Motorsport - Jake Whitaker leads way

Riding to clear wins on both days of the North Island moto trials champs at Waihi and Te Puke venues last weekend was a final hit-out before New Zealand's No1 rider heads to Europe to take on the junior world championship.
Jake Whitaker, 19, of Wellington contested the third and fourth rounds of the North Island champs as a shakedown for his European campaign with fellow expert rider Karl Clark (Nelson) upping the ante on the competition by adding strict time limits of their own.
Whitaker is the star of the Kiwi trials scene. The last time he was beaten in domestic competition was in 2009 and he's a four-time NZ champion and the current Australian and Oceania champ.
Whitaker won both days of competition last weekend, with Clark second. But it was more about the two riders fine-tuning the team-work they'll need when Clark takes on the role of Whitaker's "minder" in the big overseas events.
In trials a "minder" has a role that has elements of mechanic, rally co-driver, spotter and golf caddy. "He walks the course with me the day before and then helps to guide me through the sections," says Whitaker. "He can shout out if I'm not lined up quite right and he'll see if I'm half a tyre out of line when I can't."
"In the world champs there's a 90sec time limit on each section so that's why we were timing ourselves at the weekend."
Whitaker leaves New Zealand on April 25 and will be based in Italy for 3 months. He will ride seven of the nine world outdoor championship rounds.
Among the 60 riders in action at the weekend the top local was Tauranga's Phillip Shilton, who won A-grade on Saturday ahead of Blake Fox (Christchurch) and finished just six "faults" behind Lower Hutt rider Carl Robson on Sunday.
Presidents grade was also a tight contest with Te Puke's Paul McLeod edging Wellington's John Lawton in a tie-breaker in Saturday's riding and Warwick Merriman (Tauranga) won on Sunday. Clubmans class was won by Peter Haynes (Rotorua) on Saturday and Mark Draper on Sunday with points leader Gabrielle Gundry (Tauranga) a close second on both occasions.
Just two points over the weekend separated Jacob Gundry (Tauranga) and Benjamin McLeod (Te Puke) in the juniors. The pair were tied after Saturday and Gundry took a narrow win on Sunday.
Frost places third
Tauranga's Sloan Frost has finished third in the New Zealand Superbike championship, an effort that betters his two sixth placings on previous attempts at the premier class of Kiwi motorcycle racing.
Frost completed his season with some mixed fortunes at Manfeild on Sunday, riding his M1 Motorsport BMW S1000RR to 10th in the opening superbike race but bouncing back with a fourth placing in race two.
"We really struggled in qualifying but we went back to some settings we'd used earlier in the season and found a second per lap," said Frost. "I went from 10th to fifth in the first race but then blew the exhaust and had to nurse it home in 10th place. Dion Sellars, another BMW competitor, gave up his second race and let me use his exhaust and I went from 10th to fourth which was enough to secure third in the championship.
"We've achieved our goal of finishing in the top-three and won a race along the way."
Hamilton's Andrew Stroud (Suzuki) dominated the Superbike series, winning seven of the nine races, with Australian Robbie Bugden taking second.
Cooper crashes
Cody Cooper (Papamoa) won, then crashed out of the second round of the Australian motocross nationals at Appin, NSW, on Sunday while Honda racer Michael Phillips (Mt Maunganui) produced solid consistency to complete the day in fourth place.
Newly crowned Kiwi MX1 champ Cooper had been second in the Aussie series after the opening round and maintained winning form in the first of four motos at Appin, winning a race dominated by the Kiwis with Josh Coppins taking second ahead of Phillips.
But Cooper crashed early in the second race and reports are he has injured ribs. He pulled out of the third after one lap and didn't start the fourth race.
Phillips' scoresheet for the Appin round was 3-8-3-5 aboard his Carlton Dry Thor Racing Honda and he is now eighth in the championship.
TECT park test
The opportunity to test rally cars on the roads in the TECT All Terrain Park at Pyes Pa has proven especially useful for the Tauranga crew of Phil Campbell and Venita Fabbro.
They had their first chance to experience night time rallying in a recent test session ahead of the opening round of this year's NZ rally championship at Dunedin this weekend.
The Otago Rally includes three Friday night stages totalling 45km, the first time anything more than a short super special stage has been included "after dark" in NZ Rally Champs in recent years.
Campbell, 24, has set two goals for 2011 - winning the 2WD Championship and the Junior (under-25) category.
He'll campaign the same Ford Fiesta ST150 in which he debuted last year.