Kiama’s love affair with ball sports is well-documented, but there’s a wealth of athletic success stories from lesser-known sports happening all the time.

One of those recent success stories is 14-year-old motocross rider Jack Nunn, who is poised to become one of Australia’s best riders if his recent track record keeps up.

Jack recently came within mere points of winning the Australian motocross title for his age bracket, placing second in NSW and Australia, and is waiting to see whether he’s qualified for the World Motocross Junior World Event in Romania in July this year.

Jack’s passion for riding started when he received a bike at just five or six.

“It was a little Chinese-made 50cc and it just grew from there. Dad’s always been into bikes so I was always looking at them anyway.”

Around three years ago, Jack was lucky enough to be introduced to Matt Moss, a nine-time Australian motocross champion, who took him under his wing and began coaching him.

From then on, Jack’s loved everything about motocross. “It’s everything really. Adrenaline, the support you get and you find out who supports you and it makes you grateful for that. Mum and Dad always have my back. I can’t put my finger on one thing.”

Jack’s parents, Claire and Michael, are 100% supportive of their son’s dreams to make it as a motocross rider, but it’s not always easy keeping that dream alive on the South Coast of NSW.

“It’s nowhere near as popular as football,” Claire told The Bugle. “There’s certainly a motocross community but you do have to travel if you want to be good at the sport to find the best tracks.” Jack says the best tracks closeby are in Nowra and Wollongong, but the most popular track is in Oakdale, a 90 minute drive from Kiama.

That hasn’t slowed Jack down whatsoever, and the local community has pitched in where they can to help promote his races.

“The very first person to give us any assistance was Kiama Cellars, which was right before the 2019 Australian titles,” Jack’s dad Michael told The Bugle.

“We got some posters made up, which Red Rooster paid for and some of the local shops put up posters in their windows. The owner of Kiama Cellars gave Jack $50 on the spot, and that was the first time anybody believed in us to financially support us.”

Jack’s also earned himself a handful of sponsors, his main sponsor being Pascall Plumbing and Excavations based in Nowra.

His sights are firmly set on taking out the NSW and Australian titles next year, but as for the distant future, Jack wants to be a successful rider in the United States, the biggest market for the sport.

He wouldn’t be the first successful Australian motocross champion in the states though; Jack looks up to brothers Jett and Hunter Lawrence, who have recently found success riding in America.

“I’ve always had idols like Eli Tomac, but to have a couple of Aussies go over there and start killing it has been an inspiration that Aussies can make it over there and do well,” Jack says.