Whitaker in a Class of His Own

Whitaker in a Class of His Own

OCTOBER 27, 2015: The national moto trials championship win record has been broken and, if Jake Whitaker has anything to do with it, that record will be broken again a few more times yet.

The 24-year-old Wellington furniture polisher was again simply too slick for his rivals at the 2015 Farmlands New Zealand Moto Trials Championships in Taranaki, winning all three days of Expert Grade competition over the Labour Weekend.

It was the eighth time Whitaker has won the Expert Grade outright, placing him alone at the top of the sport in New Zealand.

Before the weekend began, he had been level with Napier's Warren Laugesen as a seven-time champion but Laugesen is nowadays concentrating on an entirely different motorcycling code – enduro racing – and he was a no-show in Taranaki at the weekend.

Whitaker has also been branching out and tackling enduro events and he believes it is perhaps his enduro experiences in recent months that have given him added strength, making him a more rounded sportsman and certainly a more aggressive rider.

He was fierce and fearless as he tackled each of the courses marked out at three separate venues over the weekend – at Inglewood on Saturday, Egmont Village on Sunday and Opunake on Monday.

Runner-up was Rotorua's John Haynes, with Nelson's Nicholas Oliver rounding out the expert grade podium.

"The first day was fairly easy, although there were quite a few water sections that were a bit tricky," Whitaker explained.

"With riders going through the sections ahead of me, the water was stirred up and it was tough to see where all the rocks were. They were very slippery too.

"I lost a few points, but, thankfully, not as many as my rivals," he laughed.

"Monday was especially fun because it was dry and I enjoy the big rock sections."

Whitaker won his first national moto trials championship at the age of 15 and since then he has continued to reap rewards, competing on the international circuit and twice winning the Australian Moto Trials Championship, in 2010 and 2012.

With youth on his side, Whitaker could be expected to extend his winning run for several more seasons.

Other championship class winners at the weekend were Nelson's Stephen Oliver (presidents grade, over-40 years); 11-year-old Dylan Ball, of Wellington (junior grade, under-17); Christchurch's Stefanie Downes (women's grade); Rangiora's Paul Jackson (post classic/twin shock).

Support class winners were Nelson's Peter Oliver (A Grade); Ashhurst's Kevin Pinfold (intermediate); New Plymouth's Daniel Herbert (clubman).

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