Manawatu motorcycle ace Paul Whibley has strengthened his stranglehold on this season’s three-round Dirt Guide Cross-country Series after taking another solid win at round two near Tokoroa on Sunday.

Whibley won the Dirt Guide series opener at Ohakuri, about halfway between Taupo and Tokoroa, last month, on that occasion racing a Yamaha YZ125.

For Sunday’s second round at Tar Hill, about 12 kilometres south of Tokoroa, he brought out the “big gun”, lining up to race on his Yamaha YZ450FX four-stroke machine.

That was probably just as well too, because he didn’t have things go all his own way on Sunday as Taupo’s national cross-country champion Brad Groombridge also showed up with his 450cc bike and racing on the forestry course was tight at the front between these two men.

Whibley, who operates the Taikorea dirt bike park and also works as a rider fitness coach, was quickly into the lead after the shotgun blast signalled the mass start just after midday Sunday.

Helensville’s Tom Buxton grabbed the holeshot, with Whibley right on his tail as they exited turn one.

“I bided my time and just stayed behind Tommy until about halfway through the first lap,” Whibley explained.

“Maybe the pressure was too much because he let me pass him pretty easily.

“I knew that Brad Groombridge, Callan May and Ashton Grey would be pushing hard to catch me, so I lifted the pace a bit to try and create a bit of a gap.”

In the end, it was Groombridge who threatened most, taking the lead from Whibley when he stopped in the pits for fresh goggles.

“I caught back up to Brad (Groombridge) on the fifth and last lap and he then just fell off in front of me … just sort of tipped over in a rut. I went past and pushed pretty hard after that but never saw him again.”

Whibley eventually won the two-hour race by nearly four minutes from Groombridge, with Buxton, Grey and May claiming third, fourth and fifth placings respectively.

Groombridge wasn’t injured in the slow-speed fall, but his goggles were damaged and so he was not able to recover the lost ground.

Whibley, a 39-year-old former Manawatu forestry worker, affectionately dubbed “The Axeman” on the motorcycling scene, was a two-time outright winner of the Grand National Cross-country Championships (GNCC) in the United States (in 2009 and 2012) and a record six-time winner of the parallel Off-Road Motorcycle and ATV (OMA) series as well, although he now concentrates his time on activities closer to his home at Taikorea, on the outskirts of Palmerston North.

The Dirt Guide Series is just the sort of competition he likes to sink his teeth into and a solid top five result at the series final, at Ohakuri on July 9, will easily be enough for him to take the main prize this season.

Whibley’s main challengers for the Dirt Guide trophy after two rounds are fellow Yamaha riders Grey and May.

The 17-year-old Grey (Yamaha WR250F), from Cambridge, is in the runner-up position after two rounds, 12 points behind Whibley, with Titirangi’s May (Yamaha YZ450F) four points behind him, while Buxton (KTM 350 EXC-F) fourth overall, three points further back.

Best of the intermediate grade riders on Sunday was Whitianga’s Blake Wilkins (14th overall), with fellow intermediate riders Rachael Archer (of Te Awamutu, 16th overall) and Havelock North’s Sam Lee (18th overall) also finishing in the top half of the field.

The top of the intermediate grade standings after two rounds has Wilkins leading from Inglewood’s Regan George, Helenville’s John Buxton, Whitianga’s James Kerr and then Archer.

The winner of the 90-minute junior race, held earlier in the day, was Cambridge’s Beau Taylor, with Cambridge’s Callum Paterson finishing runner-up and Napier’s Bryn Codd third.

With two wins now from two starts in the junior grade, Taylor leads the competition, eight points clear of Paterson, with Tokoroa’s Nick Wightman third overall.

Whibley is supported by Yamaha Motor New Zealand, Arai, TCX, Oakley, G2, Asterisk, MotoSR, Vortex Ignitions, EC3D, Bush Riders MCC, Rossco’s Start Up Services, Unabiker, Leatt Brace, Tire Balls, Renthal, Bikesportnz.com, CarbSport, KettleClamp, Alliance Offroad, Ride Eng MotoSeat, FMF, Michelin, Yamalube CV4 GYTR, IMS, Rekluse, Workshop Graphics, Silverbullet.co.nz and O’Neal.

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

Find BikesportNZ.com on FACEBOOK here