Just finishing is a reward !

National Enduro R 5 Riverhead

maddix park mx

Riverhead is not a pleasant place with hard packed clay covered by an inch of soil that retains the water. Exposed roots are guaranteed to shape the track and it is rare you will find good lines forming. It requires a different riding style to most areas. After some track editing, only 16 people finished Round 5 of the NZ Enduro Champs so Riverhead lived up to its reputation of being nasty. The reward was simply to finish.

The event was won by Rory Mead, back from the USA where he has been competing in a number of GNCC events, and only 90 seconds ahead of Chris Birch, who himself is  back in NZ for a short visit from South Africa. Third was Adrian Smith and Sean Clarke won the Vets class.

It was a tough day with a tough field but Tauranga rider, Reece Burgess was one of the few finishers, gaining 2nd place in the Expert - 301-Open 4Stroke class. On the board, he still holds the overall lead in this class 4 points ahead of Rory and with one round to go in Taupo on July 23.  However, riders drop their worst round so theoretically Reece is 2nd.

Reece reports as follows:

“After the forecast of heavy rain and showers for the day, it was remarkable to find a clear blue sky greet us in Riverhead. I won’t pretend I have ever enjoyed Riverhead since riding a 125 where if you were going to get stuck at least it was light and you got stuck last.

The first thing I noticed was the soil. You could see the inch of top soil was thick with water. The second and most important thing was that there were only 3 terrain tests with an early finish time. I immediately put these together to realize the terrain tests would count for nothing at the end of the day unless 2 riders finished on the same number of lost minutes.

Through the first sections and terrain test I would ease in to working out how to ride in this mess, than try to work in a bit more pace and have a strong finish.

However, it was a real struggle to find any rhythm that worked in the early stages. The track was very low speed, therefore hard to clear mud and few line options.

In the very first stage I got a bit off line going up a hill somehow stapling a tree side and bruising my knee and lower back so any mistakes would make you pay. This kept me from getting too excited when things were going right.

In the later stages I started to pick up the pace, just after the times were tightening up. Mud had come off the back wheel and stuck to the seat and pegs, I slipped to the rear of the bike when I lost footing going up a hill and struggled to stay on so stopped before I came off. Scraping off the mud helped but now it was on my handgrips also.

Soon after I was at an unexpected 4th test where the 2 inches of mud covered every line on every inch of the track. The only way to clear this off your wheels was to go faster and spin the wheels so I did. On an uneventful easy step down, the front wheel was a bit too clogged and under steered slightly offline, sliding to the side of the track where the bike got wedged under a large fallen tree on a wayward gradient.

With all my strength, I could not pull it out from any angle. I snapped off the branches holding the bike in place and dug out enough to move, then dragged upward to slide out. Once out, I used the motor to stand it up vertical and pulled the front down facing the track and rode out but I was so physically drained I could barely stay on the bike and so checking in quite late.

The last stage I made a lot of time back but in this event, none of that matters. I knew I blew it. There was an easy top spot for anyone who recognized the test meant very little and focused of staying out of trouble. 

Riverhead takes some getting use too. Unfortunately that last test I did not expect, deviating from the plan I went to fast too soon and got stuck as a result.

It was easy to make mistakes here and I did. It took so much energy to get going I could hardly hold on to the bike without it being covered in slippery mud.

I did not count on getting wedged and should have never speed up for the test but got caught up in the moment

The day was for finishers, you could ride slow all day then race the last stages and have an easy 1,2,3rd posting the slowest test times on the planet

But, even the worst ride is better then the best day at work !”

And what are Reece's predictions for the final round in Taupo ?

"Taupo is another soil type and style of riding altogether. I am expecting that day to come down to a balance of speed v’s minimising small mistakes.

The highest corner speed and staying upright will win as opposed to the most crafty- 2 different skills. I still expect Rory to be very strong and Jason Davies can be the same so I will just worry about myself and see what happens.

No sense in being fast if you can’t do it safely 100% of the time.

Due to the easier terrain everyone will be much closer in time so places can change fast".

The photo above is the bike Reece brought home.

For full Riverhead results, go to www.silver-bullet.co.nz .

For Andy McGechan’s report go to www.mnz.co.nz

 
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