It may not have been the perfect way to farewell New Zealand before heading off-shore to start his fresh campaign for motorcycle cross-country glory in the United States, but Pahiatua's Paul Whibley was impressive nonetheless last weekend, winning his final race before catching his plane.
The Sargent Yamaha ace, currentlyNo2 in the American Grand Cross-Country Championships (GNCC), was favoured to win the novel river race at the 51st annual New Zealand Motocross Grand Prix at Woodville and that can sometimes apply unwelcome added pressure to a racer, even one as experienced as Whibley.
"Winning at Woodville is always nice, but not really essential in the big scheme of things," said the 33-year-old.
Whibley's farewell performance on Sunday was indeed a bit of a mixed bag.
His bike drowned while leading the first of two river races at Woodville, but he fought back to win the next and end the day third overall.
"It's a race that's tough on bikes," Whibley said. "It's like hitting a water-blaster, with enough force to peel the graphics off them."
With the revolutionary Yamaha YZ450F drawing air from up front, a different approach to keeping the air filter dry and the bike running was required. Whibley had done some testing leading up to the event and the changes and preventative measures he had taken seemed to be working with the bike running strong.
However, there were problems in the first race through the intake of a "lung" full of water and Whibley was forced to a halt on the penultimate lap, handing the lead to Auckland's Chris Power. After several kicks, the bike restarted but the win was gone.
The second race went a little better. Whibley again grabbed the holeshot and, with some fine tuning between motos, the YZF was lapping up the water. He led most of the race but another lung full of water let Chris Power past on the last lap. This time though he was able to regain the lead and take the win and third overall.
