over there this time , and we even had a couple of days of heavy rain . It was pretty brutal , and I believe that ’ s what the organisers want it to be . They plan for the course to mentally and physically destroy the riders . The uphills and downhills were like I ’ ve never seen before . “ But the guys from the Beta factory over there were incredible and helped me a lot ,” said Whyte , himself the owner of a Beta motorcycle shop in Paeroa . It is interesting to note that Whyte is currently leading the Veterans ’ 50-54 years ’ class within the intermediate grade in this season ’ s New Zealand Enduro Championships with just the fifth and final round still to be run , the finale set to be run near Masterton on November 2 . Greek rider Dhmhtrhs Margos won the Iron Grade overall at the Romaniacs event , with New Zealand rider Tony Walch , now based in
Auckland but formerly from Taradale , featuring in 27th overall . Meanwhile , German rider Manuel Lettenbichler won the Gold Grade overall in Romania , while Hungarian Kornel Ott won the Silver Grade and Germany ’ s Kevin Gallas won the Bronze Grade . Impressive performances were seen by several of the other Kiwi riders in Romania too , with Thames rider Chris Birch finishing runner-up in the Silver Grade and Papakura ’ s Ryan Hayward clinching fourth and Whangaparoa ’ s Jacob Refoy 11th in the same division . Whangarei ’ s Owen Broughton , Whangamata ’ s Ethan Jameson and Tokoroa ’ s Sean Clarke placed 11th , 12th and 13th overall respectively in the Bronze Grade . Many of these intrepid New Zealanders will , of course , also be back in racing action near Masterton in November . ANDY MCGECHAN
TRIUMPH ON AMA PODIUM AT UNADILLA
Triumph Racing have achieved a historic milestone in their AMA Pro Motocross Championship campaign , with Jalek Swoll finishing third overall at round nine of the series at the iconic Unadilla track in New Berlin , New York . Making a hugely successful return to 250MX competition after the three-week break , the team demonstrated their potential in the sport by claiming their first-ever podium result Another superb chapter in Triumph Racing ’ s journey has been marked by Swoll , who used the power of his TF 250-X to start inside of the top five in each moto . Despite a sixth-place finish in moto one , Swoll ’ s confidence shone through in the second race , where he advanced to fourth place . Much to the delight of the thousands of fans in attendance , his 6-4 scorecard clinched third overall . The historic circuit provided the perfect backdrop for this momentous achievement in the sport . Swoll ’ s teammate Savatgy had a brief but challenging race in moto one , withdrawing after a crash on the first lap . It was not all bad news , however , as he escaped unharmed and could turn his attention to moto two . Despite starting outside the points , his hard work paid off in the second race as he fought his way through to finish 12th . The limited points secured at Unadilla left him 17th overall , dropping him to 13th in the 250MX championship standings . There is a furious race to the final chequered flag now – the final two rounds of 2024 AMA Pro Motocross will be run on successive weekends . Budds Creek , round 10 , will take place on August 17 , followed by a grand finale at Ironman on August 24 . Triumph Racing heads into those fixtures with their sights fixed on more podium appearances .
KIWI RIDER 13