AN IRONMAN EFFORT | Bikesportnz

The phrase ‘winners don’t quit and quitters don’t win’ could well have been invented for Taupo’s Brad Groombridge.

When Groombridge lined his Huka Honda CRF450 up on the start line for the big annual Acerbis Taupo Four-Hour endurance race on Saturday, his big 450cc four-stroke was just one of more than 200 other bikes in the marathon.

But what a special bike and rider combination it turned out to be.

While many of those bikes on the massive start line were to be co-ridden by two-rider teams, Groombridge was one of the hardy breed of individuals who had chosen to go it alone, opting to ride solo for the four hour gut-buster on Tahorakuri Forest land, about 15 minutes’ drive north of Taupo.

With so many bikes in the race, a good start was essential and that’s just what Groombridge managed to achieve, putting himself among the first dozen to round the first corner after the shotgun-blast start.

By the end of the first lap, Groombridge had worked his way up to ninth and then fought his way into third place on lap two.

“I had a bit of a crash on lap three and that cost me a bit of time,” he explained.

The 22-year-old air conditioning technician eventually held on to finish fourth overall, behind the two-man pairings of Rhys Carter/Jesse Donnelly, Mark Penny/Josh Jack and Allan Burgess/Reece Burgess.

This result was easily enough for Groombridge to win the ironman ‘big bore’ (over-300cc) section, completing seven arduous laps in the allotted time and remarkably finishing almost nine minutes ahead of his nearest rival for the ironman crown, fellow Honda rider Sam Brown, of Hamilton.

Brown finished 13th overall.

Groombridge is fast making a name for himself as a leading ironman rider. He had finished a solid seventh overall to take runner-up honours in the ironman section of the similar Six-Hour Dirt Bike Marathon, near Mangakino, three weeks earlier.

“This four-hour race was actually tougher than the six-hour, though,” said Groombridge. “The laps on Saturday were shorter and that meant, with so many bikes out on the track, circulating every half-hour or so, it became very rough indeed.

“It didn’t help when I crashed a second time and broke off the clutch perch on my handlebars. I had no clutch for the second half of lap three.

“I’m pretty happy with the result. This is a good training tool for me ahead of the upcoming motocross nationals.”

Also impressive was fellow Taupo rider Cameron Dillon (Honda CRF250), who finished 16th overall, winning the separate ironman title for ‘small bore’ (under-300cc) bikes, finishing in the class ahead of Nelson’s Sam Millson (Honda CRF250), who came home 33rd overall.

Meanwhile, Tokoroa’s Edwina Wooderson took her Yamaha YZ85 to 157th overall, winning the ironwomen’s class.

New Plymouth’s Tony Parker rode his KTM 350 XC-F to victory in the ironman vets’ (35-44 years) class and Feilding’s Gordon Brooker piloted his Suzuki RM-Z450 to victory in the ironman vets’ (over-45 years) class.

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