Motorsport: Kiwi Axeman the tallest timber in town

New Zealand's Paul "Axeman" Whibley is No1 in the American backwoods.

The Kawasaki rider from Pahiatua rode away with his first Grand National Cross-Country Championship (GNCC) title when the series wrapped up in Crawfordsville, Indiana, a week ago and he's mad keen to go back and defend the crown in 2010.

The 31-year-old former Manawatu forestry worker - known affectionately in bike racing circles as "The Axeman" - finished a conservative fourth overall at the 13th and final round of this year's series, easily enough for him to collect the crown he'd been threatening to take since the series kicked off in Florida in February.

"I just can't even believe it," said Whibley (Kawasaki KX450F), who finished a close runner-up in the championship last season.

"I don't have the words for this right now. This is my ultimate goal, to win the GNCC Championship in the US."

The day at Crawfordsville was won by American KTM rider Nate Kanney, his first outright win in a season that had been dominated by Whibley from the start.

With the championship at stake, Whibley rode sensibly at the final round. After colliding with American Thad Duvall (Yamaha) early in the race, the Kiwi backed off to play it safe until the end.

"This clash made me nervous because I didn't want the title chase to end right there with a damaged bike. So I backed it down some more and stopped taking risks. I found it hard to ride at the reduced pace and ended up making a lot of mistakes."

So commanding was Whibley's championship lead that he only had to finish inside the top 14 to take home the championship. In total, he won five of the 13 rounds, finished runner-up three times and was third on three occasions.

"It's been an amazing year working with my new Kawasaki team," Whibley said.

"I couldn't have asked for better. This is my job, this is what I live for and this is the ultimate payback for all that hard work and training in the rain and the mud.

"The GNCC is the pinnacle of cross-country racing in the world. I came here from [racing the world enduro championships in] Europe and this is my style of racing.

"What I do next year is still a big question. The economy is still tough here and budgets for racing are getting slashed even more. But, no matter what, I will be back."