Watts celebrates first national title

FIRST TIME AT No.1: Former Wairoa rider Tommy Watts, now of Hawke’s Bay, was outright winner of the senior grade at this year’s New Zealand Cross-country Championships. It was his first national title victory. Picture by Andy McGechan, BikesportNZ.com

It was celebration time for former Wairoa rider Tommy Watts at the weekend. Back-to-back wins in the South Island earned him his first national motorcycling cross-country title.

The 19-year-old Napier-based Watts had a share of the lead in the Yamaha-sponsored competition after the first two of four rounds for the series.

It was all wrapped up in two days of high-speed motorcycle racing — on Saturday near Balclutha and then on Sunday near Mosgiel.

The championship went down to the wire. Watts's main rival was Palmerston North's 2015 national cross-country champion Paul Whibley, who was level on points with Watts after the two North Island rounds (near Marton and Dannevirke).

With only three rounds to be counted and riders able to discard their worst score, it meant nothing was certain until the end of racing on Sunday.

When Watts won the day at Balclutha, finishing seven seconds ahead of Whibley in the three-hour senior race, and then repeated the dose at Mosgiel the following day, this time beating Whibley by 44 seconds, the mission was complete and Watts could enjoy celebrating his first national title win.

Manawatu's Whibley, a two-time former cross-country champion in the United States, had to settle for overall runner-up, while Raglan's Brandon Given, Glen Murray's Sam “Charlie” Brown and Whanganui's Seth Reardon rounded out the top five seniors for 2021.

Meanwhile, Taupo's Wil Yeoman, 15, dominated the 90-minute junior-grade races on both days and easily wrapped up the junior crown.

Runner-up junior rider for the series was Eketahuna's Luke Brown, with Cambridge's Bailey Morgan, Rotorua's Daniel Bates and Katikati's Ryan Morrissey completing the top five.

Masterton's Max Williams was best of the 85cc bike riders this season, and was impressive in finishing eighth overall in the junior grade.

“It was quite tight and technical terrain on Saturday, but a faster, more free-flowing course on Sunday,” Motorcycling New Zealand cross-country commissioner Chris Smyth said.

“We had forestry, bush, open farmland paddocks . . . a bit of everything really. Everyone seemed to enjoy both tracks and our days in the South Island.

“The double-header format seemed popular with the riders, too, and we may look at doing more of that next season.”