Riders race to the extreme

The Te Puke Motorcycle Club's unique Endurocross event is designed to cram all the demands of an endurance ride into an arena sprint event.

Coming straight off a win in the gruelling two-day "No Way in Hell" extreme enduro at Oparau the previous weekend, Saturday's winner Mitchell Nield from Pakaraka in the Far North said the intensity of the Te Puke A&P; Show course was a demanding challenge.

"It was a lot of fun and well worth the six hour drive to get here," said Nield, who rode his 300cc Gas Gas machine to a narrow win in the nine-rider, 10-minute final over Tauranga's Jim Lowe-Pattie.

"There is so much intensity," said Nield. Ten minutes is like a whole day of riding in the bush because it's just obstacle after obstacle after obstacle."

Nield grabbed the lead in the first turn and was never headed in the 10-minute plus one-lap final.

"I just tried to ride smooth and consistent and hoped [Lowe-Pattie] would make a mistake while chasing me. But he kept pushing the whole way."

Nield, 23, won the 0-200cc class in last year's national enduro champs and last November rode to 10th place at the Roof of Africa three-day event in Lesotho.

Lowe-Pattie, 18, a former moto trials champion at junior and A-grade level, was riding in only his second enduro style event after taking out the 0-300cc Expert class win at the No Way in Hell event on Waitangi Day.

"The trials skills help a lot with balance and being able to pick your line, especially where it was really slippery with the water and the rocks," said Lowe-Pattie.

Close behind Lowe-Pattie at the finish was Chris Power (Auckland) on a big Honda CRF450.

"It was good fun but I made it hard for myself. I'd catch up and stall the bike, catch up again and then stall again," said Power.

Fourth went to Aucklander Mike Skinner on another KTM 300 with Auckland's Jonathan Hill (KTM 250) in fifth ahead of Opotiki's Conrad Edwards (Honda CRF450).

A separate trials bike class was introduced this year with young Rotorua rider John Haynes on a Beta taking a convincing win the final ahead of Gas Gas riders Tom Evans (Hamilton) and Kevin Gundry (Tauranga).

Te Puke A&P; Show Endurocross - results:

Enduro Final: 1 Mi Nield (Bay of Islands) Gas Gas 300; 2 J Lowe-Pattie (Tauranga) KTM 300; 3 C Power (Auckland) Honda CRF450; 4 M Skinner (Auckland) KTM 300;

Moto Trials Final: 1 J Haynes (Rotorua) Beta; 2 T Evans (Hamilton) Gas Gas; 3 K Gundry (Tauranga) Gas Gas.