Axeman cuts loose in US

Paul Whibley leads the US Grand National Cross-country Championships with two of the 13 rounds completed. Photo / Andy McGechan

New Zealand's Paul Whibley is again making headlines in the United States.

The former forestry worker from Pahiatua finished runner-up in the prestigious Grand National Cross-country Championships (GNCC) last year and is now tipped to take the No1 spot in 2009.

Known affectionately as "the Axeman", Whibley leads the 2009 season of the GNCC series after the first two rounds, seven points ahead of the rider who was his teammate last season, American Charlie Mullins.

It perhaps comes as no surprise to those who know what Whibley and his new Kawasaki KX450F are capable of doing.

He finished a close runner-up in round one of the championship near Orlando, Florida, and followed that with a convincing win in round two at Georgia, Washington, just over a week ago.

Now the US bike media is predicting this flying Kiwi can go all the way.

But the modest Whibley would be the first to tell you there's still a lot of racing to go and anything can happen, especially in a sport as demanding as off-road dirt bike racing.

"There are still 11 rounds to go ... that's 33 hours of racing. I'm taking nothing for granted," he said.

"A lot of people have come to me and said that they think I can win it, but there are plenty of others who are more than capable of taking the title. I think it's too early yet to say anyone is going to dominate or win it easy."

Whibley heads to Morganton, North Carolina, for the third round this weekend.

He was named New Zealand's Off-road Rider of the Year last year and, following this recent success, could be on target to nail down that honour again this season.