Mokau's Adrian Smith (Yamaha YZ250FX), left, with Paul Whibley, after finishing first and second at round one of the cross-country nationals. Pictures / Andy McGechan, BikesportNZ.com
Mokau's Adrian Smith (Yamaha YZ250FX), left, with Paul Whibley, after finishing first and second at round one of the cross-country nationals. Pictures / Andy McGechan, BikesportNZ.com
Cross-country champ battle already amazing, writes Andy McGechan
It looks like it is going to be "Sideshow Bob" v "The Axeman" throughout this season's New Zealand Cross-country Championships.
Adrian Smith is a sheep and beef farmer and spends a lot of time riding a dirt bike, but that doesn't explain why the man from Mokau is so phenomenally fast at the weekends. With fly-away blond ringlets, Smith has attracted the nickname "Sideshow Bob" - named after The Simpsons cartoon character - but there is nothing jokey about his machine-like dedication to racing and he demonstrated that with a quality start to his title defence.
The four-time New Zealand cross-country champion had been expected to meet his match when this year's nationals kicked off near Onga Onga, in Central Hawkes Bay, just over a week ago. Kiwi international Paul Whibley is permanently back in New Zealand after 12 years racing overseas and posed a threat to Smith's dominance on the domestic scene.
But in the first round of four in the series it was business as usual for Smith on the steep farm landscape, with the defending champion finishing the three-hour race three minutes plus ahead of fellow Yamaha star Whibley.
Scott Birch (Rotorua, Honda) came home third overall, 2m 21s behind Whibley (Pahiatua).
Jacob Brown (Te Kauwhata, KTM) grabbed the holeshot at the start of the three-hour marathon, but he was quickly swallowed up by a gaggle of riders, including Smith, Birch, Whibley and Charles Alabaster (Palmerston North, Honda).
Pahiatua's Paul Whibley (Yamaha YZ450F)
The 36-year-old Whibley carries the intimidating moniker "The Axeman" because he used to be a forestry worker in Manawatu before becoming a professional racer. He led the race at Onga Onga for the first few kilometres.
Then he opted to "back off a bit and play it safe", the course much more open and faster than he had been accustomed to in the US over the past few seasons.
"Those other guys seemed pretty excited to go faster than me, even with rocks, tree stumps and other obstacles hidden in the dust and long grass. Put it this way, Adrian (Smith) and Scott (Birch) wanted to go a lot faster than I was prepared to go. The pace was completely nuts."
Smith stretched out his lead and, by the end of the first 36km lap he was a minute ahead of Birch, with Whibley about 15 seconds further back.
However, once into a rhythm, Whibley gobbled into the advantage Birch had over him and swooped to take second spot midway through the third lap of four, each lap taking the top riders about 47 minutes.
But there was no catching Smith, who continued to stretch his legs in front; the 29-year-old was well out of sight and range of Whibley by the time the chequered flag came out. "When Paul gets used to the Kiwi cross-country scene again, he'll be pushing me a lot harder and so I am obviously thrilled to get this one in the bag," said Smith.
Reece Lister (Kotemaori) won the 90-minute junior race earlier in the day, leading Jake Wightman (Waimauku) and Luke Taylor (Hamilton) across the line.
Lister's win was remarkable because he suffered a flat front tyre three laps from the end of the race.
Mokau's Adrian Smith (Yamaha YZ250FX).
He was eventually the only rider to complete seven laps after he arrived at the timing zone before the 90 minutes had elapsed and was forced to continue back out on to the track for an extra circuit of the 16km junior course.
Round two of the series is set for Mosgiel, on Sunday, March 15, followed by round three near Nelson on Sunday, April 19.
