from ... Chris Power28 January: GNCC - Final Round
This was the final round of the Grand National Cross Country series and
Maramarua was the venue. I was technically still in with a chance of taking out
the overall win, but Reece Burges had to of had a pretty serious DNF. I did the
best I could and got out front from the first turn and started making tracks. I
had pulled a good minute by halfway through the race, with Husqvarna rider John
O’Dea in second.
On the second to last lap I pitted for fuel and re-joined the race in second on John’s back wheel. Before I could make a pass for the lead I noticed the front end washing on every corner - I had a flat tire. My first flat tire in about five years. I limped back to the pits, changed out my front wheel and finished the race. Reece had some problems too but finished the race strong and took the series win - I had to settle for second this year. 29 January: Woodville River Race
Straight after prize giving I jumped into the car and headed south for
Woodville. Honda had asked me to come down and represent in the river race and
since I had not done it before I thought it would be fun.
The race is a Le Mans start and Martin from Blue Wing Honda was holding my bike for me. The gun went off and the bike fired first time and away we went. I quickly moved into second behind Paul Whibley and started drinking his YZ450 water. Though it seemed that his YZ was thirstier than me as it started to run rough through the river. With two laps to go I was ready to make a Kamikaze run past Paul but his bike swallowed a lung full of water instead and stopped, giving me the race win. Race two was the same scenario - I slotted in behind Paul again and we gapped the rest of the field. With two laps to go I made the pass on Paul through the river and nailed it onto the MX track. Paul got me back just before we entered the river and it was a sprint through the water to the finish. I put in a last ditch effort and com up along side Paul in the last 100 metres but got blown into some deep water by his bow wave and had to settle for second. Perhaps one of the most enjoyable events I have ridden in a long time -
plus it’s always good to race against Whibley as he races hard but you know he’s
gonna race clean too. My 1-2 result gave me the overall win which I was stoked
about, as were Honda.
 That's me in behind #2 Paul Whibley. Photo courtesy of Dick Koers. 04 February: New Zealand Enduro Champs - Round 1 - Oparau The start of the 2012 Enduro season was something I had been looking forward to for a while now. Having missed 99% of the 2011 season after needing shoulder re-construction, I was itching to get back into the swing of things. Having only been on the bike again for just over six months, I was aiming for a top three overall, building a good foundation for the rest of the season. The first section was a pre-ride of all the tests and it was apparent that the grass was super slippery and you needed to take care. when getting on the gas.  The first test proved my theory right and on a sweeping left hand bend the front let go and I went down. 10th in the first test was not my ideal start but never the less it was a start. The rest of the day went better but I still didn’t feel like I was riding as fast as I should be. I few more mistakes over the course of the day and the 120+km event was done. I was happy to find out that I had managed to secure second outright for the day, making up most of my time on the more technical of the three terrain tests. I’m happy with second, knowing that I can go faster and there are still four more rounds to go to get to that top spot. Next up is the Te Puke Enduro Cross. This is held on the outskirts of Te
Puke in conjunction with the A&P Show. This will be yet another brilliant event,
and a good shake down for the recently announced Red Bull City Scramble that is
to be held on 01 April 1. |