It’s one series down and another to go for Mokau’s Adrian Smith.

He has been unbeatable in a major pre-season warm-up series and Smith now hopes that momentum will continue for him as the nationals kick off this Sunday.

The 27-year-old Smith took his Blackwood BikesportNZ.com Yamaha YZ250 to win the third round of four in this season’s Bel Ray Cross-country Championships near Cambridge at the weekend, wrapping up the trophy with a round to spare and sending a warning shot to his national championship rivals in the process.

Te Kuiti teenager Sean Kelly (Kawasaki KX125) did exactly the same thing in sealing up the junior division.

Even with only three out of the four rounds to be counting towards the Bel Ray series victory, both Smith and Kelly have now done enough to clinch their respective classes without them needing to even attend the final round on March 8.

Smith’s win at the weekend probably came as little surprise to those who have been following his racing career – he is a three-time former and the current national cross-country champion and, with him winning the first two rounds of the Bel Ray series, it was certainly a no-brainer that he would be heavily favoured to win at the Cambridge event on Sunday.

And that’s exactly what happened, although Smith did have to work for it with 130 riders lining up for the shotgun start.

“I started off behind (Hamilton’s) Taylor Rae and then (Raglan’s) Jason Dickey passed me and that’s where I stayed for the first couple of laps,” said Smith.

“I was happy to sit there and just learn the course. Then, on about lap three, I switched on and pushed through to the front. After that I just checked out really.

“It was a great track and I really enjoyed it. It had a bit of everything … off-cambers, tree roots, fast sections and it was nice and flowing.”

Smith finished the two-hour, six-lap race three minutes ahead of Dickey.

Third overall was Rotorua’s Scott Birch (Honda), with Hamilton’s Andrew Charleston (Honda) and Te Pahu’s Stefan Cook (KTM) rounding out the top five.

Kelly led home Taupiri’s Andrew Barr (KTM), Auckland’s Jake Wightman (KTM), Hamilton’s Luke Taylor (Gas Gas) and Raglan’s Tor Pedersen (Honda) in the 90-minute junior race staged earlier in the day.

With 1-2-1 results for the three rounds thus far, Kelly now can’t be overtaken by his main rival, Barr, who has finished 6-5-2 in the series so far.

Smith now switches his focus to this coming weekend and the start of his defence of the national cross-country crown.

The first round of four in the New Zealand Cross-country Championships is set for Taranaki farmland, inland between Inglewood and Stratford, this Sunday.

The three rounds that follow are in Huntly, Westland and Marlborough and Smith will be hoping he can make it three national titles in a row this season after romping to title wins in 2012 and 2013.

Smith is actually already a three-time former national cross-country champion after also having won the New Zealand cross-country crown in 2006.

Sunday’s venue for round one is at 3403 Tarata Road, Purangi, on farmland inland between Inglewood and Stratford.

Rounds two, three and four of the national series will be held respectively in Huntly (on Saturday, March 15), Westland (Sunday, April 13) and Marlborough (Saturday, May 17).

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

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