the series, but dazzled with six wins in a row in MX3. He was turning heads – one prominent team manager strolled up to congratulate him after his sixth win and told Seth, "you're ready". That's encouraging.

Southland's Jack Symon made his debut in the premier MX1 class and put down four crazy races where he battled just outside the top 10. Jack was riding a stock bike in a sea of factory-backed riders. The top 10 in the MX1 class in Australia are some of the best in the world. There is not one rider in MX1 who is there to make up numbers – the pace and intensity from 1st to 40th is insane. 

Guiding and helping our riders are a bunch of legends of the sport – they include former world motocross champions Shayne King and Ben Townley, along with MXGP star Josh Coppins, who now dedicates his time to this new generation coming through. Then there is a whole other cast of characters all pushing for our next world champions to emerge. It's an exciting time for the sport. 

See you in the snow, Derek

PS Next week we have a special feature on a Dunedinite who moved to the Gold Coast years ago, and now he's building surfboards for Kelly Slater ...