Young Motocross sensation charges into the 2022 racing season

Twelve-year-old Christian Berrington-Smith from Weltevreden Park has certainly charged into his 2022 racing season with some authority, collecting a number of Regional Motocross Championship wins along the way.

The Grade 5 Agape Christian School learner recently extended his Northern Regions Motocross Championship lead in Harrismith where riders were treated to perfect, cool weather, and a lush and loamy track.

After the first race had a false start Christian qualified second, just a whisker over half a second off pole but order was restored and the flying freckles thundered off into the countryside.

When the race leader crashed, he handed Christian the lead and had to fend off determined attacks before claiming his third race win in succession in the series.

Christian again had a less than optimal start in race two, but soon the first race tale photocopied itself.

After opening up a healthy gap, he unfortunately lost his rhythm and flow but came half a second short of making yet another clean sweep and managed a lead of a solid 20 points.

For Christian the training programme is relentless and will intensify leading up to the next national championship event early in April.

On January 22 Christian kicked off his Inland Championship season with a double victory in a race that marked the opening round of the Inland Championship series at his home track Dirt Bronco.

He gave himself more work to do at the start of the second race, having to pass a few riders before he could set his sights on the race leader, then again rode smartly before making a clean pass, this time cruising to a 12-second win.

A week later Christian decimated the field at the Northern Regions opener when he headed off to Terra Topia Dirt Bike Club/ Adventure Park.

Christian was buoyant after his dominant win in the Inland Championship series opener the previous weekend, and set out to get to grips with the muddy track.

He posted the second-fastest qualifying time, 0,4 seconds off pole, but this was to be the only sub-optimal mark of his day’s performance.

With two race wins and two race fastest laps, Christian had a near-perfect race day to look back upon and with a full points haul he was the championship leader, with a handy 12-point lead already.

On February 5 he managed to secure third place despite a troubled outing but displayed a positive attitude to make him one of the racers who seek to improve themselves.

In the second race he suffered a heavy crash that dropped him and he managed to finish fifth, giving him third overall after a tough day at the office.

Cape Town would be Christian’s next challenge to participate in the pre-national event in preparation of the national championship season opener.

On February 19 he was placed sixth overall for the day, which is also his national championship standing after the first round.