Paul Whibley
Whibley's Weekend Wins 8 May 2012
Race Report: Mid East XC/ NCHSA Rider: Paul Whibley Team: AmPro Yamaha Bike:
Yamaha YZ450 F Result: 1st/1st
An off weekend from GNCC and OMA racing found us at local events. The Mid East
XC Series held at Antioch speedway on Saturday and the North Carolina Hare
Scramble Association event
on Sunday.
Rain steadily fell as we rolled into Antioch speedway on Saturday morning but
had cleared by the time our race started. With the expected dust replaced by
slick clay I took it pretty easy on the first lap. I had got a good start and
moved into the lead quickly but I was kept in check by the chasing pack. As we
began the second lap I upped the pace as most of the slick spots were exposed
and much of the track had started to tack up. Recent Yamaha convert and GNCC
pro Chris Bach gave chase although I slowly edged away during the 2 hour event.
Heading into the last lap I had a nice buffer but I was going to need it.
Running my practice bike at this race I didn’t have my tire balls in and paid
the price with a flat rear. I backed it down and nursed it through the last
lap, worried that the tire would roll off the rim and my day would be done.
Lucky it held together and I took the win.
Sundays NCHSA event was held at Pilot Mountain near Morganton NC. Extremely dry
conditions and a short five mile track meant the start would play a critical
role in the race. The start straight was all of about 5m (17feet) long and I
lined up right on the inside after drawing sixth pick of the line. It all
worked out as I took the hole shot and had clean air to run in for the first
lap or so until we start catching traffic. Chris Bach again gave chase and ran
a strong pace until an off track excursion late in the event ended his day. I
was left up front with a good lead to cruise home to the win.
A good weekends racing and some good seat time ahead of the GNCC in Indiana
this weekend.
Big thanks to Katherine who manned the pits solo all weekend and did a great
job.
Race Report: Paul Whibley wins 2012 Raglan Rocx 4 hour solo
The Raglan Rocx would be a good measure of how the pre-season training is progressing.
KC Entertainment put up $500 for the hole shot, probably the biggest pay
out ever for a holeshot in NZ XC history. I’m not sure if it was the
H.S. money or an off weekend but a few top MX boys turned up, namely Ben
Townley, Cody Cooper and International MX1 rider Jake Nicholls from the
UK.
Yamaha
was well represented in the Ironman class with Adrian Smith and Rory
Mead both looking for the conditioning benefits from 4 hours in the
saddle.
A little late to the line meant a far outside pick, not ideal but I was
still confident of a reasonable start. I was expecting some carnage in
the first turn with guys having dollar signs in their eyes but the time I
spent during the week practicing the NZ style of dead engine starting
paid off with the bike firing quickly and launching towards turn one,
taking the money and lead.
I soon discovered a problem with my drink system. The bladder must have
burst as I could feel all the fluid running down my back. I sucked hard
on the mouth piece trying to get as much fluid in before it was gone. It
was going to be a tough day with little drink. Lucky I prepped a spare
drink system before the start and at one of the fuel stops Katherine and
dump can operator Mark Pollard strapped it on.
Rory Mead had been chasing me for the first half of the event and a
little tip over in a rut resulted in a busted peak on my helmet and the
lead falling into Rorys’ hands. I struggled with the peak, having to
slow to remove it as the high speed nature of the track resulted in the
peak sticking straight up and the wind trying to tear my head off. Once I
had reverted to bullet-man style I was back up to speed. I reeled Rory
in and retook the lead with an hour to go.
I was able to pull away and cruise for the last couple of laps with a safe lead.
- 1st Paul Whibley
- 2nd Ben Townley/Jayden Grey
- 3rd Jason Dickey/Brandon Given
Race Report: Raglan Rox 4 Hour
Rider: Paul Whibley/ Rory Mead
Team: Sargent MC/ Yamaha NZ
Bike: Yamaha YZ450 F
Result: 1st
The annual Raglan Rox 4 Hour XC was held at a new venue near Operau. I had teamed up for this event with fellow Yamaha rider Rory Mead.
Lining up on the start with spectacular views out over the Kawhia harbour and coastline could have been distracting some of the riders as I managed to pull a solid holeshot from a not so favourable position on the line.
I worked hard on the first lap and opened up about a minute lead over the chasing team of Jayden Grey and Ben Townley. Over the next couple of laps I maintained that lead without taking any risks on the fun and fast track.
Ben Townley took over from Jayden and set a fast pace as he worked hard to eat into our lead. Rain began to fall as I handed the bike over to Rory for his turn at the fuel stop.
Unfortunately Rory had a crash on the increasingly slippery track allowing Ben to make up a lot of time and take the lead. Ben and Jayden worked well together and put some time on Rory and myself.
The track had become extremely slippery with the now persistant rain and several of the hills were giving riders some grief.
I jumped back on after Rorys session and was surprised by how much the conditions had changed, getting caught out on a slick corner and going down. I worked hard at putting in mistake free laps after that and began to close in on the lead.
We were running out of laps but on the last lap I caught and past Jayden. Over the last lap I managed to pull a small lead.
The track was now littered with bikes especially on several of the slick hills that climbed up through the bush section. I managed to weave my way up the toughest hill safely, threading my way through the cooked and stuck bikes. Arriving at the finish in first and sharing the win with my team mate Rory.
Big thanks to Carol and Gordy Brooker for all their help.
1st: Paul Whibley/ Rory Mead
2nd: Jayden Grey/ Ben Townley
3rd: Scott Birch/ Cullum Birch
Paul Whibley is supported in NZ by: AmPro Yamaha, Monster Energy, Shoei, Sidi, Smith, G2, CTi, Moto SR, Vortex Ignitions, EC3D, Bush Riders MCC,Spectro, Acerbis, DID, JT sprokets, GHQ, Pirelli, Sargent Motorcycles, Yamaha NZ, Rosscos start Up Services
The AmPro Yamaha Team is supported by: FMF Kenda Yamalube Asterisk Cannondale CV4 Cycle Gear E-Batt EBC Brakes Factory Connection Fastway Gaerne GYTR IMS Jonny Signs Leatt Brace Matrix Racing Products Motion Pro MSR Pro-Clean Rekluse Scott Shoei Slavens TM Designworks Twin Air Wiseco ZipTy Racing
Race report: NZ GNCC Round 4 Maramarua 8th January 2011
Rider: Paul Whibley, Team: Sargent MCC/AmPro Yamaha, Bike: Yamaha YZ450F, Result: 1st
Blazing sun and high temperatures greeted riders lining up for the latest NZ GNCC event held in Maramarua forest south of Auckland.
Some early confusion off the start line after a track change saw myself and fellow Yamaha rider Rory Mead briefly take a wrong turn and lose some track positions.
I found myself in third behind Reece Burgess for the first few kms but with some aggressive riding moved up to second.
The track was extremely dusty and excessively fast and I couldn’t let fast starting Karl Power get away. Although by the time I got to second all I could see of Karl was the long dust trail.
I didn’t help my cause when in the dust I missed a turn and only realized when I came into clean air that I had made a mistake. End of lap 1 I had nearly a minute to make up.
I kept the pressure on and began to eat into Karl’s lead as I learned the track. End of the second lap the gap was down to about 30 seconds and by the end of 3rd lap I had reeled him in and locked on to his wheel.
Some risky moves were made in the dust but they soon paid off as I took the lead in the fourth lap.
Finally in the clean air I was able to ride safely and not take any more chances.
As the race progressed I was able to move out to a comfortable lead. Taking the win in the 2 hour 30 min event with Karl bringing his Honda home second and Reece Burgess maintaining his good start and rounding out the final podium spot on his Husaberg.
1st; Paul Whibley
2nd; Karl Power
3rd; Reece Burgess
Paul Whibley is supported in NZ by: AmPro Yamaha, Monster Energy, Shoei, Sidi, Smith, G2, CTi, Moto SR, Vortex Ignitions, EC3D, Bush Riders MCC, Spectro, Acerbis, DID, JT sprockets, GHQ, Pirelli, Sargent Motorcycles, Yamaha NZ, Rosscos Start up Services.
