National enduro champion Chris Birch had more than just the cream of New Zealand’s off-road to contest with but he also had to deal with terrible weather and a brutal course in Te Puke on Saturday.

And it was perhaps a case of Mokau’s Adrian Smith winning the battles, but KTM ace Birch winning the war at the fourth round of five in the KTM Extreme Enduro Series, which also hosted the stand-alone Te Puke Endurocross event.

Smith (Yamaha YZ250) edged out Birch (KTM 350 XCF) by 23 seconds, with Wellington’s Jake Whitaker (Husaberg FE250) finishing third in the three extreme enduro race heats, the combined tally of times added together to give a final time score, but then Birch stepped it up later in the day to win the separate endurocross, this time winning from Taupo’s Greg De Lautour (Beta RR300), with Smith forced to settle for third position.

The newly-designed track was turned into a mud-fest, with a huge amount of rain drenching the course overnight and continuing to fall throughout the day, with Kiwi international Birch, from Auckland, best at coping with the slippery and treacherous features of the man-made course.

“The format for this (KTM Extreme Enduro) always catches me out and I rode too conservatively,” said Birch afterwards.

“It was very slippery, so I was being careful, but I really should have gone harder. I’m still in a position to win the series outright, so it’s not a total disaster. There’s one round to go and if I win that I wrap it up,” said the 33-year-old father-of-one.

Reporoa’s Brendon Imlig showed how good he is in wet conditions as he won the Expert class ahead of Pukekawa’s Anthony Parker with young Josh Hunger, of Stratford, finishing third.

The course was a tough one but there was still some good racing in the clubmans’ class with Auckland’s Daniel Price taking the win from Thames rider Jason Donaldson, while Cambridge’s Ashton Grey settled for third.

Once the KTM Extreme Enduro points races were completed, the top 36 riders went to the shootout for the Te Puke Endurocross final.

Birch made a clean start and won the final comfortably.

The KTM Extreme series now moves on to the fifth and final round, the No Way In Hell extreme enduro at Oparau over the Easter weekend.

“That’s my favourite event of all … a bit like a mini Romaniacs (extreme enduro that is run in Romania). I’m looking forward to it,” said Birch.

Te Puke A&P Show Endurocross results:

Final (10 laps): 1 Chris Birch (Glen Eden) KTM 350 XCF, 8m 30s; 2 Greg de Latour (Taupo) Beta 300, 8m 50s; 3 Adrian Smith (Awakino) Yamaha YZ250 8m 56s; 4 Jake Whitaker (Wellington) Husaberg FE 250, 8m 59s; 5 Anthony Parker (Pukekawa) KTM 250 XC, 9 laps; 6 Phil Singleton (Te Puke) Honda CRF250, 9 laps; 7 Freddie-Milford Cottam (Feilding) KTM 250 XC, 9 laps; 8 Warren Laugesen (Napier) Beta 300, 9 laps; 9 Matthew Quirke (Raglan) KTM 350, 9 laps; 10 Sean Clarke (Tokoroa) KTM 250 EXC-F, 11 Phillip Cheater (Papakura) KTM 300 EXC, 9 laps; 12 Chris Power (Auckland) Yamaha YZ250, 1 lap.

© Words by Andy McGechan, www.BikesportNZ.com

© Photos by Colin Smith

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