ON THE ATTACK | Bikesportnz

New Zealand’s Paul Whibley is another step closer to reclaiming the No.1 spot in the United States.

He raced his Yamaha to a fourth consecutive title win in the popular Off-Road Motorcycle and ATV (OMA) series in Erie, Illinois, just a few weeks ago and has now switched his focus back to the main competition on the US off-road motorcycling calendar, the parallel Grand National Cross-Country (GNCC) series.

The weekend’s 10th round of the GNCC round at St Clairsville, Ohio, saw Whibley again locked in a fierce battle for the lead.

In the end, the man from Pahiatua, took his Yamaha YZ450F to a solid fourth overall in Ohio, behind American riders Kailub Russell, Charlie Mullins and Thad Duvall, but, most importantly, ahead of Australian Josh Strang.

This was significant because defending champion Strang, who is just ahead of Whibley in the series standings, lost ground on the Kiwi hero.

Whibley has now closed up from seven points adrift to within five points of Strang for the No.2 position.

However, Mullins finishing runner-up at Ohio means he has now padded his series lead out to 31 points over Strang and 36 over Whibley.

Just two rounds remain in the 2011 GNCC series and Whibley remains third overall, but he is still within striking range of the two men ahead of him.

Meanwhile, fellow Kiwi Rory Mead, Yamaha’s 2011 New Zealand Enduro Champion, enjoying a stint of GNCC action during the final phase of this competition only, finished fourth overall in the 250cc division at St Clairsville.

Mead has not contested all of the GNCC series and, in his rare appearances in the US, he has split his time between campaigning a 450cc and 250cc bike and this means he is unable to feature near the top of either the XC1 or XC2 categories.

But it is all part of his long-term plan, to introduce himself to the competition and prepare himself for a full season in the US either next year or the year after that.

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