Shocking conditions did little to slow Tauranga’s Reece Burgess as he raced to victory at round two of the Dirt Guide Cross-Country series near Tokoroa on Saturday.

With a lot of rain falling on Friday, the course was always going to be a slippery one.

The junior race was run on a near prefect track with the skies opening up just near the end of their 90-minute race.

Jake Wightman wrapped up his second win of the series on his KTM125EXC  with Oparau’s James Scott not far behind on his Kawasaki KX85.

In the minis race, Hunter Scott cleaned up again win the race by over a full lap from Joshua Hilton, with Will Yeoman rounding out the top three.

With half an hour’s solid rain before the start of the senior race and showing no sign of letting up, the senior race track was always going to be a challenge.

Two major track changes were required at the start of lap two but, unfortunately, the three leading riders missed the first change and had to do a really bad piece of the course again. To their credit, KTM rider Burgess, Nathan Sharland and Callan May never gave up.

After the race, event organiser Sean Clarke had to allocate them a time for their second lap, so the best way to do this was to give them an average time of their other four laps.

Burgess went on to win the overall with Taupo’s Greg De Lautour (pictured above) taking second and Taranaki mud specialist Tony Parker finishing third overall.

The intermediate grade riders were up against right from the start as the experts did their best to destroy the track in front of them. Kian Scherer from Putururu, riding a 2007 Honda CR250 two-stroke, cleaned up with “Big Boy” Craig Cameron coming home in second and Steve Price third.

“The course was a real challenge, so anyone who finished a couple of laps should be proud of themselves,” said Clarke.

The next round is shaping up to be a very good final, with a number of the classes still up for grabs.

© Photo by Andy McGechan, www.BikesportNZ.com