Honda Rider Basalaj Stretches His Advantage

South Islander Bailey Basalaj has leapt another huge step closer to winning his first national motorcycle racing title after another solid performance over King’s Birthday Weekend.

The Nelson rider won the opening round of the 2025 New Zealand Enduro Championships near Nelson in April and probably felt there was a target on his back when he arrived at round two in the lower North Island at the weekend.

However, the Honda star continues to lead the way after also winning the second two-day round of competition near Whanganui at the weekend and he knows a “steady as she goes approach may be enough to get the job done”, with the third and final weekend of racing now less than seven days away.

Bailey won the ‘sprint’ segment of the competition day on Sunday, but was forced to settle for third overall during the main enduro on Monday, although his 1-3 score for the two days was still enough to give him the overall edge over Masterton’s Max Williams (who finished runner-up with 2-4 results over the two days), with Whangamata’s Ethan Jamieson (third, 3-7), Owaka’s Blake Affleck (fourth, 4-6) and Amberley’s Nathan Hodge (fifth, 5-5) rounding out the top five in the premier Expert AA grade.

New Plymouth’s Josh Houghton finished sixth overall for the weekend, with a 16-1 score-card, and can only rue his lost opportunity to overshadow Basalaj.

Houghton had a minor mechanic issue to deal with on Sunday and this obviously cost him dearly because he was certainly on fire on Monday, winning three of the five separate sections, ahead of Taupo’s Wil Yeoman, and clinching overall honours for the day, with Basalaj third overall for day two, finishing just 10 seconds behind Yeoman.

"It wasn’t such a good day for me on Monday,” explained Basalaj afterwards.

“After winning round one of the series, I knew I didn’t need to ride over my head and I’m still in a good position anyway with now just one round to go.

“My Honda CRF250R bike performed brilliantly and didn’t miss a beat, although I made a few human errors, silly mistakes that cost me time on Monday. I tried to hop over a log and messed that up. It was hard to get back into a rhythm after that.

“Thankfully, the pressure is off for me a little bit in terms of winning the title and perhaps I won’t need to push too hard at the final round. I still have to be careful though, because I could still lose it all from here.”

Best of the intermediate (A grade) riders at the weekend was Masterton’s George Callaghan, followed by Whanganui’s Jason Wakeling and Stratford’s Megan Collins. Leading rider in the B–Trail class was Wakefield’s Cam Clarke, with Palmerston North’s Jarrod Amey topping the B-Junior class.

The third and final round of the series is set for farmland near Masterton next weekend, on June 7-8.

2025 NZ Enduro Champs calendar:

Round 1: April 25-26, Nelson. Day 1, 725 Dovedale Road, Day 2 Moutere Highway, 3.8km west of the Redwood Valley Hall.

Round 2: June 1-2, near Whanganui.

Round 3: June 7-8, Ruakokoputuna Hall, Martinborough District, South Wairarapa.

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