ORANGE LINE This year ’ s expert class had an international flavour with two French riders entered . Jules Huguenin has been a New Zealand resident since 2017 and was accompanied by Mats Petit , who is here on a one year working holiday visa . Mats has ridden in World and European Championship rounds . Six times New Zealand Trials Champion Warren Laugesen was also in the expert field . Warren had only ridden the Kaikoura once before , in 1998 when he won it . Jules , Mats and Warren rode the orange line , which is the most difficult and it was Mats who emerged as the winner .
RED LINE A second tier of expert riders rode the red line , the leading group including David Trewin , Paul Mountstevens , Kevin Pinfold , Craig Wassell and 14 year old Finn Pearce from the Ixion Club . Finn , who competes in the Intermediate class at national events stepped up to expert for this event and acquitted himself well finishing fourth on his Beta Evo 125 . He is the youngest rider to compete in the expert class since Jake Whitaker rode it in 2006 . Jake was also 14 at the time .
INTERMEDIATE One of the standout performances this year was Stu Lawton ’ s first place in the intermediate
class , riding a mid 1970s Yamaha TY250C twin shock . He finished with a score of five points . On the first day he lost no points , on the second day he had two single dabs and on the final day only three dabs , which put him ahead of Otago ’ s Neil Belvoir riding a TRS and Motueka ’ s Fletcher Wassell on a Beta .
SPORTSMAN CLASS Another notable performance this year was Warwick Merriman ’ s winning ride in the Sportsman class . Warwick , 76 , lost only one point on the first two days and , although his Vertigo stopped near the end of day three and he had to take five point maximums in the final two sections , he still finished comfortably ahead of the others riding this line .
CLUBMAN The largest group was the 21-strong Clubman class . Pioneer ’ s Wayne Harper ( 1984 Honda TLR200 twin shock ) was first , Ash Lucas from the Ixion Club was second and there was a three way tie for third , with Steve Wade ( Ixion ), Mike Ward ( Manawatu Orion ) and Stefan Ingendae ( Pioneer ) finishing on 36 points each . Steve had more cleans than Mike and Stefan and was awarded third place .
SOCIAL The social class had riders ranging in age from
Stu Lawton Paul Jackson and Glenn Smith
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