MAY WINS THE DAY | Bikesportnz

Auckland’s Callan May has had a couple of weeks to rest and relax after his recent international campaign, but the cross-country motorcycle ace showed on Saturday that his skills and fitness were still extremely sharp.

The Yamaha ace from Titirangi won the third and final round of the popular Dirt Guide Cross-country series near Atiamuri, crossing the line ahead of fellow Yamaha rider Chris Power (Yamaha YZ250), with yet another Aucklander, Sam Greenslade (Kawasaki KX250F), completing the podium.

The 22-year-old May, riding a Yamaha YZ250F, was keen to be back in action at the weekend after a completing the first two-thirds of the Grand National Cross-country Championships in the United States, and he was keen to try some of the tricks he’d learned on his Kiwi mates before he heads back near the end of August to finish up the GNCC series.

The GNCC series traditionally takes a mid-season break as temperatures soar in the height of the American summer, but perhaps the only heat that could be felt on Saturday was that applied by May as he made his first and only appearance in the Dirt Guide Series.

Despite being handicapped by not having quick-fill equipment for his refuelling, May made up for time lost in the pits by delivering the fastest average lap time in the two-hour-plus race.

“I felt quite a bit of pressure was on me because I figured people would be expecting good things from me after my overseas successes. I don’t know that I’m now any faster than I used to be, but I believe my new strength is that I can maintain a good pace for longer and I think I am riding more smoothly now.

“I really just wanted to concentrate on riding my own race on Saturday and not be forced to push too hard,” said the BikesportNZ.com-supported rider.

“I only pushed a little bit when Chris (Power) caught up to me, but I was always riding well within myself. I didn’t need to bust myself up on a Kiwi series I couldn’t win, especially when I have bigger fish to fry.”

In the end, May and his nearest challenger, Power, were the only two riders to complete five laps in the allotted time, these two men arriving at the timing zone with time still left on the clock at the end of their fourth lap and so they were waved through for an extra circulation of the gruelling forestry course, May arriving at the chequered flag just over a minute before Power.

National cross-country champion Adrian Smith (Yamaha YZ250) had led at the start of Saturday’s race but the Mokau man then seized his engine and was forced to withdraw. This also meant Smith was denied the outright series win, with Greenslade instead taking the series glory.

Greenslade posted a 2-4-3 score-card for the series win, while Smith went 1-3-22 and had to settle for third outright. Power’s 12-2-2 results earned him the No.2 step on the podium.

It may have been some small consolation for Smith that he still managed to win his over-200cc two-stroke class.

Helensville’s Tom Buxton (KTM 200XC) won the intermediate grade on Saturday, ahead of Te Puke’s Daniel Marsh (KTM 350 EXC-F) and Thames rider Natasha Cairns (KTM 200XC).

Buxton scored 2-1-1 results for the series to win the intermediate class outright, while Marsh’s 4-4-2 score-card earned him the overall runner-up spot.

In the junior race staged earlier in the day, Oparau’s James Scott (Kawasaki KX85) led from the start and kept Auckland’s Jake Wightman (KTM EXC 125) behind him for the opening lap. Wightman eventually snuck past when Scott overshot a corner and he pulled away to win by two minutes, Wightman taking the overall series win for the second year in a row.

In third place was Hamilton’s Luke Taylor (Gas Gas 125), who beat Te Awamutu’s Daniel White (Kawasaki KX125) on the day to steal runner-up place overall from White. Te Awamutu’s Rachel Archer (the daughter of cross-country and enduro legend Kevin Archer) took her KTM SX85 into seventh on the day, thereby doing enough to win the 85cc class overall.

May is supported by Yamaha-Motor New Zealand, Yamalube, GYTR, Fox, Graphic Creation, Dunlop, Brenton May Contracting, BikesportNZ.com, MotoSR and Kiwi Rider magazine.

The Dirt Guide Series was sponsored by Michelin, Bey Ray, Renthal, O’Neal, Troy Lee Designs, DRC, Zeta, Kiwi Rider magazine, TCX boots, Yoshimura and Suomy helmets.

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