HONDA’S KNIGHT SECURES
CROSS-COUNTRY SERIES WIN
Story: Andy McGechan
T
aupo’s Hadleigh Knight had a job to
do... and he went about the task in his
accustomed workmanlike fashion.
The 23-year-old led the popular Dirt Guide
Cross-country Championships after two of three
rounds and he arrived at the forestry course
just south of Tokoroa for the series’ final round
knowing he only really needed to watch out for
a handful of the nearly 100 riders entered.
With his 2-1 score-card from the earlier two
rounds, Honda hero Knight enjoyed a four-point
advantage over his nearest challenger, Titirangi’s
Callan May, with Cambridge’s Ashton Grey,
Whitianga’s Blake Wilkins, Wainuiomata’s Jake
Whitaker, Rotorua’s Bradley Lauder and Whanganui’s
Seth Reardon perhaps the only other riders who
had a mathematical chance of unseating him.
So, when Howick’s Liam Draper – just returned
from racing in the United States and a non-starter
at the previous two rounds of this domestic series –
snatched the lead early in Saturday’s two-hour senior
race, Knight wasn’t looking to press any panic buttons.
From outside of the top 10 at the end of lap one,
Knight took his Honda CRF450X to chip away
at the riders ahead of him and slotted himself
into second place at the start of his final lap.
“This is the first time I’ve done a full Dirt
Guide Series campaign,” said Knight.
“And it was my first time on this bike and I loved it.
The Honda CRF450X has a six-speed gearbox and is
a little more mellow than the motocross version.
“It has a bigger fuel tank, great for cross-country
races, and a speedo on it too. I looked down at
the speedo when I was racing along one of the
gravel roads and I was going 115km/h... that
would be pretty scary but I wasn’t thinking about
that. I was just concentrating on racing.”
Taupo’s Wil Yeoman won the earlier 90-minute
junior race and secured the Junior Grade (12-15 years)
trophy overall; Whakatane’s Hayden Power won the
Intermediate Grade; Waipahihi’s Lisa Flanagan was
best of the Novice Grade riders and Masterton’s Max
Williams topped the Mini Grade overall. In terms of
class wins, Yeoman won the 12-15 years’ up-to-200cc
two-stroke class; Eketahuna’s Luke Brown won the
12-15 years’ 250cc four-stroke class; Kumeu’s Josh
Wyatt won the 12-15 years’ 85cc two-stroke and 150cc
four-stroke class; Williams won the 7-11 years’ Mini
MX bike class and Taupo’s Sam Brear took his Honda
CRF80 to win the 7-11 years’ Mini trail bike class.
“It would have been nice to be able to challenge
Liam (Draper), but he was long gone by the
time I got through the traffic,” said Knight.
Knight held on until the finish and with that
runner-up result he had easily done enough
to wrap up the series win overall. May finished
fourth on Saturday and ended the series
second overall, 10 points adrift of Knight.
Wilkins, Grey and Reardon rounded
out the series top five.
KIWI RIDER 17