Tauranga Tops

North Island Trials Champs

Tauranga club riders took top honours in all classes except one at Rounds 3 and 4 of the North Island Trials held in Waihi and Te Puke over the weekend.

Over 50 of New Zealand’s best riders from as far south as Dunedin competed but  Jacob Gundry won the Junior grade, his sister Gabby Gundry won the Clubmans, Warwick Merriman won the Presidents grade and Phillip Shilton the A grade. 

Current NZ and Australian National titleholder, Jake Whitaker, was the “outsider” who won the Expert grade in his last competition in NZ before he heads to Europe to ride. 

The specialty of the day at the Saturday  venue in Waihi were the rocky cut climbs – there were 3 of them – however,  it was the slippery creek sections that brought everyone down to size. Torrential rain fell overnight but the Sunday turned out dry for Day 2 at Te Puke.   Two tree root sections were replaced by rock ones on the morning itself, creating a series of sections that had just the right amount of challenge. Points were a good balance of cleans and penalties.

A couple of pictures from the Waihi river sections are on the gallery.  Detailed results and overall points will follow.