South Waikato’s Adrian Smith is a four-time national cross-country champion and three-time Bel Ray Cross-country Series winner for a very good reason – he’s extremely fast on a dirt bike – and his rivals were given a vivid reminder of that on Sunday.

The 28-year-old sheep and beef farmer from Mokau raced to an impressive victory at the opening round of the 21st anniversary Bel-Ray Cross-country Championships near Huntly on Sunday, putting to bed any rumours that he would be weak and slow after a recent lengthy break from racing.

“I got a reasonable start, finding myself in about 10th place, but I quickly moved up to take the lead within the first couple of minutes (of the two-hour race).

“I led for the first two laps but then I was struggling a bit because I have not raced at all in about five months. I started making mistakes and Andrew Charleston (from Hamilton) and Scott Birch (from Rotorua) caught and passed me for the lead.

“I slipped back to about a minute behind them, until I caught a second wind and charged back at them,” said the Yamaha ace.

“I was right on their rear wheels as we were about to start the final lap and they had to pit for fuel, while I did not because I had a bigger fuel tank fitted. This gave me the break I needed and I opened up a lead of about 30 seconds, which I held until the finish.

Eventual runner-up on Sunday was Charleston (Honda), with Birch (Honda) third, Raglan’s Jason Dickey (Kawasaki) finishing fourth and Morrinsville’s Hayden Tesselaar (KTM) and Stratford’s Karl Roberts (Yamaha) rounding out the top six.

“My fitness was not great but it seems I still had the pace,” said Smith.

“I’ll be working on raising my fitness levels over the coming weeks, especially with the nationals just around the corner and the rest of the Bel Ray Series to commit to as well.”

Sunday’s race was just the first round of three in the popular Bel Ray series, but Smith’s comprehensive win on Sunday sets him up to make it three series wins in a row and four in total if he can maintain his pace and momentum at the two rounds that are due to follow.

The remaining two rounds after the weekend’s opener are set for January 11 (Smith’s Farm, Naike) and February 8 (Sutton’s Farm, Bombay).

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

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