VINTAGE NORTH 2018
By Andrew Robertson
After steep hills and slippery clay forest tracks of Wellington’s Moonshine Madness, Round 2 of Vinduro on 19 November shifted to the to the top of the North Island for the Vintage North Vinduro at Whangaruru. The event was hosted by Mike and Ellen Bennett at the The Farm which had on offer over 1200 acres farm land on which to test riders and machines. The track was comprised of four sections for the Gold riders and three for the Silver riders including deviations for each of the classes to make the track more technically demanding as required. The course included everything from farm track carved through native bush, to open farm land, single lane goat tracks which sidled around and over hills, a little bit of mud and the quirky riding through old barns and an operating milking shed! There was also a lot of off camber riding required which demanded careful technique under braking and acceleration. This was a course that had everything including when you took a break spectacular views over the East Coast to the Pacific Ocean!
Close at hand to the start was the Terrain Test which could be viewed from the The Farm’s Homestead veranda by spectators and crew. This was undertaken multiple time riders throughout the day and began with a blast round and out again of an escargot then around a set track including technical objects, off camber curves and climbs, open trail, declines over tree roots and so on. Undertaking the test multiple times enabled you to learn the test and hopefully improve your times however most riders performance didn’t shift that much as fatigue started to take hold as the day progressed leaving opportunity for mistakes to occur.
Sections one and three were over more open terrain and riders and most riders had no difficulty to clean the section and five minutes or so up their sleeve and the check point to carry out maintenance and take a break. Section two and four was steeper in nature and for the Gold riders involved a lot more navigation, technical single track and off camber riding including some steep rutted hills to navigate. In fact for section four for the Gold riders, the speed average was ratcheted right up requiring maximum effort – any rider error here could and did cost the rider time and only the top riders managed to clean the section. The last section was an excellent test of rider and machine.
At the end of the day after the scores had been calculated, overall in the Gold class, Frenchman Tristan Bonnard took out the overall win on a Honda XR 400 (Pre 96 class) with Codey Davey only two points behind on a twin shock XR 500 (Evo 1). Following closely was Auree Te Momo on an XR 200 (Evo 2), Adam Pogson YZ 125 (Evo 3) and then Hastings rider Lee Forsyth on a Yamaha MX 250 (Classic).
For the Silver class, Peter Moyes on a KDX 200 (Evo 2) took out the win followed closely by a stunning performance of David Vass on a classic class XL 250. Following him was then Don Pogson XR 350 (Evo 3), Ross Drummond on an XR 200 (Evo 2) and Wellington Rider Perry Hunt on an KDX 200 (Pre 96).
The complete results by class and grade are available at silverbullet.co.nz
The Vintage North was another stunning success for the NZ Vinduro series and is well worth traveling to. All credit to Darryl and Harrison Jeffs and their team of Northland enthusiasts for the considerable work that went in to clearing and marking out a track which both challenged and entertained riders throughout the day and Michael and Ellen Bennet for hosting the event. Thanks of course to the Rushworths for excellent work on the electronic scoring.
An awesome effort all round.
Close at hand to the start was the Terrain Test which could be viewed from the The Farm’s Homestead veranda by spectators and crew. This was undertaken multiple time riders throughout the day and began with a blast round and out again of an escargot then around a set track including technical objects, off camber curves and climbs, open trail, declines over tree roots and so on. Undertaking the test multiple times enabled you to learn the test and hopefully improve your times however most riders performance didn’t shift that much as fatigue started to take hold as the day progressed leaving opportunity for mistakes to occur.
Sections one and three were over more open terrain and riders and most riders had no difficulty to clean the section and five minutes or so up their sleeve and the check point to carry out maintenance and take a break. Section two and four was steeper in nature and for the Gold riders involved a lot more navigation, technical single track and off camber riding including some steep rutted hills to navigate. In fact for section four for the Gold riders, the speed average was ratcheted right up requiring maximum effort – any rider error here could and did cost the rider time and only the top riders managed to clean the section. The last section was an excellent test of rider and machine.
At the end of the day after the scores had been calculated, overall in the Gold class, Frenchman Tristan Bonnard took out the overall win on a Honda XR 400 (Pre 96 class) with Codey Davey only two points behind on a twin shock XR 500 (Evo 1). Following closely was Auree Te Momo on an XR 200 (Evo 2), Adam Pogson YZ 125 (Evo 3) and then Hastings rider Lee Forsyth on a Yamaha MX 250 (Classic).
For the Silver class, Peter Moyes on a KDX 200 (Evo 2) took out the win followed closely by a stunning performance of David Vass on a classic class XL 250. Following him was then Don Pogson XR 350 (Evo 3), Ross Drummond on an XR 200 (Evo 2) and Wellington Rider Perry Hunt on an KDX 200 (Pre 96).
The complete results by class and grade are available at silverbullet.co.nz
The Vintage North was another stunning success for the NZ Vinduro series and is well worth traveling to. All credit to Darryl and Harrison Jeffs and their team of Northland enthusiasts for the considerable work that went in to clearing and marking out a track which both challenged and entertained riders throughout the day and Michael and Ellen Bennet for hosting the event. Thanks of course to the Rushworths for excellent work on the electronic scoring.
An awesome effort all round.
For results go to http://www.silverbullet.co.nz/results.php
