Palmerston's Courtney Duncan was the top Otago finisher after the fourth and final round of the 2015 New Zealand Motocross Championships near Pukekohe on Sunday.
She wound up just two points off the 125cc class podium in fourth place, despite notching up a third overall and two seconds in the last three rounds.
Duncan saved her best performance until last, with her race card reading 2-2-2 after Sunday's three outings.
A ''shocker of a round one'' where she was forced to ride her practice bike after her race bike ''blew up'' meant she was playing catch up for the next three rounds, Duncan said.
Waikato's Josiah Natzke was in sublime form in the final round, scoring another hat trick - making it 11 wins from 12 races, to clinch the 125cc title.
Bay of Plenty's Cody Cooper became the national MX1 champion once again, winning his third consecutive title. Australian vice-champion Kirk Gibbs was runner-up and his Honda team-mate, John Phillips, of Rotorua, finished in third position.
Scott Columb, of Queenstown, dominated the first MX1 round in Taranaki but a combination of mechanical issues and crashes over the next three rounds saw him finish sixth overall. He has parted ways with his Altherm JCR Yamaha Racing Team and is reassessing his next move.
''I'm in one piece and I'm sure I'll try again [in the national series],'' he said.
Australia's Jay Wilson wrapped up the MX2 class crown 50 points ahead of Hamish Harwood, of Takaka.
The closest Otago rider to the podium was Oamaru's Joel Meikle, who was eighth.
He also started with a bang, finishing the first race of 12 in third.
A ''big crash'' followed swiftly on the heels of his success and ''since then its been up and down'', Meikle said.
It was his first year racing in the MX2 class and he will take the experience gained into the 10-round Australian Motocross Championships (starting at Horsham, Victoria, on March 29), where he is entered in the under-19 class.
Dunedin riders Campbell King and Sam Cuthbertson finished 14th and 18th overall, respectively, in the MX2 category.
