It has been quite a remarkable sporting season for Whanganui dirt bike ace Seth Reardon.
The 21-year-old finished overall runner-up in the four-round New Zealand Cross-country Championships, which wrapped up near Taupō in May, then took the same Yamaha YZ250FX bike — modified simply with the addition of a headlight, as dictated by the competition rules — and secured the outright win in the seven-round New Zealand Enduro Championships, which wound up near Hokitika at the weekend.
Reardon had built up an impressive 23-point lead after the first five rounds of the Yamaha and Mitas Tyres-sponsored New Zealand enduro nationals and so the pressure was mostly off for him at the weekend's double-header, the final two rounds of the series near Hokitika on Friday and Saturday.
Christchurch international Hamish Macdonald, at home for a seven-week spell as the FIM Enduro GP World Championships take their regular (Northern Hemisphere) summer break, won both days at Hokitika, but Reardon played it cool and twice finished third, easily enough for him to clinch his first national title.
Reardon, an apprentice engineer, knew he had a solid points advantage over his nearest challenger, Cambridge's Beau Taylor, but he was still determined to attack the tricky course.
