Taupō's James Drought, nine, is the sole New Zealand representative at this week's Guangzhou Super Cup in China, one of 80 riders selected from 20 countries for the event.
It's been a whirlwind lead-up for the family, who travelled straight from New Zealand to Australia, then on to Hong Kong before arriving in China.
"So we've come straight from New Zealand to Adelaide where James raced in round three of the Ohvale series in Adelaide," his mother, Nicole Drought, told Lake FM. "He took the win there and then we spent a couple of days in Hong Kong and now we've come over to, yeah, come into China."
A settling-in period includes a technical briefing, a tour of the host city and Thursday's bike draw, then qualifying and racing runs from Friday through Sunday at the purpose-built Guangzhou Conghua International Circuit. Riders compete on identical Ohvale machines, with each competitor drawing their bike number from a hat.
It's a change of set-up for Drought, who will step up to a four-speed manual bike for the event after riding an automatic version throughout the Australian series. He said the adjustment should come easily thanks to his motocross background riding geared 65cc bikes at home in New Zealand.
"My goal is to come top 10, maybe top five if I can," Drought said. "My biggest challenge will be the heat in China. I'll be riding a manual bike, too, but I am good with that."
Nicole Drought said she was keeping the focus on experience rather than results.
"My goal for him is just to get as much experience as possible," she said. "I mean, he's only really been racing these bikes for a year. These kids that he's going to be racing against have been doing it for much, much longer. I don't really set expectations for him. I just want him to go out there, have fun, be safe, learn a few cool things and make some new friends, really."
The trip follows a strong run in Australia, where Drought won all four races in challenging wet conditions at Round Three of the Australian MotoMini 110 Cup in Monarto, South Australia. That result, backed by second overall finishes in each of the opening two rounds, has put him within striking distance of the series lead — just 13 points off leader Xavier Tonna with two rounds remaining.
Nicole Drought said the family's experience racing across different tracks in Australia this season had helped prepare James for the unfamiliar conditions in China.
"China is a new track and a new bike, but he is used to it because of Aussie," she said. "There we have had three rounds with three new tracks. He races an automatic in New Zealand and Aussie, while China is a four-speed manual. He races a 65cc in New Zealand so is used to gears — they just go the other way on the road bikes."
The family returns to Taupō next Tuesday before heading to Albury, New South Wales, for Round Four of the Australian series in September.
