The 2018 New Zealand Enduro Championships season will wrap up this Sunday afternoon, but not before the competitors have first had to survive back-to-back days of brutal dirt bike racing.
This weekend will be another tough double-header, with rounds four and five set for Saturday and Sunday respectively, and nothing perhaps can be certain until the final hour.
After three of the five rounds it is Taupo's Brad Groombridge and Thames rider Natasha Cairns respectively who hold the advantage in the two championship divisions, the premier AA Grade (formerly called expert grade) and A Grade (formerly intermediate) classifications.
But neither Groombridge nor Cairns can rest easy this weekend, with difficult terrain awaiting them in the Santoft Forest, near Bulls, on Saturday and at Martinborough on Sunday, not to mention an impressive line-up of equally-talented and fired-up challengers.
Chasing hard to catch Groombridge in the AA Grade will be Wainuiomata's Jake Whitaker, while Putaruru's Phil Skinner will be trying to make life difficult for Cairns in the A Grade.