Nick Franklin FMX Battle Champion

Unit riders have dominated the first official New Zealand FMX National Championships.

Kiwi Nick Franklin took out first place, with Queensland based Aussie FMX champion Kain Saul finishing up in second place.

The Red Bull FMX Battle was part of Raceweek in the North Island town of Wanganui and is one of the country's biggest motorsport weekends.

After qualifying, Franklin and Saul went head to head, with each rider having a 120 second run to throw down their biggest tricks for the judges.

Eventually it was Franklin who came out on top narrowly beating Saul for the win.

"I went out and completed a pretty spot on run with all my biggest tricks - I thought it would have given me the win easily," says Kain.

"I was a bit stunned.

"Talking to the judges afterwards they said he got one extra jump in on his run. He rode the course a bit faster than I did."

Despite missing out on the win, Kain says he was happy with his return to the competitive scene and excited about the up coming 2010 season.

"I've been working hard on a few new tricks, I'm confident that 2010 will be my best season yet," he says.

Since the contest, Nick Franklin has been working hard preparing for the 2010 season, but took a nasty spill while trying to ride a BMX of all things!

"I've been trying to learn BMX from nothing, 'cause I never was any good as a kid," says Nick.

"Its so fun but bites you hard. I separated my shoulder, 2nd degree which is not completely torn away, but it has dropped.

"It's not real bad but I can't practice at the moment, so I don't know if I'll be going to LA for the Red Bull X fighters qualifying sessions which are in a week and a half, so I'm pretty gutted."

Best of luck in 2010 to Kain Saul and we hope to see Nick back on the bike as soon as he is fit, to hopefully save some of his season plans.

(Photo Courtesy Freeridermx.com.au)