Chase: Catch him if you can

Wyatt Chase. Photo / Bikesportnz.com

Taupo's Wyatt Chase appears to be unstoppable at the moment.

The national junior motocross champion has proved a quick learner since trying his hand at the inaugural NZXC cross-country series.

Yamaha star Chase tasted immediate success when he won the one-hour junior race at the opening round of the series near Tokoroa last month.

The 15-year-old then backed that up with another podium-topping performance in Manawatu at the weekend, winning the junior class at round two of the series - the annual Yamaha Taikorea 500.

Fellow Yamaha rider Lachlan Bishop (Hamilton) led out of turn one and kept Chase at bay around most of the opening section of the gruelling race on Saturday. But Chase was comfortably in front by the time the riders entered the trees for the first time, just a few minutes after the start.

"It was a pity about the rain making it tough to see and I had to discard my goggles but, because I was out in front and on my own, it wasn't too much of a problem," he said.

"Lachlan Bishop stayed close behind me for a while but I soon managed to make a break and it was fairly comfortable after that.

"I didn't come up on any lapped riders until near the end of the [three-lap] race. I had to work to keep motivated and I had to keep reminding myself to keep pushing, even though there were no challengers in sight."

It was a fairly lonely ride for Bishop, too. The 15-year-old Hamilton Boys' High School student was also on his own for most of the race with the rider who eventually finished in third position, Paraparaumu's Brock Sullivan (KTM 85SX), a long way back.

Chase won by more than three minutes from Bishop, with Sullivan crossing the finish line more than six minutes later.

Coupled with his dominance of the junior grade at round one, Chase now has a commanding lead in the NZXC series, although there are still three rounds remaining.

Only four of the series' five rounds will be counted, with riders to discard their worst result.

Round three of the series is set for Woodhill Forest, north of Auckland, on August 30, with round four at Maddix Park, near Tauranga, on November 14. Then it all wraps up at Castlehill, near Pahiatua, on December 5.