Yeoman and Parkes lead the way
NZ Cross-country Championships down to the wire
With two rounds now completed and four different race winners emerging, the 2023 edition of the New Zealand Crosscountry Championships will go down to the wire at the final round in the Wairarapa on December 10.
In the 90-minute junior grade race held earlier in the day, Te Awamutu’s Nixon Parkes ( pictured) dominated, finishing roughly three minutes ahead of runner-up rider Sheldon Brown, of
Eketāhuna, with Aucklander Millen Cargill completing the junior podium.
The best of the small bike (85cc two-stroke and 150cc four-stroke) riders was Raglan’s Ryley Shaw, who finished the junior race 14th overall, and best of the junior women was Rotorua’s Grace Fowler, who finished 25th overall.
In terms of overall series standings in the junior grade, Parkes and Brown share the lead, with Cargill sitting third and only seven points behind the leading pair.
Round two of three in the Whyteline Beta Motorcyclessponsored series was staged at a raindrenched Maddix Park, in the hills overlooking Tauranga, on Saturday and Taupō’s Wil Yeoman made the most of his excellent start to move ahead of the chasing pack in the two-hour senior race.
He eventually won the gruelling race by just over four minutes from Rotorua’s Callum Dudson, with Eketāhuna’s Luke Brown claiming the third podium spot in the senior grade.
With a 3-1 score-line after two rounds, the 17-year-old Yeoman has sprung to the top of the standings.
The rider who had convincingly won the series opener at Rotoma two weeks ago, Taupō’s three-time former national champion Brad Groombridge, suffered misfortune at round two on Saturday, his bike overheating in the mud and leaving him with a classification of only 29th overall.
But it may well be that consistency becomes a not-so-secret weapon for Dudson, the Rotorua rider having finished fourth and second thus far and now finding himself overall runner-up for the series and just five points adrift of Yeoman, with only the final race near Masterton on December 10 remaining to wrap up the competition.
Yeoman was naturally thrilled with his success on Saturday.