New Zealand’s Paul Whibley is not one to shy away from a challenge, but his latest race in the United States was certainly something out of the ordinary.

The Yamaha ace from Pahiatua is currently in the middle of his 2014 Grand National Cross-country Championships (GNCC) campaign in the US and, while that series takes a mid-summer break, he decided to seek out competition elsewhere to keep himself sharp and he entered the extreme Tennessee Knock Out (TKO) event at the weekend.

“Lining up for the 2014 Tennessee Knock Out on my GNCC/OMA Yamaha YZ450F may have not been the best choice, with some gnarly rocky creeks and technical sections laid out for competitors,” said Whibley.

“But, with some help from top sponsors, the YZ450F was tuned to tackle all that the TKO could dish up.

“The Vortex ignition was switched to a smooth map, the G2 throttle cam system was tuned with a slower opening cam, the seat was trimmed down and a gripper Motoseat cover held me in place and Kenda hooked us up with some super sticky tyres. With Unibiker protecting the radiators and cases, we were ready to go.

“The hot lap went okay, but I missed a few lines that I wanted to hit after walking the short course.

“In the first elimination race, I got stuck on a basic hill and had to have a couple goes to get up and lost a few positions.

“Still, I made it through to the next qualifying race. As we were in staging for this the dark clouds were building fast,” said the 35-year-old former Manawatu forestry worker, affectionately dubbed “The Axeman” on the motorcycling scene.

“Not long after were began the second qualifier it started to bucket down.

“The track got harder and harder. By the time we got to the rock waterfall section it was just survival. You had to be in the top 15 to qualify to the final from this race. Only 15 riders made it to the finish so that simplified things.

“The final race went good, riding steady and moved up from my third row start. On the last lap up the rock waterfall section we were all bunched up. The obvious lines were choked with bikes and riders trying to push their way to the top. The one open line was not going to be ridden up but I figured I could lift my bike up.

“I eventually got up with a little help from Ricky Russell who had pulled in behind me. Once up, I gave him a hand to drag his bike up. A bit more pushing and shoving and we cleared the section and on to the finish.

“I placed seventh overall. I would have liked to finish a little higher up, but this was one of those races that just to make it to the chequered flag is an accomplishment in itself.”

The race was won by Cody Webb, with Taylor Robert and Grant Baylor rounding out the podium.

Whibley is supported by Yamaha Motor New Zealand, AmPro Yamaha, Monster Energy, Shoei, Sidi, Smith, MSR G2, Asterisk, Moto SR, Vortex Ignitions, EC3D, Bush Riders MCC, Spectro, Acerbis, DID, JT sprockets, Leatt, Kenda, Sargent Motorcycles, Yamaha NZ, Bikesportnz.com, Unibiker and Tire balls.

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

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