The camera operator for SkyzoneNZ Aerial Photography, Alex Paterson, has put together this video from round two of the New Zealand Enduro Championships near Porirua, just north of Wellington.

As you will see in the video, it was steep terrain, but that didn’t change anything in terms of which riders featured near the front.

Auckland’s Chris Birch won six out of six rounds of the New Zealand Enduro Championships last season and now he’s threatening to do it all over again this year too as the 33-year-old from Glen Eden has so far in 2014 won back-to-back national championship events.

Birch took his KTM 350 XC-F to win the opening round of the KTM-sponsored enduro nationals near Whangamata last month and he was unstoppable again at round two near Porirua just over a week ago.

This has stretched his win streak to eight nationals round wins in a row since he arrived back in the country after a two-year stint competing in South Africa and clearly makes him favourite to retain the overall crown as well as keep his over-300cc four-stroke class title.

Birch finished more than a minute ahead of Porirua’s eventual runner-up, Mokau’s former national champion Adrian Smith (Yamaha YZ250), with fellow Aucklander Chris Power (Yamaha WR450F) taking the third step on the podium.

Round three is set for the Riverhead Forest, near Auckland, this Sunday, March 23.

© Words and photo by Andy McGechan, www.BikesportNZ.com

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