Pahiatua’s Paul Whibley loves a challenge, and the latest one is right up his alley … or should that be creek bed?

The Yamaha ace is again entered for the unique river race event in this coming weekend’s big annual New Zealand Motocross Grand Prix at Woodville and again he rates as one of the favourites to win.

However, on this occasion he will have to face up to perhaps his mightiest foe – fellow Kiwi international Ben Townley.

Bay of Plenty’s Townley is a former world motocross champion, former American supercross champion and two-time former Woodville GP motocross winner, although he will line up as a ‘rookie’ for the crowd-pleasing river race.

“It will be good to race against Ben Townley,” said Whibley. “To mix it up with him in the cross-codes river race will be exciting.

“It will make it more difficult for me to win again but there are always plenty of riders who can go fast in the river anyway … riders such as New Plymouth’s Mitch Rowe, Mokau’s Adrian Smith, Auckland’s Chris Power and Woodville’s Ben Exeter have been tough to beat in the past. It will be good if having Ben ride can lift this race to another level,” said Whibley.

While winning at Woodville would be a nice way to cap off his three-month spell at home, it’s not really his main focus for the season.

The 35-year-old former Manawatu forestry worker, affectionately dubbed “The Axeman” on the motorcycling scene, won two major cross-country titles in the US in 2012, clinching the Grand National Cross-country Championships (GNCC) and the Off-Road Motorcycle and ATV (OMA) crown as well, although his defence of those two titles was torpedoed by injury in 2013.

Injured in a training crash just before round three of the series back in April, his winning momentum was disrupted and he slipped down the rankings.

Whibley then opted out of the series for rounds 10 and 11 in September as he underwent surgery to repair a sports hernia, and that effectively ruined any dreams he might have had of finishing on top last season.

Even so, he still finished the season with an overall ranking of No.5 on the US cross-country scene, and he is in a confident mood as he prepares to return to his base in South Carolina, on the American east coast.

“This is the premier off-road racing series in the world, everyone dreams about coming to GNCC and for me to come over here and win championships and get podium finishes is awesome,” Whibley said.

“To have two podium results at the end of the season was a good way to end it and I’m looking forward to the 2014 season.”

The start to his 2014 US campaign will be a little delayed as he and his wife Katherine await the birth of their first child, due mid February.

“I’ll be staying in New Zealand until the baby is born and then immediately fly over to the US for bike testing and set-up. The flight is booked. I just hope the baby is not late, or I’ll miss the birth. The GNCC season kicks off on March 9 and I need to be ready for that.”

Whibley is supported by Yamaha Motor New Zealand, Sargents Yamaha, AmPro Yamaha, Monster Energy, Shoei, Sidi, Smith, MSR G2, Asterisk, Moto SR, Vortex Ignitions, EC3D, Bush Riders MCC, Spectro, Acerbis, DID, JT sprockets, Leatt, Kenda, Sargent Motorcycles, Yamaha NZ, Bikesportnz.com, Unibiker and Tire balls.

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

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