Kiwi Riders Fifth And Sixth in the USA

Kiwi Riders Fifth And Sixth in the USA

OCTOBER 28, 2014: Two New Zealand riders finished inside the top 10 when the Grand National Cross-country Championships wrapped up in the United States at the weekend.

Pahiatua’s Paul Whibley (Yamaha YZ450F) battled amongst traffic at the 13th and final round of the GNCC series at Crawfordsville, Indiana, to finish eighth overall and this was enough for the two-time former GNCC champion to finish the 2014 series in fifth spot overall.

For 35-year-old former Manawatu forestry worker Whibley, the season has been a mixed bag – he easily won the parallel Off-Road Motorcycle and ATV (OMA) crown for a record sixth time, with a round to spare, but his GNCC campaign has been something of a struggle this year, although he is still regularly the fastest man into turn one and he claimed another $250 bonus prize as the holeshot winner at Crawfordsville on Sunday.

American Kailub Russell (KTM) won Sunday’s race to secure his 22nd career victory, giving him a total of nine wins this season, and putting a rubberstamp on the 2014 championship that he had already wrapped up with two rounds to spare.

Meanwhile, fellow Kiwi Callan May (Yamaha YZ250F), of Titirangi, in his GNCC debut season, had problems of a different nature to deal with as electrical problems struck on the first lap.

Down on power, he still managed to finish the race and that was enough for him to finish 83rd overall and 12th in the XC2 (250cc) category, still sufficient for the Auckland rider to seal up sixth overall in the XC2 championships standings.

“I want to say a huge thanks to everyone who has made my first year of GNCC racing such a success,” said May.

It was interesting to note that this final round of the GNCC series attracted more than 2300 riders, the highest rider count that GNCC has seen in its 40-year lifespan.

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.

May is supported by Yamaha Motor New Zealand, Kiwi Rider magazine, BikesportNZ.com, MotoSR, Golden Tyres, Fox, Graphic Creation, GYTR and Yamalube.

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