Paul Whibley is struggling to find his best form in major cross-country motorcycling events in the United States.
The Pahiatua 34-year-old won both the Grand National Cross-Country Championships (GNCC) and the Off-Road Motorcycle and ATV (OMA) titles last year but his 2013 campaign has got off to a rockystart.
Last weekend Whibley contested round three of the GNCC series at Steel Creek at Morganton, North Carolina, placing 29th overall and 11th in the XCI class with a hand injury obviously having an adverse effect on his performance.
Reflecting on his latest effort, Whibley said he always knew it was going to be a tough ask with his injury likely to make it hard for him to hold on when riding the rugged downhill sections of the Steel Creek track.
"One highlight for me was that I managed to rip off another holeshot. That gave me a boost in adrenaline and for a few miles I rode with a deluded sense of strength but each downhill run reminded me just how sore the hand was and it wasn't long before I was in cruising mode, and allowing plenty of room for those behind me to come on by," Whibley said. "It made no sense to try to hold anyone off while I'm not in any condition to race."
Whibley also lost time when after completing the first lap he came across another rider, Thad Duvall, who had crashed and was in a lot of pain. Whibley parked his bike and ran back down a hill to ask someone to get the medics to attend Duvall. "Returning to the race, I was a long way off the pace but I was probably going to end up out the back anyway," he said.
The fact he was riding much slower than usual also meant Whibley felt "pretty beat up" at the end.
