Whanganui apprentice engineer Seth Reardon finished runnerup at the fifth round of the Central Enduro Championship Series near Bulls on Sunday.
The 19-year-old Reardon rode a 250cc version of the Yamaha YZFX bike, and was the pick of a chasing bunch trying to keep up with Manawatu's Paul Whibley.
The semi-retired former Kiwi international competitor was taking his Yamaha YZ450FX for a rumble in the Santoft Forest before heading back to the United States this week to continue his work as mentor and trainer for the high-profile AMPRO Yamaha Cross-country race team.
The 39-year-old Whibley was virtually unchallenged, winning all four special tests and ending the afternoon more than two minutes ahead of Reardon, while Wellington's Jake Whitaker (KTM 250 XCF) finished the day third overall, a further 12 seconds adrift.
With five of the eight series rounds completed, Masterton's Jacob Hyslop (Honda CRF450) leads the expert grade, with Reardon second overall and Whitaker third.
