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Wednesday, 01 April 2009 08:44 |
Chris Birch's national enduro championship campaign may have had a rocky start but he certainly made up a lot of lost ground by winning round three of the Yamaha New Zealand Enduro Championships in Central Hawke's Bay on Saturday.
CAPTION: Auckland's Chris Birch (KTM), outright winner at Akitio on Saturday. Photo by Andy McGechan, BikesportNZ.com
The 28-year-old KTM rider from Auckland had bike problems at round one of the four-round series near Kawhia in February, forced to end the day prematurely, scoring no points.
But at Akitio, 75 kilometres east of Dannevirke, on Saturday he was back to his best, leading home series leader Rory Mead (Yamaha) and a host of top international stars, including four-time world enduro champion Stefan Merriman (Yamaha), who had to settle for an unaccustomed sixth overall on the day.
With the Pacific Ocean as a spectacular backdrop, Birch raced his way to victory on the steep farmland course, finishing 18 seconds ahead of Mead, with Whangamata's Jason Davis (KTM) third-equal outright, more than two minutes further back.
Auckland's Sam Greenslade (Gas Gas) shared third equal position on Saturday as he continued the good form he's shown in the North Island Cross-country Championships series, finishing on an identical time to Davis.
"It's good to finally get my act together," said the 28-year-old Birch afterwards.
"It was a really enjoyable ride today and a good build-up for my trip to Austria, to race at the Erzberg Extreme Enduro, in June."
In terms of championship positions, Merriman still leads overall but he will not be able to contest the fourth and final round at Waimiha on May 16 because of international commitments, leaving it to Mead and Auckland KTM rider Karl Power to scrap for the series honours.
In the battle for individual class honours, where only three of the four rounds count towards the tally and riders will drop their worst score, four of the five key classes are virtually decided already.
In the E4 class, Merriman is 17 points ahead of Tauranga's Reece Burgess (KTM) and he cannot be overtaken.
It's a similar story in the E3 class, where Mead is 20 points ahead of Palmerston North's Steven Bird (Honda), although a win by Birch at Waimiha may see him leapfrog from third and steal away the title instead.
Auckland's Karl Power (KTM) is unbeaten in the battle for E2 class honours and already has the title in his pocket.
New Plymouth's Dougy Herbert (Honda) in unbeaten in the three rounds thus far and has wrapped up the veterans' (over-40) category.
However, it is a three-way tie for E1 class glory.
Auckland's Chris Power (Honda), Tokoroa's Sean Clarke (Yamaha) and Hokianga's Damon Nield (Husqvarna) are locked together at the top of the E1 class and it will go down to the wire at Waimiha.
Credit: Words and photo by Andy McGechan, www.BikesportNZ.com
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