Tar Hill to stage off-road motorcycling action

Muriwai's Luke Mobberley (Yamaha YZ250), runner-up rider at the opening round of the popular Dirt Guide Cross-country Series last month. Photo by Andy McGechan, BikesportNZ.com

You could be forgiven for thinking that the going will be tough when you hear that the venue is a place called Tar Hill.

But Sunday's off-road motorcycling event south of Tokoroa should be neither sticky nor too steep.

Besides this, dirt bike riders are a tough breed and they also know that the man who organises the Dirt Guide Cross-country Series, Tokoroa's Sean Clarke, is not a cruel man.

The Tar Hill course, on forestry land about 12km south of Tokoroa, stages the second round of three for the popular Dirt Guide Series, and Clarke has promised a course that will be both fun and flowing.

"We have not been at Tar Hill for about a year now, so all the tracks will be nice and fresh," he said.

The 2017 edition of the Dirt Guide Series kicked off at Ohakuri - about halfway between Tokoroa and Taupo - last month and such was the course that day that riders on all capacities of bike were competitive with one another, the eventual winner of the two-hour senior race actually riding one of the smallest bikes in the field.

It was a Yamaha 1-2-3-4 when former Kiwi international and former national cross-country champion Paul Whibley, of Taikorea, took a 2013-model Yamaha YZ125 to win that day, while runner-up was Muriwai's Luke Mobberley (Yamaha YZ250), with Cambridge's Ashton Grey (Yamaha WR250F), Titirangi's Callan May (Yamaha YZ250F) and Hamilton's Chris Power (Honda CRF450) rounding out the top five.

With the series running over three rounds this year, there are no 'discard' results and all rounds are counted towards the final tally. This means it will be imperative for trophy hopefuls to overcome the likes of Whibley, Mobberley and Grey this weekend if they hope to push on and claim victory at the final round.

Talent runs deep at the sharp end of competition, with Rotorua's Bradley Lauder, Wellington's Jake Whitaker, Te Awamutu's Kevin Archer, Waimauku's Jake Wightman, Te Kauwahata's Jacob Brown, Raglan's Jason Dickey and Cambridge's Ashton Grey, to name just a few, among those worth watching.

In addition to the senior riders, the series also caters for junior riders, intermediates, veterans and women.

Thames rider Natasha Cairns will be firm favourite to win the women's section, although Te Awamutu's Rachael Archer will also be a standout.

Sunday's 90-minute junior race starts at about 9.30am, with the two-hour senior race to start at about midday.

The third and final round of the Dirt Guide Series is due back at Ohakuri again, on July 9.