Whibley wins despite wobble

The true mark of a champion is when a racer shows the ability to surmount major obstacles to complete his mission - and that's exactly what Pahiatua's Paul Whibley had to do in the United States at the weekend.

Contesting round three of the American Off-road Motorcycle and ATV (OMA) series in Arkansas, the Yamaha ace was put to the test.

The 33-year-old Whibley is a four-time consecutive winner of the OMA series and was one of the favourites to win again in 2012 and make it five championships in a row.

But this time he was forced to battle back after a crash early in the race left him with bent handlebars on his Yamaha YZ450F.

Whibley got off to a good start along with Russell Bobbitt who lined up beside him and held the inside line into turn one. There Whibley got pushed wide and clipped Nick Fahringer as he swept around the outside.

With his front end taken out, the Pahiatua rider crashed and remounted in last position, albeit with twisted bars and a lot of work to do to catch Bobbitt, who was fast creating a sizeable lead.

By the end of the first lap, Whibley had moved into third and had second-placed Fahringer in his sights. Nearing the end of the second lap, Fahringer was overtaken as the riders entered a fast grass field. By that stage, Bobbitt had built a lead of more than 30sec but the tough-as-nails Kiwi kept pushing and closed the gap on him.

The next lap it was Bobbitt's turn to have some problems and Whibley caught right up to him and made a pass. Bobbitt recovered from his issues quickly and the two riders started swapping positions as they battled for the lead.

Going into the last lap Whibley was in front although Bobbitt was close behind. The track was cutting up and deep ruts were forming in some mud holes. Bobbitt picked a bad line and wedged his KTM in one of these deep ruts coming up out of a small creek crossing. Whibley said later he hadn't realised his arch-rival had dropped so far back until he had crossed the line for the win.

Assessing the damage to his bike from the first-turn crash, Whibley found a twisted radiator and was fortunate the Unabiker radiator braces held so he could finish the race.

Whibley has won all three rounds of the series thus far and has a solid lead at the top of the standings.