Converts set to shine in Enduro

ENDURO: Wellington's Jake Whitaker will be among the favourites during the KTM Extreme Enduro Series event in Tokoroa today. PHOTO/ANDY MCGECHAN BIKESPORTNZ.COM 061213WHITAKER

The third round of the popular KTM Extreme Enduro Series will head to Tokoroa as part of the Tokoroa A&P Show.

The Tokoroa Endurocross event today could produce a third different winner in as many rounds of the 2013 enduro series.

Today's event, on Mossop Rd in Tokoroa, will likely favour recent enduro converts Jake Whitaker and Liam Draper.

Kiwi international Chris Birch (KTM 350 XCF) won the opening round of the series and will also race near the front today.

Birch won the Nut Buster Hard Enduro near Christchurch in September, but overseas racing commitments kept him away from round two near Auckland.

This allowed former national enduro champion Jason Davis (KTM 300XC) to dominate at Riverhead near Auckland.

Wellington's Whitaker (Husaberg FE250) is a seven-time New Zealand Moto Trials Champion, while Auckland youngster Draper (Husaberg TE 125) is also a deft exponent of the sport of trials riding.

Both young men have switched their focus to enduro riding in recent times and have shown plenty of early promise.

Whitaker has not yet won a round of the KTM Extreme Enduro Series but he does share the lead in the pro grade points standings.

His second and fifth finishes give him 38 points, level-pegging with Tokoroa's Sean Clarke (KTM 300 EXC), who finished third and fourth in the first two rounds.

Draper is currently third in the pro grade standings, just four points behind Whitaker and Clarke.

However, the smart money still rests with Aucklander Birch to reclaim the podium top step on Saturday.

The man from Glen Eden has just returned from another successful overseas adventure where he finished runner-up in the Roof of Africa Hard Enduro in Lesotho last month.

Racing begins at 9am today.

Round four of the series is the Te Puke Endurocross on February 8.

There are five rounds in the series.