The temperatures were freezing, but New Zealand’s Paul Whibley was red hot as he raced to victory at the Rattlesnake Ridge Harescramble, in Taylorsville, North Carolina at the weekend.

It was a vital part of his warm-up for the Grant National Cross-country Championships (GNCC) in the United States, with that high-profile series set to kick off in Florida next month.

The man from Pahiatua is No.2 in the GNCC rankings after experiencing a frustrating early part to his campaign last season, but there was nothing frustrating about his win at the weekend, except perhaps those experienced by his rivals, all of whom had to spend the day chasing Whibley.

“The plan was to use this event as a warm up for my US campaign, but a big chill that swept across the country resulted in something more like a cool down,” said the 33-year-old Yamaha ace.

“Temperatures hovered around freezing all day and, although the sun was out, a nasty breeze kept the chill in the air with the ground remaining frozen and slick in a lot of places on the track.

“The $1000 pro purse attracted some top talent with Husaberg’s national enduro No.3 Nick Fahringer and GNCC top 10 rider Chris Bach, on his Beta. Also adding to the international flavour was Japanese rider Takeshi Koikeda.

“The start straight was all of about six meters long, although that was all I needed to put the YZ 450 in the lead. I rode pretty cautiously the first lap as the frozen spots really caught you by surprise and kept you on your toes. A liberal dose of rocks also were scattered over the track for good measure. I was slowly able to pull a comfortable lead over the first couple of laps.

“(My wife) Katherine manned the IMS fuel dump can and had me in and out of the pits in good time.”

The second half of the race went smoothly for Whibley and, having built a solid lead, he was able to look back and see if riders were catching him.

“I watched the gap to the guys behind me, while being careful not to push too hard and risk going down. I took the win with Bach taking second. Fahringer had his hands full late in the race when Takeshi put on a charge but was able to hold him off to take the final podium position.”

RESULTS:

1. Paul Whibley

2. Chris Bach

3. Nick Fahringer

4. Takeshi Koikeda

© Words and photo by Andy McGechan, www.BikesportNZ.com