KEY POINTS:
It was three out of three for Marton's Cam Smith and three strikes and you're out for his motorbike rivals.
The 31-year-old Smith wrapped up the Suzuki-sponsored New Zealand Cross-Country Championship series with a round to spare on Sunday when he won the third of four rounds near Pahiatua.
The Rangitikei sheep and beef farmer had taken his Suzuki RM-Z450 to victory at rounds one and two of the competition and, after breaking free of his nearest challengers to take a narrow win on Sunday, he made it an unbeatable three in a row.
As only three of the four rounds are needed to score for the championship - riders can discard their worst result - that meant Smith had compiled the perfect 1-1-1 score, with the final round near Ashburton on June 14 now effectively a formality.
But it wasn't straight forward for Smith on Sunday, with namesake Adrian Smith (Honda CRF450) - no relation - leading from the start and putting up a good fight.
The former national champion from Awakino thrilled the crowd with his high-flying antics as he leapt into the paddock near the pit area but the less flamboyant riding styles of Cam Smith and Pahiatua's Adam Reeves (Yamaha YZ250) proved more effective and they shot past Adrian Smith with about 30 minutes left to run in the three-hour marathon.
Reeves again proved the thorn in the side of Cam Smith and his charge through the field was inspiring.
He was nearly the last rider away as the shotgun blast started the race, but had closed in on the front within several laps.
The leading trio were virtually together as they came through the refuelling compound for the final time.
In the end, Cam Smith won by just 30 seconds from Reeves, with Adrian Smith fading to two minutes behind.
Te Kauwhata's Jason Moorfield (Kawasaki) had looked to be a threat again but he crashed heavily and broke the handlebar mounts on his bike, forcing him to abandon the race.
"I am still required to race at Ashburton, even though I've won the title, and I'll be going for gold there too," said Cam Smith afterwards. "It will be nice to score a clean sweep for the series. That's the aim now.
"Adrian rode hard at the start but I managed to stay with him. Then Adam made a charge. It was tight during that final fuel stop but I knew I had energy to burn and I could see they were tiring."
While it was round three for the seniors at the weekend, junior riders kicked off their two-round national championship series at Pahiatua on Sunday, with Raetihi's Charles Alabaster (Yamaha) living up to his "favourite" tag by winning the 90-minute race from Papakura's Richard Cryer (Kawasaki) and Palmerston North's Jordan Wilson (Kawasaki).
Raglan's Jason Dickey (Kawasaki) was best of the 85cc bike riders, finishing a remarkable fifth overall, to lead the class from Pahiatua riders Thomas Fraser (Kawasaki) and Ryan Foothead (Kawasaki).
Both the senior and junior series wrap up at Ashburton on June 14.
