Motocross: In front and staying there

Liam Draper (Husqvarna TE125) switched from moto trials riding to enduro racing, but is out for the season with a broken thumb. Pictures/Andy McGechan, BikesportNZ.com

Chris Birch looks good for a third title, reports Andy McGechan

The gap is starting to widen at the top of the New Zealand Enduro Championship standings and that suits Aucklander Chris Birch just fine.

The Birch juggernaut continued to roll in this season's enduro nationals as the 33-year-old from Glen Eden kept his unbeaten run going by winning the third round of six in the KTM-sponsored series in the Riverhead Forest, northwest of Auckland.

Now rival riders are bracing themselves for another possible battering from Birch in round four near Christchurch this weekend.

As well as winning at Riverhead, Birch also won outright in rounds one and two, at Whangamata and Porirua, and it seems he might be threatening to compile another win-streak like the one he celebrated when he claimed the title outright last season.

The KTM star won all six rounds of the national series last season, as well as winning the battle-within-a-battle for over-300cc four-stroke bike class honours.

So it was probably just business as usual for the world-renowned rider at Riverhead.

Birch (KTM 350 XC-F) finished 74sec ahead of the runner-up, former national champion Adrian Smith (Yamaha YZ250) after seven tough special stages, not counting all the tough off-road riding required to get from section to section

Chris Birch (KTM 350 XC-F) has three wins from three starts in this year's national enduro series.

Third was young Auckland rider Liam Draper (Husqvarna TE125). His result was all the more remarkable because he was riding a 125cc bike on a circuit that Birch described as "unusually fast" and because he injured himself in the process.

The 17-year-old Draper, from Howick, is a top national-level moto trials rider who has - like seven-time national motocross champion Jake Whitaker, of Wainuiomata - only recently switched to the totally different motorcycling code of enduro racing.

However, the apprentice plumber will now be out for the rest of the season after breaking his thumb at Riverhead.

The venues for all three rounds have offered contrasting terrain and weather, but whether it be mud or dust, hard-pack or sand, driving rain or scorching sun, the riders and bikes have coped well.

"The course at Riverhead was not at all muddy or slippery like it usually is," said Birch.

"I drew the No 1 start position and that meant I was on the course first, which is not always the best thing, but at least it meant I had no dust and just clear air in front of me.

"I guess you could say that the Riverhead Forest is my home turf ... I grew up just 10 minutes' drive away from there, but I have not been in this forest much at all in recent times."

Even with three outright wins from three starts this season, the Kiwi international is taking nothing for granted.

"There is still a long way to go and a lot can still go wrong," he said. "There will be plenty of opportunities for me to stuff it up. But I am very happy with how things are going at the moment."

In the battle-within-a-battle for class honours, Birch topped the over-300cc four-stroke class at Riverhead.

Smith dominated the over-200cc two-stroke class, Draper won the under-200cc two-stroke class, national moto trials champion Whitaker (Husqvarna FE250) headed the under-300cc four-stroke class and Tokoroa rider Sean Clarke (KTM 250 EXC-F) won the over-40 years veterans' category.

Other riders to show impressive form this season include Kaikohe's Mitchell Nield (Yamaha YZ125), Aucklanders Freddie Milford-Cottam (KTM 250 XC-F) and Chris Power (Yamaha WR450F), Taupo's Greg De Lautour (Beta 300) and New Plymouth's Dougy Herbert (Husaberg TE300).

The riders go to Christchurch for round four this Saturday, followed by round five at Oparau on April 19 and the final round at Waimiha, in the King Country, on May 10.