The sport of motorcycle cross-country racing is full of high-speed zigs and zags and now it’s just taken another 90-degree turn.

The second round of four in this season’s New Zealand Cross-country Championships was held near Huntly on Saturday with the results there were a complete reshuffle of those recorded at round one in Taranaki last month.

The winner in Taranaki was Maruia’s Ethan Bruce (Yamaha), with Mokau’s defending national champion Adrian Smith (Yamaha) forced to settle for fourth place after a terrible start to the three-hour marathon near Inglewood.

Those results were turned completely on their head on the steep hill country farmland at Waerenga, near Huntly, on Saturday with North Taranaki’s Smith winning the race and South Islander Bruce this time settling for fourth position overall.

That means, with equal results, the two rivals are locked together at the top of the standings.

Raglan’s Jason Dickey (Kawasaki) – who finished runner-up in Taranaki and third at Huntly – is snapping at their heels with the series now at the halfway stage.

Taupo’s Brad Groombridge (Suzuki) finished runner-up to Smith on Saturday but he was only 30th at round one and must now rely on excellent results in the remaining two rounds if he is to threaten for the title, while Eketahuna’s Daniel Christie (KTM) rounded out the top five on Saturday.

“It was difficult for me because I had an injured thumb,” said Smith. “I lost feeling in it and couldn’t grip on the bike very well. But it seemed to come right in the second half of the race and I put on a bit of a charge.

“Brad was actually leading as we headed into the last lap but then he had a huge crash in front of me. He must have slid 30 or 40 metres down the track. I called out to him to ask if he was okay and he gave me a thumbs-up. It was certainly a bit of extra entertainment.”

The conditions were atrocious for the riders with Cyclone Lusi sweeping through the region and the race duration was shaved back from three hours to two because of safety fears in the worsening storm.

“It was very windy in place, especially along the ridge lines,” said Smith. “Riding in cyclone conditions was not easy and I was leaning at 45 degrees in some places just to avoid getting blown off the bike.”

Meanwhile, 13-year-old Auckland KTM rider Jake Wightman won the earlier junior race – its 90-minute duration reduced by 15 minutes as the storm started to brew – followed closely by round one junior class winner Ben Fryer (Yamaha), of Waipukurau.

“On some parts of the course you had to lean hard into the wind to stay on the track and, through one corner, I was actually blown out into a gate,” said Wightman, thrilled at the vast improvement from the ninth placing he had achieved at round one.

Wightman said he was “actually quite surprised” to learn he had won.

“Really?! I thought I was in about fifth.”

Eketahuna’s Charlie Richardson (KTM) finished third in the junior race, followed by Marton’s Ethan Breuer (Honda), with Otorohanga’s  Aaron King (Honda) rounding out the top five.

The points from only three of the four rounds are to be counted towards the title, with riders to discard their worst result, so anything is still possible.

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

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

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