MOTORSPORT - Kiwi riders shut out Aussie in final rounds of Enduro

THE New Zealand contingent struck back in rounds two and three of the North Island Enduro Championships, held in the Waikato over the weekend.
Using the same venue as was used for the first round at Oparau a week earlier, the weekend's double-header saw Kiwi riders exact some revenge on visiting Australian KTM rider Geoff Braico, who shocked the troops with his win at the series opener.
With Hokianga's Mitchell Nield (Husqvarna WR250) winning the second of three rounds on Saturday and Auckland's Chris Power (Honda CRF250) winning the third and final round on Sunday, the Australian star was completely shut out.
However, it wasn't Nield, Power or Braico who won the North Island title outright - that honour went instead to Mr Consistency, former trials riding ace Wellington's Rory Mead (KTM EXC250).
Series organiser Sean Clarke, of Tokoroa, said Mead's trials riding experience gave him the edge in the tricky Extreme Test section in a rocky river bed, on Saturday, with Mead winning that by three seconds from Power and New Plymouth's Dougy Herbert (Honda CRF250).
By finishing 3-2-2 in the three rounds, Mead did enough to take the title by three points from joint runners-up Nield (who finished 2-1-7) and Braico (1-3-5).
The riders were forced to deal with contrasting conditions over the weekend, with the track dry and dusty on Saturday and wet and slippery the following day.
But Tauranga's Reece Burgess (KTM EXC450), Hokianga's Damon Nield (Husqvarna CR125), Taranaki veteran Herbert and Marton's Cam Smith (Suzuki RMZ450) showed their attacking qualities throughout the weekend.
"It was a great two days of riding," Clarke said.