The Kiwi riders are continuing to chip away at the Grand National Cross-country Championships in the United States, with more solid results achieved at the latest round of the series at the weekend.

Pahiatua’s Paul Whibley finished eighth in the XC1 Pro Class at round seven of the GNCC at Masontown, West Virginia, at the weekend and Auckland’s Callan May claimed 13th spot overall in the XC2 Pro Lites division.

While they weren’t the results that either of the BikesportNZ.com Yamaha stars wanted, the two New Zealanders do still remain in touch with the championship leaders as the series edged past the halfway stage, with six rounds still remaining.

For 35-year-old former Manawatu forestry worker Whibley (Yamaha YZ450F), affectionately dubbed “The Axeman” on the motorcycling scene, his race was beset by problems and his eighth place finish was well below what he needs if he is to reclaim the GNCC crown that he has twice won in the past, in 2008 and 2012.

“I got a good jump off the line and came into turn one in good shape, but washed the front,” Whibley explained.

“I saved it but ran a little wide, allowing Kailub Russell and Jason Thomas up the inside. Heading through turn three Jason slid a little and I clipped his back wheel and went down. It was pretty dusty and I ended up getting run over.

“Feeling a little banged up from an earlier practice crash, the skid marks up my side just added insult to injury. The bars were also bent and clamps twisted.

“Back on the bike I managed to kick the hand-guard up and out of the way. Once I got into the woods, I found a suitable tree to give the front end a quick re-align. Back rolling, I seemed to struggle to push and close the gap to the pack in front. I picked off a couple guys during the race and finished in the points but it was far from the result I was looking for.

“Overall, this was a disappointing result and I have a lot of work to do to get back onto the box (podium) at the next one.”

Meanwhile, in the XC2 Pro Lites class, American Ricky Russell took over the points lead in the class after capturing his second victory of the season at the weekend.

He led the entire three-hour race from start to finish.

Titirangi rider May (Yamaha YZ250F), making his debut in the GNCC competition this season, managed to push through traffic to finish the day 13th in the XC2 Pro Lites class.

“Masontown was also not a good one for me,” said May.

“It was perfect weather leading up to the race in the hills of West Virginia and we were in for a very rocky and technical track this time. I got a good jump off the start until there was a first turn pile up which I had to pretty well stop for, making me one of the last to get going.

“For the first few miles, there were lots of grass sections that made it very dusty and hard to see, especially with the poor start, it made it extra hard to push through, this put my confidence back and wasn’t able to push.

“I felt like that the whole race with poor lap times and outside the top 10 which is definitely where I don’t want to be.

“As the race went on, I battled with more myself than the bike and mentally was having a bad day. This resulted in a poor result coming in 13th.

“All I can say is it was a shit race and I haven’t ridden that poorly for a long time. I need to put it behind me now and move on. I’m going to put in a lot of effort into my rock riding technique over the next two weeks.”

Whibley is ranked fifth in the XC1 Pro class standings after seven rounds, just two points behind his Yamaha team-mate Jordan Ashburn, and May is sixth overall in the XC2 championship standings, just five points adrift of fifth-ranked rider Shane Hufford.

Another Kiwi to feature in the championship standings is Wellington’s Rory Mead. Unfortunately he suffered a last-lap crash and seriously injured himself at round three of the series in Morganton, North Carolina, at the end of March, and he can now only watch from his hospital bed as he slips further down the standings.

Mead had been winning the XC2 class before his accident but he is now ranked 11th overall.

Whibley is supported by Yamaha Motor New Zealand, 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.

May is supported by Yamaha Motor New Zealand, Kiwi Rider magazine, BikesportNZ.com, MotoSR, Golden Tyres, Fox, Graphic Creation, GYTR and Yamalube.

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

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XC1 class event results:

1. Kailub Russell (KTM)

2. Charlie Mullins (KTM)

3. Josh Strang (YAM)

4. Jordan Ashburn (YAM)

5. Andrew Delong (HSQ)

6. Chris Bach (HON)

7. Jason Thomas (KTM)

8. Paul Whibley (YAM)

9. Ryan Sipes (KTM)

10. Tom McCormack (YAM)

XC1 Championship standings:

1. Charlie Mullins (180)

2. Kailub Russell (173)

3. Josh Strang (132)

4. Jordan Ashburn (111)

5. Paul Whibley (99)

6. Grant Baylor (91)

7. Ricky Russell (89)

8. Andrew Delong (86)

9. Steward Baylor (71)

10. Chris Bach (65)

 

XC2 class event results:

1. Ricky Russell (YAM)

2. Trevor Bollinger (HON)

3. Grant Baylor (KTM)

4. Nick Davis (KTM)

5. Jesse Groemm (KTM)

6. Jedediah Haines (YAM)

7. Kevin Benavides (KTM)

8. Travis Teasdale (KTM)

9. Kenneth Gilbert (YAM)

10. Chris Douglas (KTM)

 

XC2 Championship standings:

1. Ricky Russell (178)

2. Grant Baylor (172)

3. Trevor Bollinger (142)

4. Layne Michael (100)

5. Shane Hufford Jr (96)

6. Callan May (91)

7. Jesse Groemm (86)

8. Sam Evans (73)

9. Chris Douglas (72)

10. Jedediah Haines (64)