The first round of the 2012 KTM South Island enduro series kicked off at Peraki bay, near Christchurch on Sunday, with 60 riders from all over the south making the trip to Christchurch.

In the week leading up to the event Mother Nature took the pleasure of reminding the riders that winter is here with a healthy dumping of snow dousing the Canterbury region.

This, no doubt, put many riders off making the long journey to Christchurch with the thought of riding in snow not every rider’s ‘cup of tea’.

As the riders arrived at the venue and set about their ‘work’, it soon became apparent that the snow that had put so many people off had melted and in its place left ideal conditions for enduro racing.

The event consisted of two separate loops, one of which was 12.5km long with riders having 25 minutes to complete the section. The second of the two loops was 25km with 50 minutes allowed for riders to complete it.

The trails consisted of mainly steep farmland with some tight, technical Manuka forest sections and one terrain test per loop to keep riders on their toes.

Terrain test one saw riders sliding their way through slippery four wheel drive tracks with plenty of sneaky rocks and ruts waiting to catch riders off guard. Rangiora’s Kelly Paterson (Yamaha WR250F) asserted his dominance early with a convincing win over Gore’s Ben Turnbull (KTM 150XC) and Christchurch’s Mark Dando (Honda CRF250X).

With the first terrain test done and dusted riders made their way to terrain test two.

This once again saw Paterson taking an emphatic test win with Christchurch’s Steven Kelly (Yamaha YZ125) and Gore’s Michael Perkins (KTM 250EXC) rounding out the top three.

Terrain test three saw riders repeating the first of the two tests but this time a new rider emerged from the pack with Christchurch’s Michael Larson (Suzuki RM250) ending Paterson’s winning streak with a three-second margin of victory. Turnbull rounded out the top three, a further six seconds adrift of Paterson.

The final test of the day saw riders repeating the second terrain test with Paterson this time putting his Yamaha WR250F back on the top step of the podium with Alexandra’s Logan Forsyth (Husaberg TE300) and Gore’s Jason Duff (KTM 300XC) rounding out the top three.

This saw Paterson take a convincing event win with no one seemingly having anything for the 35-year-old multiple ISDE silver medallist.

Duff took the number two spot for the day, a long way adrift of Paterson with Turnbull hot on Duff’s heels in third spot. With a number of riders in the top 10 still firmly within striking distance for the outright podium, it’s still anyone’s series to win as riders head to Gore for the second round of the series on July 15.

© Photo by Steven Kelly, www.BikesportNZ.com