the Santoft Forest, near Bulls, on the
weekend of July 11-12.
This compressed season means racing was
expected to be particularly intense and
that’s exactly what transpired in Masterton
and Martinborough at the weekend, Kiwi
international Yearbury winning day one and
Whanganui’s defending champion Seth
Reardon winning day two.
Reardon finished third overall on Saturday,
while Yearbury managed a runner-up finish
on Sunday and it is therefore Yearbury who
has the early points advantage over
Reardon in these early stages of the 2020
title chase.
Another globe-trotting Kiwi competitor,
Christchurch’s Hamish Macdonald, holds
onto third overall after the two days of
racing – he finished runner-up on Saturday
and third overall on Sunday – and so early
indications are that it will likely be a threeway
battle for the crown when it all wraps
up at Santoft next month.
“I am pretty happy with how my weekend
went,” said Yearbury.
“I was sort of surprised I went so well
actually because I had been concussed
while racing in the Grand National Crosscountry
Championships in the United States,
just before the Covid-19 lock-down here in
New Zealand, and had only had one ride on
the new bike for the first time last weekend.
“But I love this [300cc electronic fuelinjection
two-stroke] bike and, even
completely stock standard, it is all that
I could want. I only picked up the bike
Friday a week ago, but I’ve gelled with it
straight away.
“I have never before raced in the Santoft
Forest, so the races coming up could be
KIWI RIDER 101