A Hard Day at the Office
NZ Enduro Champs 2015
“The first enduro of the season is always hard’, says Te Puke’s Murray Jensen. “You haven’t done enough riding and you’re not fit enough – well, I hadn’t and wasn’t anyway - so Sunday at Riverhead was a real ‘hard day at the office’. I had to dig deep to keep going”.
The ground conditions at Riverhead were perfect. A little rain prior and a light drizzle at the start of the day meant there was no dust. However, the tracks were rough and tight. 70% of the track was in 1st and 2nd gear with maybe some 3rd but the average speed was set at 33 to 36km/hr. The course consisted of two main sections that were done twice or more but with less time to complete the course the second time round.
“Half way through I looked at my speedo and saw there was no way I was going to make the average” says Murray. “Times were tight and you could wear yourself out trying to meet them”.
The results feature a number of DNFs where the rider “houred out” and did not finish within the allocated time. Andrew Schuit (Whakatane) was gutted to get a flat tyre in the last terrain test but luckily limped back to make it home by 1 minute.
Fellow vet rider Marcel Steens also made it back in time. "It's all about finishing," he says. "Enduro is endurance riding and not a trail ride. Nor is it for the faint-hearted. We ride for 6 hours. Riverhead is particularly tight with lots of roots and not a lot of relief". Marcel also thinks it might be a good idea to allow a bit more time leeway for the vet classes. More people finishing means more people on the start line the next time.
Reuben Steen was disappointed with his round 1 result, especially after winning his expert class at the last Bel Ray and going hammer and tong and swapping the lead all the time at the Hawkes Bay GNCC round with Taylor Grey (Cambridge). An inappropriate bike set up did not help.
In the trail section, only 4 of the 100 plus riders finished within the 65 minute time frame, something that hasn’t been seen in the enduros for quite some while.
In spite of all the warning signs, a horse with a lady on it (part of the time at least) proved an unexpected obstacle.
Murray has had two DNFs in his racing career and one of them was at Riverhead on a particularly rain-drenched day. According to Murray, Riverhead used to be called the ‘virgin swamps” but now there are bridges and the land appears to be drained. The first terrain test area has changed from raupo swamp into paddock and trees, for example.
Chris Birch was stoked to take the win at round one and even more stoked to see so many riders having a go. With all the top riders competing, the 2015 Enduro Champs will certainly be a very closely fought series. Paul Whibley had to settle for second behind Chris Birch in the Expert 301-Open 4 stroke class and in the overall. The expert 301-Open 4 stroke class belonged to Sam Greenslade ahead of Jake Whitaker, Adrian Smith and Callan May. Jason Davis won the Experts 201-Open 2 Stroke and Sean Clarke the Experts Vets.
Full results are on Silver Bullet. NB: The time taken for each terrain test (TT) is measured in seconds.
February is a busy month in the enduro calender. The next round is scheduled for Whangamata on February 14th but sandwiched in the middle on February 7th is the Endurocross Round that forms a major attraction at the Te Puke A & P Show, with a further Endurocross Round at the Paeroa Street Races on February 22nd 2015.
Click here for Andy McGechan's Report
