North Shore’s Sam Greenslade did it again and showed he is a force to be reckoned with by winning the 40th running of the Dead Toad Cross Country race in the Woodhill Forest last weekend.

Believed to be the longest running cross country event in New Zealand, the Dead Toad has a reputation for taking no prisoners with its four 25km loops in the soft and physically-demanding Woodhill sand.

Run by the Waitemata Motorcycle club, well known for running enduros in both the Woodhill and Riverhead forests, the Toad has always featured a good amount of single lane track and some challenging hills. In recent years though the start has taken place in a 10-acre paddock on the neighbouring farm owned by the Wightman family, giving the riders a chance to make up for an average start before getting into the windy stuff.

Taupo’s Greg Delautour took his Beta 300 to an early lead, but unfortunately discovered that the Beta couldn’t do two laps of the track on one tank of gas and had to walk a bit to get some fuel at the end of lap two. It was a big ask for him, considering the laps for the fast guys were a bit over 40 minutes. Greenslade (pictured above) snatched the lead on his KX250F early on and held it unchallenged for the rest of the race, eventually finishing his four laps with a winning margin of two minutes.

Old rivals Liam Draper (Husky TE 125) and Muriwai local Luke Mobberley (GasGas 125) duked it out for 2nd with Draper eventually pulling away on lap 3 to bring home 2nd by 2 minutes. These two teenagers have been racing each other and trading positions in this forest since they were 10 year olds on 85’s, and it doesn’t look like that will change any time soon.

Andrew Charleston made the trip up from Hamilton and finished fourth on his CRF 250 with Palmerston North’s Adam Reeves finished fifth on his YZF450 and being the first bike home bigger than 250cc.

The 40th running of the event saw the return of the much coveted cast metal upturned “Dead Toad” trophy handed out to respective class winners after the race.

LEGENDS

For the first time but probably not the last the toad featured a “legends” race where old bikes and riders alike dusted themselves off and headed for the Woodhill Forest to do their shortened version of the Dead Toad.

There was a mix of bike ranging from some lovingly restored classics like Mark Webb’s Yamaha IT200 and Craig Brown’s Yamaha IT175, to bikes that had hurriedly been purchased off Trade Me so the race could be done. Like Mitchell Nield’s Suzuki TS250, sporting indicators and a number plate and a lot of oil in the muffler which Nield skilfully burnt out in the 45-minute race. Mike Bennett turned up on a shitty old 82 Honda XR200, but then most of Bennett’s bikes look like that!

The race was stated Le Mans style with riders running across the track toi their bike, although there was more hobbling than running going on and the lead guys on bikes having to dodge some hobblers on the way to the first corner.

The racing was far from geriatric though with Eventual winner Craig Brown (Yamaha IT175) and three-time Toad winner Mark Webb (IT 200) bashing bars and were only bike lengths apart for the first two laps, with Brown eventually pulling away for the win. Mitchell Nield’s TC250 wasn’t smoking anymore when he brought it home for 3rd. TJ Bruin, life member and Arch Bishop of the Waitemata Motorcycle club, rode his 1986 Automatic Husky to fourth and Mike Bennett was fifth on the XR.

The race had great rider and spectator appeal and we would be surprised if it was not a regular feature from now on.

DEAD TADPOLE RACE

The junior version of the Toad was held the next day on a different track, somewhat shorter but still featuring a mix of terrain similar to the big version. Jake Wightman (KTM EXC 125) on what is basically his home track, in fact he helped mark it out, was in a class of his own and had a 2 minute lead after just one lap. He extended this lead to just under 6 minutes for the overall win.

Daniel White from Otorohanga (KX 125) finished second overall and was glad to see the ladies combined with the juniors and had some great racing with Expert Ladies Natasha Cairns and Julie Greenslade, both on KTM 200’s. White, aged just 12, beat Cairns by a slim two seconds, and Greenslade was only another 32 seconds behind that after the 3 of them had swapped positions for the whole race.

James Scott brought his beautifully prepared KX85 home next with Rachael Archer on her SX 85 after that and first Novice Lady. Next up was Nick Wightman (SX 85), younger brother of Jake, who was first in the 10-11 class.

© Photo by Andy McGechan, www.BikesportNZ.com

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