Bay of Plenty ’ s Callum Dudson made every twist of the throttle count on Sunday , September 3 , as he fought his way through traffic to claim the main prize in this year ’ s Forestland Cross-country Series . The 23-year-old builder from Rotorua had taken his Honda CRF450RX to finish runner-up to Kiwi international Ryan Hayward at the first of three rounds in this popular series back in June . Then he stepped things up a notch to win the day at round two at the same venue at Ohakuri , about halfway between Tokoroa and Taupo , in July . Dudson ’ s winning performance at round two also propelled him into the Forestland Series lead – with Hayward a non-starter as
Rotorua ’ s Callum Dudson ( Honda CRF450RX ), overall winner of the senior grade in the Forestland Cross-country Series for 2023 he had instead travelled off-shore to prepare for racing at the Red Bull Romaniacs event in Romania that weekend – but Dudson was taking nothing for granted as he lined up at Ohakuri again for the third and final round . Dudson knew he ’ d have to be at his best because Aucklander Hayward was back in the country and also gunning for the win at the final round , along with several others who had arrived home after their respective Romaniacs campaigns , not to mention that Taupo ’ s former national enduro and crosscountry champion Brad Groombridge was also in attendance . However , once again , Dudson “ screwed up ” the start in the premier race at midday , finding himself stuck in traffic and battling to find breathing room as the swarm of bikes entered
44 KIWI RIDER