Husqvarna Rider Yearbury Makes It Two Titles In A Row

Husqvarna rider Dylan Yearbury has been the man to beat for two seasons now and that was underlined on Sunday when he made it back-to-back national title wins.

The 27-year-old builder from Cambridge took his trusted two-stroke Husqvarna TE300 dirt bike to win both the first two rounds of three in the 2022 New Zealand Enduro Championships over the long Queen’s Birthday Weekend and he then comfortably wrapped up the title with a solid display at the third and final round near Martinborough at the weekend.

“Job done, mission accomplished,” said Yearbury after he successfully defended his 2021 crown on steep and slippery, rain and wind-lashed farmland in the Wairarapa on Sunday.

Clever and sensible, controlled and calculating, Yearbury knew that a finish among the top five or six positions on Sunday would probably be enough for him to clinch the 2022 trophy and that was exactly his approach, settling for fourth overall for the day on Sunday.

“It was very satisfying in the end and I got the job done. I rode fairy well in the first two special tests on Sunday, but I was not as fast in the next two. My aim was just to be consistent and not push too hard. I knew that finishing anywhere in the top five or six would be okay and the bike didn’t miss a beat.

“It was very wet and windy and the gales threatened to blow me off the bike a couple of times. It was particularly bad along the ridge-lines of the hills. We were riding near wind turbines and they were spinning flat out,” he laughed.

His conservative riding was still easily enough for him to seal it up and it was an ideal result for the man who will shortly head overseas, along with some of his domestic rivals, to contest the 2022 edition of the International Six Days Enduro (ISDE) in France.

Yearbury – along with Scott, Helensville's Tom Buxton, Howick's Liam Draper, Whanganui's Seth Reardon, Oparau's James Scott, Wairoa's Tommy Watts, Taupo's Wil Yeoman, Rangiora's Ben Dando, Oratia's Callan May, Waitoki's Ben Cottrill, Helensville's Josh Jack, Auckland's Dan Watson and Levin's Dan Walker – will no doubt represent New Zealand with distinction at the ISDE in late August and early September.

South Waikato’s Scott won the day at Martinborough, winning the event outright ahead of Jack and Groombridge

Overall for the series, Jack finished runner-up for 2022 (behind Yearbury), with Yeoman third overall, while Groombridge and Manawatu’s Paul Whibley rounded out the top five.

In terms of individual class honours, Yearbury won the over-300cc two-stroke class title this season; Whibley won the veterans’, over-40 years, class; Yeoman won the under-300cc four-stroke class; New Plymouth’s Sam Parker won the under-200cc two-stroke class and Omihi’s Ethan McBreen won the over-300cc four-stroke class.

2022 NZ Enduro Champs calendar:

Round 1 – Saturday, June 4 – Whanganui;

Round 2 – Queen's Birthday Monday, June 6 – Porirua;

Round 3 – Sunday, June 12 – Martinborough.

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

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