Motorsport: Yamaha ace looks for luck

Three-time New Zealand cross-country champion Adrian Smith has some unfinished business in the Bay of Plenty this weekend.

The Yamaha ace from Mokau wrapped up the national cross-country title for the first time in 2006 and then twice more in consecutive seasons when the 2013 championship series wrapped up near Waipukurau in May.

His winning margin that day was truly impressive, but now he switches his focus to tackling one of New Zealand's iconic stand-alone, cross-country dirt bike marathons, the annual Tarawera 100.

As national No1 in the cross-country code, Smith would have to rate among the favourites to win the Honda Tarawera 100 on Saturday, although this is one event that Smith has yet to crack.

The 160km (100-mile) race distance from which the event draws its name is typically a test of doggedness and determination as much as it is a battle of pace and power - and Smith had all those factors in abundance - but luck also tends to play a large part in the outcome and Smith has not had luck on his side in his previous Tarawera attempts.

"This just seems to be one event that I always stuff up," said the 27-year-old Smith.

"I fried my clutch one year because I was riding too aggressively and, on another occasion, I ran out of gas.

"Hopefully I've learned some lessons from those mistakes and this year I can finally win it.

"The Tarawera 100 tends to be a race that favours the big bikes. It will be tough being up against the big 450cc bikes but my 250cc bike is still a very fast machine."

Smith will take his Blackwood BikesportNZ.com Yamaha YZ250 into battle against some of the best dirt bike exponents that New Zealand has to offer, including former world motocross champion Ben Townley (Honda CRF450), and current national MX2 motocross No5 Peter Broxholme (Honda CRF450), both these men from Tauranga.

"A lot of motocross guys enter the Tarawera 100 and those guys are definitely not slow. I know that Ben Townley, Peter Broxholme and cross-country nationals rival Jason Dickey [of Raglan, Kawasaki KX250F] will be fast but, if I have them in sight near the end, then I have a great chance."

Smith will also need to keep an eye out for a challenge from cross-country championships rival Ethan Bruce, the Nelson rider also campaigning a Yamaha YZ250.

"I have never raced the Tarawera 100," said Bruce. "It's an iconic event and I've always wanted to do it. I'm a bit nervous but looking forward to the race."