WOODHILL PART TWO | Bikesportnz

Is one Adrian Smith better than two of any other cross-country motorcycle riders?

That’s the question that may well be answered this weekend when the Yamaha ace heads north to tackle round two of the popular Woodhill Two-man Cross-country series.

The evidence is clear that he is quite capable of beating the two-rider teams that will be lining up against him in the Woodhill Forest, west of Auckland on Sunday.

Smith is, after all, three-time former and current national cross-country champion and he managed to charge from the 11th row of the starting grid to finish the day fourth overall – and the first solo rider – at the series opener last month.

He took his Blackwood BikesportNZ.com Yamaha YZ250 to power through the field soon after the start at round one and quickly found himself in a battle for solo honours with fellow Yamaha star Adam Reeves, of Palmerston North.

The pair eventually made it a Yamaha 1-2 in the battle for solo glory with Reeves finishing immediately behind Smith in fifth place overall.

The race was won outright by the two-rider pairing of BikesportNZ.com Suzuki rider Josh Jack and fellow Aucklander Luke Mobberly (Yamaha), but the odds are now tipped slightly in favour of Smith for round two this weekend.

“It was a last-minute decision to ride at the series opener, but I did quite well” said Smith in classic understatement. “So I thought I may as well do the rest of the series as well.

“Because I did so well (at round one) I will have earned a much better starting position this time around. I should be on about the fifth row for Sunday’s race start … they still place the solo riders behind the two-man teams at the start, so I’m still handicapped a bit, but not so much as I was at round one.

“I think my main competition (for solo honours) will again be Adam Reeves and probably Raglan’s Jason Dickey too. But it is a target for me to try and win this series outright, even as a solo rider. I think it would even be great to finish top three overall.

“It’s all good training for me anyway because I have a few big cross-country marathons coming up.”

He is looking at teaming up with fellow Yamaha hero Callan May, of Auckland, for the big annual six-hour race near Tokoroa in October.

“I’m not at all concerned about what the weather may bring to Woodhill this weekend. I actually prefer it to be horrible. The bike is great and I’m feeling pretty confident at the moment.”

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