Whibley Wins Final Round of His Own Series

WHIBLEY WINS FINAL ROUND OF HIS OWN SERIES

CAPTION: Manawatu's Paul Whibley (Yamaha YZ450F), who won the final round of the NZXC cross-country series on Sunday. Photo by Andy McGechan, BikesportNZ.com

DECEMBER 6, 2016: The temptation to ride the final round of his own series was just too great for Manawatu's Paul Whibley and the Yamaha star comfortably won the day as the NZXC cross-country series wrapped up on Sunday.

The former United States and New Zealand cross-country champion from Taikorea created the NZXC competition a year ago and he has been amazed by its rapid increase in popularity, with hundreds of dirt bike riders taking the opportunity to ride at least one of the half-dozen events this season.

Sunday's sixth and final round of this year's series also attracted a full field, the course set out at Castlehill, near Pahiatua, and among the riders to line up was Whibley himself, in only his third outing in the series this year.

That was part of his plan because, as he said when he first instigated the series last year, he didn't create it to be just another competition for him to win, even though he then went out and won the inaugural 2015 series "by accident".

Despite deliberately handicapping himself by not riding most of the rounds last season, he still surprised everyone, himself included, when he ended up accumulating the most points of any rider.

A long way down the series standings before Sunday's race, he knew he was "safe from collecting the trophy again" this season, although winning at Pahiatua was still his intention.

"I grabbed a good start and was top three around turn one," Whibley explained.

"Moving into second, behind Rotorua's Bradley Lauder, I made a move up the inside on one of the creek crossings. The track was pretty slick.

"I had a small lead over (Howick's) Liam Draper on lap one and, over the next few laps, we stayed pretty close. Liam closed in after the fuel stop after I made a couple small mistakes. Liam briefly took the lead, but I was able to move back into the lead soon after when he stalled his bike."

Draper dropped back late in the race, the victim of a flat tyre, and he eventually had to settle for 13th overall on Sunday.

That left Whibley alone at the front and he eventually won the two-hour race ahead of Eketahuna's Charlie Richardson and Masterton's Allan Gannon, with Stratford's Josh Hunger and Wellington's Hugh Lintott rounding out the top five.

The competition leader, Auckland's Sam Greenslade, was forced to withdraw after the halfway stage when painful blisters became too painful for him to continue, but he had still scored enough in the earlier five rounds to claim the series win overall.

Although this was only the third round Whibley had entered of the six this season, he'd still accumulated enough points to finish the series sixth overall.

The race for junior honours went down to the wire, with series leader Nick Wightman, of Waimauku, chasing down race leader William Eyre, of Huntly, until he crashed spectacularly.

This led to a few nervous moments in the Wightman camp as they watched the forward progress of the series' No.2 rider, Te Awamutu's Rachael Archer.

Archer eventually worked her way up to finish the race in second spot and, while that was good news for Archer, who therefore secured the series win, it was bad news for Wightman, who finished fourth in Sunday's race and had to settle for runner-up this season.

Finishing behind Archer on Sunday was Gisborne 's Troy Andrews and that was enough for the Yamaha rider to also grab third overall for the series.

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 O'Neal, Rekluse, Workshop Graphics and Silverbullet.co.nz

Words and photo by Andy McGechan, www.BikesportNZ.com

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