BEL-RAY CROSS COUNTRY SENIOR WINNERS
1991 Grant Dickey 1992 Neville Coombe 1993 Wayne Jennings 1994 Lost to time 1995 Lost to time 1996 Paul Wilson 1997 Paul Wilson 1998 Paul Wilson 1999 Paul Wilson 2000 Kevin Archer 2001 Paul Wilson 2002 Adam Youren 2003 Mark Fuller 2004 Neville Coombe 2005 Craig Brown 2006 Adam Youren 2007 Scott Bregmen 2008 Mark Penny 2009 Mark Penny 2010 Adrian Smith 2011 John O ’ Dea 2012 John O ’ Dea 2013 Adrian Smith 2014 Adrian Smith 2015 Jason Dickey 2016 Jason Dickey 2017 Sam Greenslade 2018 Phil Goodwright 2019 Jason Dickey 2020 Brandon Given 2021 Andrew Charleston 2023 Jason Dickey
that the riders felt it was a great series worth supporting . “ The Pukekohe and Huntly clubs had a great bunch of organisers and helpers . There were some great guys who made their names with strong results over the years . Mark Fuller , Paul Wilson , Nev Combes are just a few I remember . “ Each event seemed to be more fun than the previous and , as usual , we made sure , as at every Bel-Ray sponsored event , the after event function was ‘ well lubricated ’, often running late into the night . “ That it ’ s still going after 30 years , I think the format was right and it ’ s encouraging to see so many riders still turning out .”
FINDING THE LAND With the series sponsorship in hand Ramsey then went after land , and due to his efforts in the area he had no trouble finding it . All of the land owners who have been involved over the years were more than happy to make their farms available and long may that continue ( many have been used multiple times ). I rode in that first event , as well as many more over the years , and they were a good introduction for many to the sport of cross country racing . Although originally based in the Huntly , Naike , Pukekawa areas , the series did venture further south a few times in the mid-90s .
BIRTHING CHAMPIONS The Bel-Ray series would produce many National Champions over the years . In fact , Luke Ramsey , Mike and Kay ’ s eldest son , started from the series . He went on to win two national cross country titles and , it is fair to say , he had a very proud dad . Brother Ricky would win the Junior series in 2007 ( first introduced in 2000 ). The most series wins goes to Paul Wilson with five overall titles , followed by Jason Dickey with four and Adrian Smith with three . The junior series has also produced some notable winners including two time junior winner Jason Dickey . You can see from the winners list that it has always been a series which has attracted the top riders from the North Island . Many
Pic : Justine Parker
KIWI RIDER 39