Perhaps it was third time lucky for Palmerston North’s Adam Reeves.

It was the third annual Yamaha Taikorea 500 event near Himatangi on Saturday and Reeve’s trophy bid certainly involved an element of luck.

By recording a clean sweep of wins in the four-races-in-one event, the Yamaha ace made history by becoming the first man to win the total $500 prizemoney pool on offer.

The rider who had won the event in 2012 and again in 2013, both times riding a Yamaha YZ450F, was Marton farmer Cam Smith – and he could have made history of his own if he’d managed to win three in a row – but he had a day from hell, unable to finish either of the two one-hour cross-country races and he was a non-starter for either of the two 10-minute enduro-cross ‘sprints’ that followed.

Overall runner-up on Saturday was fast-improving 17-year-old Palmerston North rider James Galpin (KTM 200XC), with 24-year-old Masterton possum trapper Allan Gannon (Yamaha YZ450F) rounding out the podium.

Smith (Kawasaki KX450F) led the first of the day’s two one-hour cross-country battles for 50 minutes or so, but, with less than 10 minutes left to run down on the clock, his bike’s fuel tank ran dry and he rolled to a stop a long way from any form of assistance. This gifted the win to Reeves who had actually been gaining ground on Smith late in the race and may possibly have overtaken Smith anyway.

It was almost a carbon copy result for the second one-hour gut-buster, with Smith again in front near the end of the race, and with Reeves closing in, and this time it was engine problems that caused Smith to drop out.

So that was two wins from two starts for Reeves and just the 10-minute enduro-cross sprints to come for Reeves, the rider again supported by Sargent’s Motorcycles in Carterton, Darbi Accessories, CarbSport and BikesportNZ.com.

Smith was a non-starter for those final two races and Reeves was challenged only by the treacherous nature of the rain-moistened logs and tyres enduro-cross course, the Manawatu man eventually lapping the entire field both times on his way to notching up two more wins.

“I knew it would be tough today, regardless of what riders turned up to race,” said the 32-year-old Reeves afterwards.

“Cam had won twice here before and he helped build the track, but then I love racing at Taikorea too.

“When Cam ran out gas right in front of me and then suffered a mechanical failure in race two, I knew I was in a good position to win the thing outright.

“With Cam Smith out for the final two races, I figured I’d just stay smooth and safe and not take any risks. It all worked out.”

Runner-up rider Galpin had been third overall in the standings after the two one-hour races, behind Marton’s Brendon Frecklington, but his two solid runner-up rides in the enduro-cross boosted him to the overall No.2 spot.

“I’ve been putting in a lot of training lately and that’s paying off,” said Galpin.

“I was still feeling quite fresh at the end of it all.”

Earlier in the day, Otaki youngster Jake Wyman wrapped up the junior grade overall with an impressive first-time cross-country assault on a Yamaha YZ125 bike that he’d only collected from Freedom Moto Yamaha in Palmerston North a few days earlier.

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

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