Archie Blanchette Wins AJMX 65cc 7-U10 Title on a Wet Friday

Junior motocross titles are meant to go to the fastest kid of the week. At Shepparton on Friday, the 65cc 2T 7-Under 10 crown went to the kid who was still upright, still moving forward and still banking points after the rain arrived.

Archie Blanchette (Yamaha) finished the 2026 KTM Australian Junior Motocross Championship on 60 points, two clear of Ash McPherson (KTM) on 58, with Sam Arcidiacono (KTM) third on 51, per Motorcycling Australia’s official championship wrap. Blanchette started the last day outside the top spot and climbed two places to take it. The riders who had controlled the class going into Friday didn’t make the podium.

Four dry days, then the one that counted

The 28th running of the AJMX was held at the Goulburn Valley Junior Motorcycle Club track in Shepparton from September 28 to October 2. Motorcycling Australia’s pre-event entry list counted 403 riders on 636 machines, and MA called it the biggest AJMX turnout in a decade.

The scheduling is what matters here. The first four days ran in good weather. Heavy rain arrived on Friday, the day all 12 championship classes were decided. So riders spent most of the week building a hierarchy on a dry track, then had to defend it on a completely different surface.

In the 65cc 7-U10 class, that hierarchy fell apart. MA’s report lists the two riders who had been at the front, Malachi van Maanenberg (GASGAS) and Oliver Thredgold (Yamaha), as struggling in the mud. Van Maanenberg finished 14th in the deciding race and Thredgold didn’t finish. MA had singled out Thredgold as one of the standout riders of the heats only a day earlier. On Friday, that form counted for nothing.

Why two points is about as close as it gets

The AJMX decides classes over three finals. Ryder Madafiglio’s numbers in the 65cc 10-U12 class show how the scoring works: he went 2-1-1 for 72 points, so a win pays 25 and second pays 22. Those gaps are thin at the front of the field. Under that scale, Blanchette’s two-point margin over McPherson is about the same as one finishing position in one race.

That is the real lesson of a three-race format. One bad final is a third of your championship. A DNF scores zero and 14th scores a fraction of a podium. In a short series, your worst result often matters more than your best one. Riders who led on Thursday found out that a good average built on dry tracks doesn’t carry you through a wet race you don’t finish.

Nothing above takes anything away from Blanchette. You only climb two places on the final day if you’re close enough to take advantage when the leaders slip, and you still have to keep a 65 moving in the mud while it happens.

What mud does to a 65

The analysis here comes from how these machines and riders work in general, not from footage of this specific race. In the 7-U10 class, the bike is a small-displacement two-stroke with a narrow powerband, and the rider is a child who may weigh less than the bike in race trim. Mud hurts that combination in a few specific ways:

Weight gain. Mud packs into the wheels, the fender undersides and the frame. On a full-size bike the extra kilos are a nuisance. On a 65 they make up a much larger share of the bike’s weight, and the rider doesn’t have the strength to wrestle it.
The powerband. Small two-strokes need to stay on the pipe. Drop out of the power in a deep rut and a 65 can bog or stall. A hot two-stroke stalled in the mud is a slow restart for a child who also has to hold the bike up.
Vision. Roost and spray use up tear-offs quickly. A rider who loses vision partway through a race is guessing lines on a track that changes every lap.
Passing. Once ruts form, there are fewer lines. Position from the start and avoiding mistakes count for more than raw speed.

In those conditions, the rider who stays smooth and keeps the bike moving usually beats the rider who was fastest on Tuesday. On Friday, that rider was Blanchette.

The brand picture: an orange week, with one blue exception at the small end

KTM sponsors the championship, and the KTM group’s three brands, KTM, Husqvarna and GASGAS, did most of the winning. Of the 11 class winners whose machines MA listed, eight rode one of those three brands. Yamaha won the other three: Jobe Dunne (125cc 2T/250cc 4T 15yrs), Rafael Rossiter (125cc 2T/250cc 4T 13-U15) and Blanchette.

The small classes stand out. Across the two 65cc classes and the four 85cc/150cc 4T classes, Blanchette’s Yamaha is the only winning bike from outside the KTM group. That is a big deal for the manufacturers. The minis are where families pick a dealer, a parts supply and often a brand they stay with through the bigger classes. On this year’s results sheet the KTM group was the default choice at that level, which makes a national title on a Yamaha 65 the exception.

The fight between manufacturers doesn’t change much as riders move up. It only gets more expensive, as Triumph’s updates to its 2027 TF 250-X and Beta USA’s first 250SX signing show at the professional level.

Where a 65cc title fits in the pathway

The AJMX has run since 1997, and MA’s list of former competitors includes Chad Reed, Toby Price, Jett and Hunter Lawrence, Courtney Duncan and Danielle McDonald. It’s a strong list, but it should be read carefully. Nobody signs a factory contract because of a 7-U10 result, and plenty of national mini champions end up doing something else entirely by the time they turn 18.

What a title like this does show is how a rider handles a championship decided on a bad-weather day. Blanchette was one of the riders Motorcycling NSW picked for its Team NSW squad for the event, so he arrived as one of his state’s selected riders. He left as a national champion.

The 10-U12 winner shows what the next step looks like. Madafiglio added his AJMX title to earlier ProMX success and a 10th place at the 2026 FIM Junior Motocross World Championship. In 65cc racing, the step up from the national pathway to international competition is shorter than most fans expect.

Australian bike racing has had a good run on the scoresheets lately. Australia’s speedway riders ended a 24-year Speedway World Cup drought in the same season.

What to watch next

Shepparton again in 2027. MA has confirmed that the AJMX returns to Greater Shepparton next year, so riders get a second look at the same circuit. Knowing the track helps, but whether Friday is wet or dry still decides a lot.
Class progression. Whichever class his age puts him in next year, Blanchette will be racing riders who know he can close out a championship. Defending a title is a different job from chasing one.
The bike count at the small end. If Yamaha’s 65 win brings more families to the brand, it will show in future entry lists before it shows on any podium.

Results and event details: Motorcycling Australia, 2026 KTM AJMX Championship report.