IT’S DOWN TO THE WIRE

Mokau’s Adrian Smith knows a thing or two about racing dirt bikes at eye-watering speeds across unforgiving terrain.

He is very good at it and that is why the King Country sheep and beef farmer is the reigning No.1 and a record four-time winner of the New Zealand Cross-country Championships.

But this season’s national title defence has been his toughest battle to date and he can thank his close friend Paul Whibley for that as he heads for a must-win fourth and final round of the 2015 series near Pahiatua this Sunday.

Pahiatua’s Whibley is a multi-time cross-country champion in the United States and he returned home at the end of last season to settle back in New Zealand after a 12-year stint of international competition – immediately upsetting the balance of power, certainly as far as Smith was concerned.

Whibley (Yamaha YZ450F) and Smith (Yamaha YZ250FX) have traded wins throughout the 2015 domestic series thus far, Whibley finishing 2-1-1 and Smith 1-2-2 in the three rounds, but only three of the series’ four rounds are to be counted, with riders discarding their worst result, and this means it all comes down to Sunday’s final showdown.

Though they both laugh and joke with each other before racing begins, friendships go out the window when championships are at stake, at least for the three-hour race duration, and a fierce fight between the two is predicted.

The mathematics is chillingly simple – if Whibley wins Sunday’s final round he wraps up the series. However, if Smith wins and Whibley finishes runner-up, the two men will be level on points and the count-back rule applies.

That means that, after they each presumably discard a runner-up result from their series score-card, they will both have two wins and one runner-up result to their credit and so the rider who finishes highest at the final round wins the championship.

As it stands, one of these two men will be crowned champion on Sunday and no other rider is in a position to change that.

“It’s Paul’s to lose really, said Motorcycling New Zealand cross-country commissioner Chris Smyth. “He’s won two out of three races and just needs to beat Adrian at the final round.”

Smith knows what he must do.

“Paul and I will finish 1-2 in the championship, nothing can change that now. We have also both wrapped up our respective class titles already (Whibley winning the over-300cc four-stroke title and Smith claiming the under-300cc four-stroke title),” said Smith.

“We were on top of one another all day (at round three near Nelson last month) and I think the biggest gap between us might have only been 20 seconds, but he was the better man on the day.

“It is definitely going to be tough to beat Paul at Pahiatua … that’s his home turf too. But I’ve been in tough spots before and I think I can find a way to get the job done.”

The battle for the championships’ third podium position is also undecided and riders to watch for on Sunday in the battle for the No.3 spot include Nelson’s Ethan Bruce (KTM), Hamilton’s Andrew Charleston (Honda) and Rotorua’s Scott Birch (Honda).

Also impressive this season have been Palmerston North’s James Galpin (KTM), Raglan’s Jason Dickey (Kawasaki), Morrinsville’s Nathan Tesselaar (KTM) and Eketahuna’s Daniel Christie (KTM), each of them also capable of upsetting.

Meanwhile, the battle for junior honours is already over – Kotemaori’s Reece Lister (KTM) has won all three of the 90-minute juniors races so far this season and his ride on Sunday will be just that.

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