The Vining family
have been involved with motocross since 1995, when Matthew at age 13
decided he wanted to race his motorbike, a CR80. That meant that Russell,
his father, was spending many Sundays away at club meetings around the
Waikato countryside while Matthew was racing. So he decided that he
might as well get in on the action as well, buying a KX125 for himself
to race in the Clubmans/Novice class. Why be a mechanic for your son
when you can race and mechanic for your son and yourself?
When Matthew got a new bike later on that year, his old bike was passed
down to Micheal, the youngest at 9 years old. The final Vining boy started
racing, too. And so starts the motocrossing tradition of the Vining
family. It wasn’t long until the boys started to get better at racing,
and started to race not only in Motocross, but also Supercross, Hare
Scrambles and Enduros.
Team VR (Team Vining Racing) was created in September 1999. Event co-ordination
is handled by Liz, Russell’s wife and Matthew and Micheal’s mum. Race
photography and graphic design promotional material is handled by Sarah,
the eldest child in the family. It’s a real family affair. All because
of a father and two sons who purely love the sport of dirtbike racing.
So much in fact, that they traipse all over New Zealand to compete!
