Husqvarna Rider Archer Keeps Her Lead Intact

Husqvarna Rider Archer Keeps Her Lead Intact

SEPTEMBER 5, 2016: Te Awamutu's Rachael Archer has done it again, humbled most of the males and with that also kept her title-winning hopes well on track.

The 14-year-old Archer from Ngaroma, near Te Awamutu, took her Husqvarna TE125 to a solid runner-up finish in the junior grade at the third round of four in the popular Dirt Guide Cross-country Championships near Atiamuri on Sunday.

She ran out of time to catch leader and eventual race winner Dan White, also from Te Awamutu, finishing the 90-minute race just 26 seconds behind White, who was riding a 250cc four-stroke bike.

But it was still enough for 125cc two-stroke rider Archer to maintain her position at second overall in the junior grade and to also strengthen her grip on the top spot in the battle-within-a-battle for 12-16 years' under-200cc two-stroke class honours.

White (Kawasaki KX250F) has now won both rounds thus far, while Archer has twice finished runner-up, meaning the pressure is still on White with one round remaining and a slip-up at the final round could allow Archer to swoop in and snatch the trophy away.

White leads Archer by just six points for overall honours and that battle will go down to the wire at the third and final round in forestry at Tar Hill, just south of Tokoroa, on October 2.

Archer leads her class from fellow Husqvarna TE125 rider Nick Wightman, of Waimauku, also by a six-point margin.

"Dan's like a brother to me ... my brother from another mother," she laughed.

"We have been school mates since we were five, and rivals on the race track all those years too, so it's always a lot of fun," said Archer, a year 10 pupil at St Peter's Cambridge.

"I got a reasonable start, about fourth place, behind Dan (White), Cambridge's Beau Taylor and Oparau's Hunter Scott," said Archer.

"I managed to pass Hunter quite quickly, about one kilometre into the race and then got past Beau when he pitted and I bypassed the pits. I don't know why he went into the pits. I didn't need to refuel at all.

"It was quite a tight track and very difficult to find a way past other riders and lapped riders were a problem too."

Archer's next big assignment will be to defend her national motocross title, possibly using the new Husqvarna TX125 model bike, a bike with a wider-ratio gearbox and larger fuel tank, designed primarily for cross-country racing because this is what she is mostly focussed on.

"I won the women's under-17 years' grade at the women's motocross nationals last year and my aim is to repeat that again this year."

Contesting the Dirt Guide series and the women's motocross nationals are both part of her build-up for an international campaign early next year.

"I'm heading to the United States in March to race in two rounds of the Grand National Cross-country Championships (GNCC), competing in the women's grade," said Archer.

"There are 12 rounds in the GNCC, but I will race just two rounds, in Florida and Georgia, just to see how I'd go."

Meanwhile, Cambridge's Zara Gray (Husqvarna TE125) won the novice grade at the Dirt Guide event on Sunday, finishing ahead of Taharoa's Summer Muru (Husqvarna TC125) and Tokoroa's Madison Clarke (KTM 200EXC).

The top three finishers in the mini grade were Rotorua's Daniel Bates, Cambridge's Lewy Taylor and New Plymouth's Josh Houghton.

The two-hour senior race followed immediately after the junior race and Coatesville's Sam Greenslade was the winner, crossing the line ahead of Titirangi's Callan May and Taikorea's Paul Whibley.

Words by Andy McGechan, www.BikesportNZ.com

© Scoop Media