Round one of the 2014 Beta South Island Enduro Championships were held near Mosgiel at the weekend with veteran rider Joel Hennessy dominating the day.

The defending outright champion from 2013, Mosgiel’s Hennessey (Yamaha YZ250) easily took round one honours at Berwick forest, near Mosgiel.

The underground mining worker showed that his 2013 form was no fluke with a convincing win over Christchurch’s Hamish Macdonald (Beta RR300)

Round one of the Beta-sponsored series brought an awesome day of racing with two brilliant main loops for the intermediate riders and some very tricky technical deviations to keep the expert level riders on their toes, with expert riders also completing an extra loop at the end.

The tracks consisted mainly of pine forest single trail with some gravel road transport sections and high country tussock busting trails thrown in for good measure.

A total of five lengthy special tests greeted riders, all in varying types of terrain which provided a very good test of riders’ skill sets.

With the weather gods this time smiling upon the Mosgiel terrain, and a bit of rain earlier in the week, conditions were prime for enduro racing.

After a long day in the saddle, it was Hennessey who emerged victorious, the local rider showing his years of racing experience count for something.

Taking the number two spot on the podium was young Beta-mounted Macdonald with third position going to Gore’s Jason Duff.

Christchurch’s Jacques Bakkenes (pictured above) put in a solid, calculated ride to secure fourth position for the day with Christchurch Beta rider Steven Kelly rounding out the top five.

A big thanks has to go to the organizers of the event, with all of the hard work from Stephen White, Joel Hennessey and their team of helpers turning what was a good event last year into a great even this time around.

Thanks to Beta New Zealand for sponsoring the series along with a host of other product sponsors including Kiwirider Magazine, Xtreme Race Components, Axxa Trailer Hire, Sidi, Thor, Spectro, Goldentyre, Fume and Precision Motorbikes

Round two of the series is set for Christchurch on April 5.

© Words by Steven Kelly, www.BikesportNZ.com

© Photo by Andy McGechan, www.BikesportNZ.com

Find BikesportNZ.com on Facebook HERE

Video courtesy MCD Edits – Filming and editing by Mitchell and Angus Macdonald

The defending outright champion from 2013, Mosgiel’s Hennessy (Yamaha YZ250) easily took round one honours at Berwick forest, near Mosgiel.

The underground mining worker showed that his 2013 form was no fluke with a convincing win over Christchurch’s Hamish Macdonald (Beta RR300)

Round one of the Beta-sponsored series brought an awesome day of racing with two brilliant main loops for the intermediate riders and some very tricky technical deviations to keep the expert level riders on their toes, with expert riders also completing an extra loop at the end.

The tracks consisted mainly of pine forest single trail with some gravel road transport sections and high country tussock busting trails thrown in for good measure.

A total of five lengthy special tests greeted riders, all in varying types of terrain which provided a very good test of riders’ skill sets.

With the weather gods this time smiling upon the Mosgiel terrain, and a bit of rain earlier in the week, conditions were prime for enduro racing.

After a long day in the saddle, it was Hennessy who emerged victorious, the local rider showing his years of racing experience count for something.

Taking the number two spot on the podium was young Beta-mounted Macdonald with third position going to Gore’s Jason Duff.

Christchurch’s Jacques Bakkenes put in a solid, calculated ride to secure fourth position for the day with Christchurch Beta rider Steven Kelly rounding out the top five.

A big thanks has to go to the organizers of the event, with all of the hard work from Stephen White, Joel Hennessy and their team of helpers turning what was a good event last year into a great even this time around.

Thanks to Beta New Zealand for sponsoring the series along with a host of other product sponsors including Kiwirider Magazine, Xtreme Race Components, Axxa Trailer Hire, Sidi, Thor, Spectro, Goldentyre, Fume and Precision Motorbikes

Round two of the series is set for Christchurch on April 5.

© Words by Steven Kelly, www.BikesportNZ.com

© Photo by Andy McGechan, www.BikesportNZ.com

Find BikesportNZ.com on Facebook HERE