The Best 100 Ever !

2012 Tarawera 100

The 35^th annual Tarawera 100 saw 170 riders lined up, bikes stopped, hands on helmets ready for the shotgun start.

It was a grand  mix of first –timers, returnees and seasoned veterans of this iconic  event. 

Some would have bad starts, some would have bad luck, some would find glory but,  four laps of the 40km forest and farmland track and 3 plus hours later, all would agree that it was a fantastic race and one of the best Tarawera 100s ever. Darryll King said it was the best track he’d ridden.

Cody Cooper won it again – his third Tarawera 100 in a row – the man’s a machine, say some and he needed to be.  The competition was tough plus his 65^th into the forest is not what you’d call a good start. However, by the end of the first lap, Cody was already up to second behind Mitch Rees and he crossed the finish  line 2 minutes ahead of the perennial King who himself pipped Rhys Carter by a mere 34 seconds. (Click here for Suzuki Press Release). Adrian Smith had been a strong contender  but his clutch gave up early on.

Last year’s runner up from Tauranga Reece Burgess  finished 5^th overall and 3^rd in the main 301cc Plus Class. He was happy with his race despite sun strike wreaking havoc with the goggles initially. “The goggles had small spots to allow the rolls to work but they came off pronto at the next pit for a standard lens after I completely misjudged a corner at speed and had to pull the bike back to the track.  However, overall, I  was the first bike to come through with a headlight and the fastest enduro bike. I entered the 301 open main class as I felt a top place here was worth more than winning the enduros. Standing on the same podium as Cody shows that Husaburg enduro bikes are fast out of the box.”

Tauranga rider, Dave Constable (pictured above), won the Mega Vets.  He had joked at the start –“make room for me on the podium” but he came through from a bad start to 132^nd place overall and 1^st place in the Mega Vets. The bad start was due to hesitation.  Having borrowed his son’s 250X rather than use his own KTM, Dave couldn’t hear if the bike’s electric starter had got the bike going or not.   But that didn’t stop him getting through a quarter of the field very early on. “I walked the track before hand and found a couple of lines that nobody used,”  he says. “But I was lucky too. At the end of the race, I found oil on my boot. I took a close look at the bike to find the clutch cover completely worn through!” Dave will definitely be back next year to defend his title.

Second placed  Mega Vet, Murray Jensen (Te Puke), had an altercation with a pine tree. “It was where I had thought about needing to be careful,” he laughs, “but I’d just passed another rider and was going a bit fast. I went sideways into the tree, bent the radiator and smashed a hole in the crankcase”.  (Small plug:  Thank you Honda for having separate oil sections for the engine and gear box.)  “The track was really good”, Murray continues, “It was run in reverse with not much open fast stuff, a lot through the trees”.  The crash didn’t affect Murray’s   place as the Mega Vets race had been settled in lap 2  and the tree incident was in lap 4. “If it hadn’t been for the tree, I’d have finished just inside the top 50 overall” says Murray.

Gavin Weston, another Mega Vet confirms that the event was “Fabulous, awesome and the best it’s been in a long time !  Right from the beginning, it was rough and tight but doable. It just took more to stay on”.

Marcel Steens felt so fit after completing the required 2 laps for the Mega Vets, that he did another one!

Phil Singleton (Te Puke) won the 35-39 Years class.  “Excellent track, great race, everything ran smoothly, afterwards felt like I’d been in the ring with Shane Cameron, in other words, quite beaten up” were his comments.

Richard Marriner thought the 2012 100 was one of the best.  “The weather helped, there wasn’t a puddle in sight and not a big frost”, he reports.  “The track flowed and didn’t rut out as much.”  “I do the first lap in cruise mode”, he continues, “but I did complete the 4 laps without being lapped. I saw a few mishaps en route. I saw some bodies catapulting off at the second drain, three quarters of the way down from the start line going to the pits, but they seemed to roll and get up so I carried on. There was also a big steep downhill that kicked the back up which created some bent bars and broken mudguards”.

Cody Cooper did apologize at prize-giving to the riders he had yelled at as he worked his way through.

One of those riders may have been first-timer, Toby Wilmshurst (pictured on left), who says he actually got lapped twice by Cody!  

“My start wasn’t so hot,” he admits. “I was so surprised when my bike kicked over first pop  that I sat for 30 seconds like a stunned mullet before taking off. It’s quite a sensation to be on such a huge start line.  The jumps at the beginning were great fun.  I had a slight problem when I hit neutral as I was going through one creek crossing. My results aren’t staggeringly brilliant.  I helped out a couple of ladies who had problems– but they went on and beat me! How’s that for gratitude?” he laughs, “but I’ll get fitter for next year”.

Kelvin Meredith in his first Tarawera found the starts impressive as well. “There’s a dead quiet before the shot gun.  I was so excited that I found I got arm pump on the first lap.  A pit stop and some liquids sorted that and I did my 4 laps, but in the last one, the track was really chewed out”.

A batch of young riders including Tauranga juniors Leo van Lierop, Reed Van De Laar and Reuben Steens also lined up for the first time. 

“The event was pretty good”, reports Reed “but it was quite long.  The first two laps went by fast but the last two were pretty tiring”.  “I’m glad I did the whole four laps, though,” he adds. The tiring last lap didn’t stop Reed from being part of one of the most exciting finishes. He had caught up to his tent pitting mate Leo but they had several  swapping of leads and were going at it right up to the end. Reed snaffled the win, one second ahead of Leo,  taking out one of the buntings in the process.

Reuben ended up with a pretty average result. “I came through the first paddock and my chain broke”, he laments,” but I’ll definitely do it again next year”

Yes, rendez-vous again in 2013 for Tarawera 100 number 36.

Full results are on My Laps.   And click here for a video clip.

Plus a post scriptum from Richard:

“You probably think it’s impossible to spot anyone on the massive start line” he says, “but I’m easy to see. I’m the one leaning against the fence miles away from the others.-It because I’m short!"