Wellington Motorcycle Club KMC inc.

If you are a trail rider or into MotoX around the Wellington region, theres a good chance you have heard the name Grant Simpson. He is the driving force behind the Kapiti/Wellington motorcycle club.

Ray Heron asked Grant a few questions to find out more.
What is your background?
"I started riding at age 4 on Waitarere beach on an old Honda Monkey. Later I rode MotoX and raced enduro at a national level for years."

What do you ride personally?
"I ride a Yamaha YZ250 FX and have ridden Yamaha since 2005. There the most reliable bike. You don't have to rebuild them as often as most other bikes, they take a beating and since I've been riding for a long long time I've had all different types of bikes.
When I used to race, I raced to win and I was really good at it. So I've taken what I've learned from racing and turned it into a passion for running events."

When did you start running events?
"I decided about 7 years ago, I wanted to give back to the community. We started the Kapiti motorcycle club 7 years ago, and about 3 years ago decided to expand our reach, renaming the club to The Wellington Motorcycle club KMC.
I love seeing the smiles on people's faces after you've had a good day at our event. It's all about making memories, that's what life's about memories"

What events does the club run?
"We go as far north as Horowhenua, and all over the Wellington and Kapiti regions.
A few examples are Wellington City Trail Ride, Terawhiti station, Tararua led trail ride, Spicers Forest, Orange Hutt trail ride, South coast trail ride and Beach cleanup, Otaki trail ride, Devil's staircase led trail ride."

Many of the areas will be familiar to older readers, as many of these areas used to be open to the public. But as times change, landowners have closed gates. These days, many of these areas are only accessible during sanctioned events.  

Grant said, "We have on average around 8 trail rides for adults per season. We have started a new thing called Kids Days In The Dirt which we have 7 events in  7 different places from Horowhenua to Wellington each season, sometimes more.
We also have training days which we teach people from 6 years old and up, how to ride dirt bikes"

Tn this day and age as land owners close gates, and event companies fold, It's great to see the Wellington Motorcycle Club KMC is still going strong, if you want to find out more about their events, check them out on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/kapitimotorcycleclub