Dion Picard is no quitter.

And it was that attitude that saw the Atiamuri youngster clinch the national title in the 12-14 years' 125cc class at the weekend's New Zealand Junior Motocross Championships at Taupo.

The 13-year-old crashed heavily on Saturday and ended the day ranked third overall in the class after three of the scheduled five races.

Despite the pain, Picard rolled his Suzuki RM125 to the start gate the following morning with just two things on his mind ... ignore the hurt and win both races.

And that's just what he did, rocketing from third to first and claiming the second national crown of his career. He had won the 8-10 years' 85cc title in 2006.
"It was an incredible weekend really," said afterwards. "I won the first race on Sunday and that meant I was five points in front of Auckland's Joel Doeksen with one race to go. I was certainly feeling the pressure though."

With a start-to-finish win in that all-important last race of the weekend, Picard felt the weight lift from his sore shoulders and he was all smiles as he returned to the pit area and was greeted by friends, family and supporters.

Three of the top five riders in this class were Suzuki riders with Ngaruawahia's Dane Russell finishing the championships ranked No.4, while Whakatane's Rhys Robb was fifth.
In the other 125cc class -- for riders aged 15 and 16 -- Wanganui Suzuki rider Tom Managh also enjoyed come-from-behind success.

While nobody had an answer for local rider Cameron Dillon, who flourished on his home track and easily wrapped up the title, Managh was impressive nonetheless.
Also carrying a shoulder injury, Managh was down in eighth place overall after a lacklustre opening day at Taupo.

But all that changed on Sunday when, despite being fatigued and in pain from his strapped shoulder, he scored his two best results of the weekend, coming home fourth and second in the final two races.

This was good enough to elevate Managh to third in the final standings, the best result thus far in his young career. It wasn't such a happy story, however, for Kati Kati 12-year-old Kurt Langford. The Suzuki rider has been racing only five years and looked well on target to win his first national title, leading the 11-12 years' 85cc class by a whopping 16 points with just one race to go.

But that's when it all went horribly wrong for him.

Needing only to finish among the top 10 to clinch the title, Langford crashed and injured himself in the final race and ended up losing the title by just four points to Christchurch rider Dylan Walsh.