Round three of the MotoSR-sponsored New Zealand Grand National Cross-country Championship (NZ GNCC) series is in the books after racing wrapped up at Burts Farm, near Matata.
The Bay of Plenty, turned it on for the riders with great weather and a track to match the stunning location.
A reworked layout with some special additional trail for the GNCC riders.
Mini riders also had use of a new paddock with some rolling grass trails, a good hill climb and decent to test these little hard core races.
Whakatane’s Quinn Hawkes set the pace and lead the early going, at what could be considered his home race.
Previous round winner Colton Whibley gave chase but a decent stack left Hawkes up front and pulling away. Whibley remounted, albeit with a reduced pace, trying to shake off a sprained wrist.
Cayden Goodright and Miller Spence were locked in a battle for third and were closing in on the injured Whibley. Goodright had his own issues and gave up third to Spence. Spence began to put some pressure on Whibley, closing in on his back wheel.
But Whibley responded, picked up the pace and had was a safe second by the finish. But there was no catching Hawkes, he had checked out and rode an amazing race to claim his second win of the season.
The Junior race was held at the same time as the Mini race but on a separate track that took in the forestry out the back of the property as well as some farm tracks surrounding the pit area.
In the Junior event, Auckland’s Leo Copping set the pace but was being chased hard by Millen Cargill and Sheldon Brown.
Copping clocked in with a lap time just over 20 minutes for his first lap. Cargill was 30 seconds behind and Brown another 40 seconds back. Lap after lap Copping edged away.
Brown put on a real charge on the 4th lap and laid down the fastest lap time of the race to secure second place from Cargill.
But ‘Mr Consistent’ out front was on cruise control by the last lap and safely took the win.
The big boys kicked of just after 12. The XC1, XC2 and XC3 Pro classes lined the front row.
The 10-second call set the scene, then the wave of the flag sent silent machines roaring to life and driving into turn one. First to return was Taupo’s Brad Groombridge on his Kawasaki 450 but closely followed by 5 or 6 riders keen to take their chances up front.
Tauranga’s Damon Nield was buried in this pack of riders but by the time the second lap was completed, he had his nose in front of Groombridge.
The seniors had a few extensions to their track to add some spice. A couple single track sections through the pines along with the rocky climb to the top hill.
Groombridge regrouped on the third lap and put another hot lap in to take the fight to Nield. Some misfortune for Groombridge on the very next lap left Nield up front by himself. 
Going into the last lap, Nield was in control out front but taking no chances. Daniel Bates had been consistent with his lap times and found himself in second. But Groombridge was on a mission and within sight of the finish line put a pass on Bates and retook second.
Not wanting to give up a position, Bates tried desperately to out-brake Groombridge coming into scoring but ended up blowing the turn. It was a real photo finish and excellent viewing for those spectators nearby.
Nield now has one hand on the trophy going into the Series final at Maddix Park, just out of Tauranga on November 19. It’s going to be an exciting conclusion to the 2022 season.
NOTE: The NZ GNCC Series – not to be confused with the GNCC Series in the United States – is actually a competition that New Zealand’s two-time former US GNCC series champion Paul Whibley created when he retired from full-time international racing and settled back at his Manawatu base at the end of 2014.
Whibley became New Zealand Cross-country Champion at his first attempt in 2015, but he has had plenty more on his hands in more recent years as he puts back into the sport he loves, running coaching clinics, overseeing his new series and, of course, bringing up his young son Colton, now a rising star in the sport.
The NZ GNCC series “cherry picks” from other established competitions, taking the best of the bunch to compile a separate-but-parallel four-round series.
2022 NZ GNCC CALENDAR:
Rnd 1: August 27, Ohakuri, Tokoroa (in conjunction with the Forestland XC Series);
Rnd 2: September 17, Taikorea MX Park, Manawatu;
Rnd 3: October 15, Burt’s Farm Trail Park, west of Matata;
Rnd 4: November 19, Maddix Park, at Ohauiti, near Tauranga.
© Photo by Andy McGechan, BikesportNZ
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